Home made Energy drink ?

[Dinamo]

Having watched 'The Food Hospital' on Channel 4 last week, where they were discussing the pros and cons of Energy drinks.
They touched on the fact that its cheaper to make your own !
Looking into this further l found a recipe on the 'Cycling Weakly' site, which is just Glucose powder, salt, fruit squash and one litre of water !

Any thoughts ? Or does anyone else make their own ?

[PaulF]

There was a thread about it on Singletrackworld here.

[martint235]

I watched the same programme and made my own for a 100 miler on Saturday. Just a 750ml bidon with two dessert spoons of sugar in and a few twists of the salt grinder. I could taste the salt so have cut that down for today's bidon and it tastes ok.

As to whether or not it works, hard to say. I've usually ridden with just water and occasionally I've suffered cramp when I've pushed it for the last 50 miles or so. I didn't get cramp on Saturday but then I didn't push it apart from the last 10 miles. Difficult to tell.

As they say, my tiger repellent works.

[amaferanga]

While you can just use table sugar and salt, getting some of the right stuff should lead to a more effective energy drink and won't cost much more.  Also, using maltodextrin instead of plain old sugar means you won't have a sickly sweet drink.

Myprotein.co.uk is where I get all my stuff from.  I make mine with 2 parts malodextrin to 1 part fructose.  I sometimes add electrolyte powder (better than salt which is only sodium) and for races will often add some caffeine powder.  Mixed with some fruit squash (usually grapefruit juice for me) it tastes ok and is very, very, very similar to the brand-name drinks, but for a fraction of the price.

However, I only use energy drinks for racing and long/fast rides.  For regular rides up to a few hours there's no real need for an energy drink (though a sprinkle of electrolyte powder is often a good idea).

[Jacomus]

For Rollerderby Emily is a big fan of a 60:40 mix of applejuice:water with a bit of sea-salt (a few twists from the salt grinder thing). I have used this too and reckon its pretty good.

[Arno]

I also make my own with 5% maltodextrin and a pinchof electrolyte or salt. Adding sugar or fructose used to give me stomach cramps so I removed it from my recipe.  The result is rather tasteless but it doesnt bother me.
Was also experimenting with adding some protein or ground oats into the mix, but cannot say if it makes much difference.
Ingredients all sourced from Myprotein, which have offered good service / prices so far.

[teethgrinder]

While you can just use table sugar and salt, getting some of the right stuff should lead to a more effective energy drink and won't cost much more.  Also, using maltodextrin instead of plain old sugar means you won't have a sickly sweet drink.

Myprotein.co.uk is where I get all my stuff from.  I make mine with 2 parts malodextrin to 1 part fructose.  I sometimes add electrolyte powder (better than salt which is only sodium) and for races will often add some caffeine powder.  Mixed with some fruit squash (usually grapefruit juice for me) it tastes ok and is very, very, very similar to the brand-name drinks, but for a fraction of the price.

However, I only use energy drinks for racing and long/fast rides.  For regular rides up to a few hours there's no real need for an energy drink (though a sprinkle of electrolyte powder is often a good idea).

I agree with that, it sounds like very good advice. Not that I'm a nutritionist or anything. I might even have a go at that.

Was also experimenting with adding some protein or ground oats into the mix, but cannot say if it makes much difference.
Ingredients all sourced from Myprotein, which have offered good service / prices so far.

Going from my food cravings on rides, I'd say that you only really want protien on very long rides, at least more than 150 miles, but more likely, much longer than that. For me, it's usualy after I've been riding for at least 14 hours or so. Protien is hard to digest, so probably not best for high intensity stuff, like wot I don't do. I ate some chicken on the Mersey 24 this year. I normally grab some hot dog sausages after the night section. Normally I wouldn't touch them, but they taste very good on a 24, probably because I need some of what is in them. Definitely gives me a boost, even if only psychological.

[Kim]

If you're going to use table salt, use the low-sodium kind which is about 50% potassium chloride.  Tastes ming, but more useful electrolytes.