My on the bike hydration for years has been a mixture of water, honey ,lemon juice, and a pinch of sea salt. Works great and cheap as hell.

I used to do this when I was a competitive road cyclist in the 90s. Some weeks I would do 600kms, with my longest Zone 1 training rides on Wednesdays being about 190kms. When it was hotter outside I would also add a pinch of salt.

Raw sugar with some salt and cordial all the time for me. Works a treat. 90g/hr. Cheap as chips. I have the sugar bidon and then a bunch of plain water bidons to rinse after each sugar sip.

Lemon is a good idea, I usually mix 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar with isotonic drink which tastes sweet and salty, to balance out the sweetness.

Thank you for sharing. Very interesting, especially the recommendation on rotating through fuel sources.

Sugar water is great but I suggestion a sugar gel with multiple types of sugar. Add table sugar / maltodextrin / Glucose then optionally some amino acids and flavoring. Boil the mixture down and if you do it right it will be a semisweet gel. It will not be as sweet because Glucose isn't so sweet and as a gel it slips past the tongue without tasting it so much. Then bring water on the ride to get the rest out of your mouth and get water in your system. Works out I spend about 1/10th the price of the gels you buy and it works the same.

Cane sugar works better for me than Cane syrup, i used to just use it at the half way coffee stop 50km, but sugar inch and half in bottle from the off works best

I completed the questionaire on your website. The upper limit of carb intake is around 120 g/h at pro level, so 90 g/h is partially true (given the question doesn't specify target athletes).

This was brilliant. So glad that the balance of sugar water and solid foods seems idea

The last 6 months have been adding 100g sugar, 10g honey and salt to my bottles and it has changed so much. 2-3 hrs in a solid ride and still able to hit power numbers and recovery is much better

I have done this, and found that if I use warm water to mix the drink, it seems to disolve better. So I mix it up when I first get up, and let it cool down until I'm ready to go. Or, the night before.

I buy frozen apple juice concentrate and mix half and half with water. Works great and tastes good on a long ride

Awesome video!!!! How long of a ride did you do for that amount of carbs??? I’m trying to figure out what’s ideal. I do a time crunched plan. So I do pretty hard wkos up to 90 mins and am using 50g carbs in the form of dextrose :) love that you are female and can help us

Using a 2:1 (or 1: 0.8) maltodextrin/fructose mix, like in all the fancy sports-drinks (Maurten/Beta Fuel), drastically brings down the sweetness and apparently helps the max absorbsion rate. I mainly use it when I go a bit harder, In that case I also drink a lot, so automatically I can make a lower concentration (100g on a 750ml bottle is insane!).

You know the old saying, racing on 'bread and water'. I'd be interested in your take on using bread and water for fueling. I thought of this a while ago, but haven't tested it fully. --- Cut and paste of some old notes here. --- White bread has the perfect ratio of electrolytes for exercise, with also a little protein. If you cut of the crust of each slice, you have 40 cals per serve (without the most of the fibre content of bread). Add a little jam (or honey/etc), and that will take you up to 60 cals per serve. 6 per hour is 240 cals without jam/honey, or 360 with. 360 cals is around the maximum a person can metabolise while riding for endurance events. For comparison, -- 240 cals of SIS electrolyte powder (orange flavor) -- (Btw, I used the powder for calcs instead of the tablets, because the tablets don't include carbs, and are really just flavored salt tablets.) Protein 0 Carbs 60g - sugar 11.2g (of 60g) Fat 0g Fibre 0g Salt 850mg Calcium 43.5mg Magnesium 8.5mg Potassium 98.9mg -- 240 cals of white bread -- Protein 6.8g Carbs 45.6g - sugars 3.9g (of 45.2g) Fat 3.0g Fibre 2.1g (but most fibre is in the crust, so if you cut the crust off, you cut out most of the fibre, and incidentally, about half the calories of a single slice) Salt 614mg Calcium 136mg Magnessium 20.7mg Potassium 90.2mg ---- Given people eat museli and oat bars and such, I'm sure eating plain white bread (without the crusts) with a little jam/honey, is going to be a little easier on the stomach for most. Anyway, in the past, when I've done long distance endurance rides, I usually just take some basic sandwiches to eat along the way. I've never tried racing on bread and water. And while I haven't raced in quite a while, next time I get the bug again and start racing, I'll be giving this a go.

Yes! my people 🤗….sugar…maple syrup….lemon juice…experiment with salt if you wish….makes a good drink 🥳👍🏻

Hot tip: use a bit of boiling water to dissolve the sugar first. That way, you don't end up with sugar chunks. Also, I've been using sugar water for over a year now. It's the cheapest and simplest way for me to fuel my rides and consume calories consistently. It also seems pretty safe to experiment, especially when compared to using baking soda before rides (if you know, you know). 💩😂

I use equal accounts of water and apple juice (not from concentrate) with a pinch of salt and a little blackcurrant cordial for taste. This reduces the amount of solid needing to dissolve and similar macros and micros to the expensive powders

I've used Jesse Coyle's recommended sugar water mix for a couple of years now and my gut has adapted to work well with it. 300g raw sugar dissolved in 500ml of boiling water, add a few pinches of salt, leave in the fridge overnight. My other 850ml bottle has water only. If a longer or harder ride, I sometimes use soft flasks with same mix and two bottles water on the bike (to get through a longer race with no stops or a fast ride unsupported).

I use it for few months now and it works 100% for me. Its much easier on bike to drink then eat.

The problem with looking g at his is that your not looking at th time factor. The time factor, under 4 hours there will still be sufficient "mix" of nutrients with liver processing etc, and a you pointed out, taking the glucose fructose mix will stop fat and most glycogen breakdown for aerobic means. Over 4 hours, that effect is reduced and the need for sugar to compensate for the lack of muscle glycogen means that the concentration. Requirement goes up, and goes up every hour. The time line is based on how much of the fast fibres are used, so if there are lots of short high effort burst then that time line will.come down closer to 2 hours. If it's a more controlled, within aerobic range, then the time line will be 4 hours plus. Other foods will support you getting to the 4 hour point. This is why the tour riders increase the concentration. Of their drinks toward the last hours of a stage. With the advent of mct, where the glycerol element also can be processed through glycolysis, can also extend the "carb" based metabolism

I add some glucose to sugar water. So it's not as sweet as just sugar. Heating it up helps dissolve the sugar very well.

Maltodextrin and sucrose (in the form of grape juice) in the right ratio. Look at a commercial sports energy drink mix and read the ingredients.

I know back in Cuba that’s all we had to power our workouts since sports drinks wasn’t really a thing.

do you have strange taste in your mounth after drinking such home made carbs drink? (5:4 - 2:1 ratio) ? Is it acidity ? do you add someting to the drink to alleviate this taste? (maybe bicarbonate of soda?)

Nice. This is something I am experimenting with, but not tried anything near that concentration yet. Wow 14%. I have been more like 5% and thought that was too sweet. How does it compare to something like Ribena or Fresh Orange Juice?

Interesting, but no actual data about the energy in the drink, although you you did reference it compromising fat use. The utility of sugar water seems linked to the exercise type good for high intensity not good for endurance, if you are trying to train the fat burning system. It always seems to me the key thing is having a well balanced diet, staying hydrated and then supplementing with sports drinks etc.. I thought the type of lipto protein affected how the body metabolizes a sports drink. Is the sugar just quickly burned so also better for shorter duration or does it just provide energy more quickly?

The video honestly misses 2 things regarding the practical application. For most endurance athletes it will be much more beneficial to get a small runners flask, use that for all the sugar fueling you want to do and simply put it into your back pocket. That way you differentiate between your water/hydration and the fueling. You have essentially a "gel" in your back pocket that you take a sip of every now and then and you can compensate for the taste (if you think it's too sweet) by simply drinking a bit of water right after. Makes it also easier to keep track of your intake on long rides, assuming that you have to refill your water bottles. I'd also HIGHLY recommend to prepare the whole thing in pot where you heat up the water so you get a proper solution and don't have to deal with the suggar setting at the bottom of your bottle.

I add 1.5x SiS Go Hydro tablet to add flavour. Completely changes the taste and much easier to drink. However I use 80gm per 750ml bottle. Thats enough carb for me.

Hi, great video! I used to do exactly this, maybe around 10% sugar with a bit of salt. The reason I stopped doing it was that I just assumed refined sugar was by definition unhealthy, or might cause diabetes. Are sports drinks `healthier` than plain sugar, calorie for calorie?

if with mild t2 diabetes, im I ok to take sugar fir fueling during exercises (30g/hour)? or if it is better to consume lowert GI carb like apple and whole grain bread. i am not competing, just long ride

First, on a 750 ml bottle it's 60-90 gr of sugar ! You can have solid foods also to increase the total carbs ! Also, pre ride meal also helps! If you had 60 for example in there it will be fantastic, not too sweet ! One day testing doesn't work ! Lemon in the sugar water makes it sweeter, but doesn't allow the mixture to become solid again ! Learned that from Baklava makers ! Also, you mix water with sugar, not the other way around ! It's not the best solution, it's the cheapest and the most readerly available ! Everyone has sugar wherever you go, they don't have betafuel !

No problem with sugar in the bottle at all. I used it on 100km plus rides with zero issue and it's way cheaper than buying commercial drinks. 1. If riding 1hr then really no need especially if the intensity is easy. 2. You need to match carbs with time and intensity so if you doing a 2hr ride then surely less carbs than a 3 or 4hr ride. 3. Aim for total carbs using solids and water and that is also good. 4. I saw some pro stepping up his carbs. So for 2hr he would be on 30 or was it 60 grams an hr etc Anyways ... Point for me it is fuel that works according to pro cyclist and science and it's good on the pocket compared to buying the same in a commercial package for 12 times more in some cases

Hi there, a better comparison would be a mixture of Maltodextrin & fructose (basically what many sports drinks are) compared to a sugar water mix with the same calories. You can get more calories into your system using a Mdex/Fruc mix when compared to sugar water basically bcos sugar water has a higher osmolarity per calorie when compared to Mdex/fruc mix and therefore will create GI distress at a lower calorie point than Mdex/Fruc 👍

I understand the point about processing carbs, but doesn't sugar inhibit fluid uptake over a certain ratio? I was taught any more than 4 tablespoons of sugar per 750ml of water would inhibit fluid uptake, but staying under that would augment fluid uptake, so I always do 3 tablespoons. I seriously never considered adding sugar by weight. Also, I don't measure my sips when I'm on the bike. I just drink a sip or so every 10 to 15 minutes, weather dependent, so ratio seems more important than weight. I also add a very small amount of salt to my bottles to help me retain fluids.

hi there, i thought that the amount of cabs per hour cycling should be 60-90g, why you are higher than that?. just another thing, simple table sugar is sucrose, which is disaccharide composed of Glucose + Fructose = Sucrose. you mentioned that sugar is Sucrose+fuctose, just to avoid misunderstanding. thanks for the video

You mentioned the dentist a couple of times, but is this really any worse for your teeth compared to commercial fuels? Both are almost entirely sugar, just slightly different types.

Add 15% of mct powder to your mix and it will taste much better so in your case 15 g of MCT powder

My understanding is sugar in a concentrated state will go through your arteries like sandpaper. This means the body has to repair the damage creating plaque on your arteries. Over time this will create a build up of plaque and may cause a heart attack due to a clog of said arteries.

102g / hour is lot to start with !! hard on your gut. M. van der POEL does 120g/hour, when racing hard, in comparison

In Cuba we call it MINOLDO, many gold medals of my country in diferent sports like boxing, athleticism, baseball, judo, etc trained with this, no kidding

Whats the difference between sugar water and pop (soda) besides the obvious carbonation??

Also re: tolerance - you can train your gut :D

I would only mix a max of about 50 to 60grams per bottle

Interesting ,what size was your bottle & what about electrolytes?

I used to use maltidectrin never sure if it worked or just the placebo effect. Now I'm a coeliac and I don't think the advise you to use it

I add some koolaid powder and 1/4 tbsp of salt per hour/bottle

Used sugar water all the time when cycling. Not using refined white sugar was the trick. Brown, cane, turbinado, stevia leaf, agave syrup, coconut sugar or any similar sweetener was the trick for me. An extra flavor profile to the sugar in the drink made it easier to down it on long rides.

You have to boil the water to get the sugar to fully dissolve. Just like making cool aid.

Sugar and staminade for the second half of the ride. Plain water for hydration.

I use staminade from the supermarket and add a little extra sugar

Yes fat oxidation is important. Yes we want to get better at it. No it should not be achieved by limiting carb intake on the bike. The tradeoffs are not in favor, ever. There are better reasons to limit carb intake on the bike. 1. Personal preference. 2. Managing satiety by eating more whole foods off the bike. We feel the need to comment here because it's an oft-cited refrain among even sports dietitians that fat oxidation adaptations over time should be a consideration when thinking about fueling. We think it's important that they're not a consideration because fat oxidation ability gained is always outweighed by carb oxidation ability lost. See Louise Burke's work from the last 6 years.

cane sugar tastes quite nice

What is working harder, your legs or your pancreas!

I threw some of that new Fangled Popcorn Flour into my Water Bottle to avoid Fructose

I don’t just drink it like a normal sports drink, that sounds dreadful! I make one ultra concentrated bottle (I go right up to 350g in a 500ml bottle) and run another bottle of just plain water. Chase each mouthful of the concentrate with water to hydrate and clean your teeth. I’m lucky/adapted (?) as I get absolutely no gut issues. It has absolutely changed my fuelling on long rides with no notable side effects.

I mix 3 parts Coke with 1 part Lemonade....it works fine

Now do D-Ribose.

apple juice, 1 vit c effervescent, water, salt. BOOM!!!!!!

Sugar works but for me it's just too sweet, so I only use 1 or 2 spoons and top it up with maltodextrin. Recently I got so sick of cleaning sticky bottles that I just went back to gels and bars and using plain water in my bottles. Yeah more expensive but so much easier, for me.

I've been using fruit squash with a pinch of salt in my bottles for years, I can't stand the taste of the over sweetened so called ISO drinks.

Take plain water to rinse after to prevent tooth decay...

Sugar is PH neutral, naturally

Baking soda ..

Dental health?!

💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪

This woman has never made kool-aid lol golden rule is add hot water to dissolve the sugar first then cold h20 and ice 😂

In fact, there is a better alternative - natural honey. Ideally rapeseed honey. It contains 40% glucose and 40% fructose and in total about 80% carbohydrates. I have been using honey for years and am very satisfied. For my hard sessions, I use 150g of honey in 900ml of water. For easier workouts, about half that. For every 50g of honey I add 1g of salt.

100 plus grams in 2 hours at less than 25km/h seems a bit much? At that speed it’s more of an aerobic ride isn’t it. I don’t think there are many hills in that route. Just a question, not a shot at you

Ooouhfff table sugar and lemon. By by tooth enamel.

I use Zero sugar, fructose or glucose to fuel my 3-4 hrs bike ride. I always have to wait for my carbs addict friends to refuel

You don't need any carbs for endurance exercise. Get fat adapted and enjoy a competitive edge over people who have to manage carb intake.