BBC reports aside, I'm interested in knowing what people drink before / during / after rides.

I'm old enough to remember when the choice was water or squash, and then all the terrible tasting stuff that came out in the 90's. Skip forward to 2012, and I am now doing more active riding than I have done in years, with a son who is a keen road rider.

We are currently trying all sorts of stuff, including the freebies that Wiggle and CRC kindly send us and which make 500ml of tap water taste like 500ml of fruit flavoured battery acid.

We currently have a stock of Torq, which seems to work and tastes better the more thirsty you are, and I have just bought two huge tubs of powder from Bike Food, but not tried them yet (although the bars are really good).

Any suggestions of stuff that actually tastes nice?

Ribena, or after watching that programme on the beeb I will be following the flying scotsmans advice of water and a jam sarnie.

For short rides I like Nuun's and for anything a bit longer I'm currently using SIS Go lemon and lime. I did like the Bike Food stuff too and will probably get some of that when the SIS runs out.

I didn't see any BBC program. What was it so I can catch it on iPlayer?

I stick to water on the bike. I'm not doing long enough or hard enough rides to suffer from too much electrolyte loss I don't think, and I try not to ride on an empty stomach.
And a glass of milk post ride is supposed to be good for the muscles, but you canny whack some tea and cake.

Before. Nothing special but usually involving coffee to clean out the system before leaving.

Road:
During: Rides over 2 hours - 500ml High 5 4.1 in one bottle. High 5 Zero in the other. Extra Zero tabs (I don't think it tastes like battery acid) for bottle refills at taps en route. Or a 75ml bottle in the jersey. Energy gels.
Rides below 2 hours - just High 5 Zero.

MTB
Rides over 2 hours : Camelbak with just water. Won't put manky stuff in it.
Bottle of 4:1 or Zero depending on distance.
Gels.

Last weeks Panorama was all about sports nutrition and equipment. I have not watched it, but I get the feel it was more aimed at the corporate sell of these products.

Kaiser: Like the PowerBars of the past, the last time I tried SIS, it was like super concentrated Lemsip; lemon / saccharin flavour...yuk!

I'll put it on my possibles list.

Any ride less than an hour = nothing usually, unless it's baking hot, then just water.

Longer rides = water or "High5 Zero" or "SIS", or weak orange squash with a little salt added.

Very long rides = as above, but will eat food also (enrgy bars etc), and stop for cups of tea etc along way


It;s very much down to what you like and what you can tolerate when you're on the bike. In my younger days I used to swear by flat watered down cola, but now it just makes me want to heave. I tried a few different energy drinks to see which I liked the most, some of them just tasted horrible, whilst others would repeat on me or make me feel ill, so you just need to experiment and find which suit you best.

Post-ride I just drink the same stuff (this is one area I probably should look into more tbh), I have tried Maximuscle "Viper" recovery drink, but again I didn't really like the taste. Personally after a ride I think my favourite is a glass of chocolate milk and a banana (I sound like a big kid but it's actually quite good fuel)

Ahhh, but you knew exactly what I was talking about

And they do taste like battery acid, but hey, free is free so I still drink them

Zero for me too, although I find last night's dinner and breakfast have more of a bearing on how I feel

orange squash for me,and a few bars along the way for carbs . and am afraid to say the bikefood honey stuff is not for me, just to sweet


chocolate milk and bannana sounds good, and maybe a peanut butter sandwich

Water on the ride unless we stop during the ride and get tea & cake

Interesting about the milk before a ride comment, I've never heard that before and I drink a lot of milk, and I do mean a lot, if I take a pint out of the fridge I will drink the whole thing rather than put some in a glass, probably do about 2 pints a day at least.

I had a go on Powerbars back in the day and they made me really ill??? I ate them during a couple of long rides and each time I was sick as a dog for about a week, not sure why, maybe I was allergic to something in them

On long rides and runs I use High 5 energy drinks because they taste nice. I do also use their Protien Recovery drink after long rides/runs but only if I'm feeling really tired. I'm too lazy to make up some food and put it in the fridge for afterwards like Graham Obree recomended (on Panorama) and if I'm really tired I wouldn't have the energy to make a proper meal so would end up going without. A pint of recovery drink means within about 30 minutes I can function again and make some proper food. I'm talking about 20+ mile runs and 100+ mile road rides. Normal day to day training I just drink water and eat bananas. A 1.6kg tub of high 5 4:1 energy drink last me around 18 months. The same size tub of recovery drink last even longer.

for me just water, before during and after. Occasionally if i'm knackered I have this sustegen stuff, but yeah, either a bottle or camelback with water.

Just water to drink, I sometimes take some fruit, usually apples or bananas to eat on longer rides. Maybe a couple of pints of Guiness or real ale if there's a nice pub somewhere along the route.

Bikefood kindly sent me a few gels with a big order I placed for bars and drink. I'm not big on gels, I don't really like the consistency, but Jon was brave enough to try them and said that they have the consistency of honey and are REALLY sweet.... so that makes them perfect for me then

I usually have coffee or fruit juice after a ride, that's after finishing up any drink left over from the ride.

Interesting to see how many people use post ride drinks, that is an area I have never really considered, as after 30 years in the Martial Arts, post training I have usually been starving hungry and gone for fruit and a huge bowl of muesli (or similar).

I shall have to look into post ride drinks, as I know Jon has products for that purpose.