Companies make money by the dump truck load selling us athletes drinks that are supposed to help us ride better . Especially during the hotter times of year or for those long 4 plus hour sessions.
Sounds good in theory till you think of a couple of things. First that really most of what these are made from is not natural or we have no clue where it actually came from. The second thing is stuff like HEED and PowerAde costs lots of money and it racks up quickly. And I lost my taste for things like Gatorade when I found what the actual formula for it was compared to what they sell us now.
Few years ago I found out that Coconut Water has a lot of good things for you in it. I won't bore you with endless facts, numbers, and stuff like I was trying to sell you a 650B mountain bike tire. Just sharing what I have found works for me via the scientific method of trial and error to discover what works for me.
And let us face reality. These days we all talk about aiming to take in stuff that is much more natural. And as you see in the photo above you can pretty much ID where all my ingredients come from.
The recipe is pretty simple. 1 Can of frozen Lemonade and instead of water I use Coconut Water. And add as much as the juice instructions say. Then add in a large dose of salt which if you are interested is Kosher Salt which is a more natural version. Stir well. Then fill water bottles I will use and then stick in the fridge to use during rides and races.
Keep in mind though this recipe is a rough guideline as you will have to adjust to your personnel tastes. And what my stomach will tolerate may not work for others. However it has been working as I have been trying rides with and without over the last year and a half. It seems to work well and even helps drinking it say 4 days out in the lead up to a race or epic ride.
It worked well at a 135K training road ride this year and during other long rides on a hot day this year.
