Energy drinks during exercise (cycling)

I've recently started doing some modest distance cycling "Sportives", and find myself surrounded by cyclists adding various tablets to their drinking bottles or mixing powders with their drinks. On Saturday the event organisers provided energy drink at the drinks station.

I just carry water in my "bidons", and have glucogel, bananas etc with me. On Saturday I found myself riding a very long stretch (about an hour and a half) into a strong head-wind, and was pretty exhausted when I reached the half-way drinks point.

Has anyone had any experience of using energy products during long(ish) distance cycling? What's the impact, and how do you work around QA amounts?

I'd like to get to grips with this as I'm hoping to do a coast-to-coast ride (in stages) later this year, and would like to have an effective "topping-up" mechanism for during the rides.

Stew

Although I'm not a regular heavy duty exerciser I find that Glucojuice is very handy as a glucose replacementm. It comes in 60ml bottles and each bottle is worth 14 units of carbohydrate or 1.4 portions. Presumably you could put in as many of these as you wish into your bottle and you would then know how much value you have in total and could approximately work out each drink is worth. As far as I'm aware anythig with high glucose content could be clased as "high energy" just like lucozade so it may be worth a try. At least you would know what you are taking on board. Best of luck

I have done a few 100 mile events and find that I prefer to leave my bidons with just water (or water and electrolyte). The fuelling will come in the form of gels or pre-determined amounts of dried fruit. I prefer this setup rather than adding powders to my drinks because I dehydrate quite quickly and I don't want to overload on carbohydrate in an attempt to get fluid in to me.

As with a lot of this diabetes management thing, it is a matter of trial and error. Are you testing during your training rides? I know it is a pain to have to stop and test but capturing how you react to the cycling effort coupled with how much carbohydrate you are ingesting will, in the long run, take away the pressure when it comes to the event(s). Perhaps taking carbs in via your water bottle will work better for you. Some people suffer from gastric issues when cycling and attempting to eat solid food so finding this sort of thing out beforehand is helpful.

Enjoy it.

I do a lot of long distance cycling, in the early days I would have pockets full of glucose tablets and energy gels as I went hypo loads (exercise was probably a shock to the system), to counter this I then started lowering my background insulin along with my QA. This then lead to prolonged times of running at 12+, which made me feel lethargic on the bike.

I have found a solution over the last 6 months, its not for everyone, but I have gone fully low carb, no bread, rice, pasta, sugar etc... I probably only have 20 to 30g of carbs from veg in a day unless I go hypo.

In getting my body used to burning fat not carbs I still have gels in my pocket, but for the last few 100+ milers I've done them just on water.

Like others have said, trial and error to find whats best for you I suppose, Low Carb isn't for everyone, but my HbA1c has gone from 7.9 to 5.9, which for me is worth the effort.

Phil

Thanks for taking the time everyone - not sure I'm keen to go low carb Phil, but crikey, that's quite an impact! I try to get my levels fairly high (12ish) for the start of a ride, but sometimes I don't get this right and end up at 15+, which as you say can leave me feeling lethargic (which kind of defeats the object of enjoying my cycling).

I'll do a bit more "research" on stuff like glucojuice. As you say Michael, at least I'll know the carb value of what's in my bidons. James, I do test during my rides (including what I laughingly refer to as "training" rides), but maybe I'm not testing enough to see exactly what's happening over a three or so hour ride. One thing I have noticed is that if I test low during a ride (lower than 5 or 6 say) and take on a mix of quick-acting and slower-acting carbs (e.g. a couple of glucogel tubes and a frusli bar) to see me through, sometimes the carbs don't seem be able to keep up with the continued exercise and I can be slightly lower at my next test (usually up to an hour later). I'm reluctant to rest and wait for my levels to come up before riding on, which is why I wonder about using some of the energy products to get a really quick spike.

Lastly, what about non-carb products? Things which seem to be caffeine-based mainly. How do they work, what should their impact be, and is diabetes a relevant factor in deciding whether to use them?

I need to get this right - my lovely wife's just bought me a new carbon bike!

Thanks again

Stew

I can only talk about Science in Sport (SiS) products but they do state what the nutritional values are, certainly on the gels. I don't have any to hand but I believe they come in at about 20g carbohydrate per pouch. The use of caffeine is aimed at giving you a boost over the last leg of the ride. I am not aware of diabetes playing a part in suitability, it comes down to how you as a person respond to caffeine. They are probably not something for every training run but you should at least try it before embarking on anything official to ensure suitability. Other non-carb products contain electrolytes which are good at preventing cramps due to loss of salts through sweating.

On a tangential note, do you ride with a heart rate (or if you are really hardcore, a power) monitor? I am a sucker for numbers and find my HRM useful when relating rides with blood sugars. It removes some subjectivity from the proceedings plus you can see how your body responds to long steady rides as opposed to more sprint orientated ordeals. As you move through the different heart rate zones the source of and need for, carbohydrate changes. As Phil has demonstrated, utilising fats for energy rather than quick acting carbohydrate is what you want for long rides. I suspect that this has been achieved through long duration, low intensity training (70-75% maximum heart rate) alongside the low carb diet. It should also mean you will lose weight and therefore become faster as there is less of you to lug around.

Yeah as James has said, to become fat adapted on the bike its been a long slow slog, training at 180-age which for me is 141bpm, very low, but its paid off.

I do find if I'm on a group ride and the pace is too high for this HR I find I burn sugar and BG drops, I use High 5 gels for this, for no other reason than they're cheap, most places online are buy one get one free, I also find them more liquid than SiS and easier during a hypo to get out of sachet.

Stew. Your muscles will recharge by drawing glucose back into them after axercice which could explain the apparent non rise in BG levels after compensating with carbs.... keep up the good work. ... Andy

I really appreciate everyone's responses - lots to think about and realising that it's Not straightforward. In my youth, and many years pre-diabetes, I used to cycle race (mainly 10 and 25 mile time trials), so it comes as a bit of a trial that I can't just get on my bike and ride. On the other hand, I do like the challenge and I'm really enjoying getting the miles in. I'll be giving the suggestions a go! Thanks.

Stew