Cycling Sports Drinks

If you are an intermediate cyclist, then you will be more likely to be interested in sports drinks. Although drinking water is already a good habit, consuming cycling sports drink can elevate your cycling performance, especially during long distance rides.

Gatorade
One of the common sports drinks is “Gatorade”. So are they really beneficial to us? Some cyclists might question the use of these products, especially beginners.

In learning about the truth, we need to find out about glycogen. Glycogen is the compound in which sugar is stored in the liver for release to other parts of the body. In simple sense, glycogen is your energy.

The truth is, your muscles themselves are fueled by glycogen. They are also stored in muscles, other than the liver. However, long cycling rides will last approximately 3 hours or more. This is a problem because the glucose reserves can only last you about 90 minutes, provided that you give your best effort when cycling hard.

Sudden Lost of Energy

Experienced riders who have experienced this total glycogen loss reported that they feel a sudden loss of energy. This is where sports drinks are useful. They can help refill your glycogen level when you need it. Medical experts have said that a cyclist should drink a sports drink that contains 6 percent glucose for every 20-minute time period. Drinking 600 to 700 milliliters of the particular sports drink per hour does this.

Sports drinks will usually contain complex and simple carbohydrates that come in different forms. You will need both to replenish your blood glucose reserves.