DIY Sports Drinks

I'm too mean to pay the money for sports drinks in liquid or powder form, and it didn't take too much research to confirm that the core ingredients and composition of these products isn't that special. Granted, they make have some extra finesse in terms of proportions, ingredients etc at the margin, but it seems possible to get at least 80% of the benefit for less than 20% of the price (I do like my Pareto's Law).

So now I tend to fill my hydration pack with:

• 100ml concentrated orange squash OR 100ml sugar free equivalent plus 5 tablespoons sugar
• 1/3 teaspoon salt OR now - the recommended dose of Elete Water

... made up to 1 litre with water. This makes up to an isotonic drink which provides some calories as well as water and salt (plus other electrolytes if you use Elete) in "body" concentration for optimum absorbtion. You can increase the juice/sugar concentration to get more energy per litre (but may compromise hydration) or reduce it to emphasise hydration.

Caveat: I have seen recipes that claim to be similarly "substitutes for big buck brands" that have much higher and much lower concentrations of both sugar and salt - but the proportions here seem to be the most common agreed. Please make sure you're happy about the makeup of what you're drinking before following any of these recipes.

If you want to get a bit more sophisticated, you may want to look at using calorie sources other than granulated white sugar - glucose, fructose, maltodextrine etc - like this and this.

Cramp

I've had cramp a couple of times after rides - usually driving into the outskirts of Edinburgh after a Glentress trip is the timescale for it kicking in.

But it hasn't affected a ride like it did at the Penrith Merida MTB Marathon where it was a serious limiting factor. Reading up on cramp, it seems it isn't fully understood exactly why it happens, but there are a number of contributory factors:

• Temperature
• Hydration
• Fitness/fatigue
• Electrolyte imbalance

The first two aren't really factors for me, but I'd readily concede that fitness IS - and was almost prepared to accept that until I was fitter, cramp might be a perpetual problem.

Then I found out about Elete Water - mainly because their UK distributor Fine ADC have (had) an office in the same campus as my work office and James there gave me a few of their sample packs.

I used these during training rides over the next few weeks - I knew it wouldn't be a great test because I wouldn't normally get cramp then, but I wanted to be sure it wasn't going to cause any new problems.

... which it didn't. It has a salty-ish taste concentrated (which is not how you use it) but when diluted even in plain water there is no taste. I tended to add it to my DIY sports drink instead of the salt component.

The big trial came at the Merida MTB Marathon in Aviemore. I started to use Elete a couple days before hand in water throughout the day, and added it to the juice and water in my hydration pack on the day. I also took a small runners water bottle with concentarted juice and Elete Water in it so that 100ml of this would make 1litre DIY sports drink when topped up at the water/food refill stations.

I can't pretend that I had absolutely no cramp problems in this event, but they were massively better than at Penrith. My conclusion is that Elete Water dalt with the electrolyte imbalance part of my cramp problem ... now I just need to deal with the fitness part (which includes stretching) to get rid of it altogether.

Confirmation of that came when I did the same route again a couple of weeks later with Neal. Using Elete as before - and with a pace/gear choice that protected a niggling knee problem - I had absolutely no cramp during or after the ride.

It's not an inexpensive product - especially when you start buying the bigger bottles - but you use very little of it per litre of water. I got a couple of the little dropper bottles initially then a big bottle as you can (apparently) refill the droppers from the big bottle which is handy to take out on the trail with you for top-ups. I actually got a good price (esp with £1 P&P) from UK Bike Store but you should check for yourself.

Weight Log - Festive Impact

The lowest I got pre-Xmas was 12st 9lb.

Highest at the end of the festive period was 13st.

Turns out that 5lb is the most common weight gain for the period.

I guess it's not too bad - I'm back down to 12st 13lb today so hopefully it will be all off in the next few weeks - though being away in London at a trade exhibition won't help.

Weight Log

12st 12lb

Weight Log

WooHoo - 13st :)

This is going very slowly, but among other excuses I have to try and actually fuel my training. That means making sure I take on enough calories to perform as well as I can on longer rides, and replenishing stores afterwards. Not quite the same as pure "eat less, do more" weight loss program.

Weight Log

Delayed posting Saturdays weigh-in.

Hoped it would be a landmark, but 13st 0.25lb. Where are those diuretics :)

Weight Log

13st 1.25lb

Weight Log

13st 2.75lbs

Thank goodness for scales that don't round up :)

Light Bikes and Fat Blokes

It's easy to get obsessed about weight with mountain bikes, shaving 5g here and there. The difference between bikes described as "cumbersome tanks" or "racing whippets" seems to be about 5lbs, so I reckon it will be easier to lose (say) 14lbs from me than from the bike and components I use.

Need to get a better fix on my ideal weight, but I'm sure I can afford to lose that stone at least. Maybe recording progress in public will be a useful motivation to stay on plan.

I have started to lose a little since this TR idea became serious about three weeks ago. Starting point 13 stone 7lbs, last week 13 stone 5.5 lbs, today 13 stone 4.5lbs.