I've been using a recovery drink after maybe 50% of my training rides & wondered if anyone has any thoughts on them.

I'm happy with the performance of the electrolytes & carbo’ drinks powders that I put into the Camelbak, and that seems to make a tangible difference, but just wondered about peoples experiences with the range of post-ride drinks.

Tick, I want to be able to ride two days in a row. Recently my legs have just felt utterly dead after one day 🙁

Does Guinness count as a recovery drink 😆

Cheers, Rich

Get some high quality protein into you within 20 to 40 minutes after stopping. There is a good window where the body absorbs protein for muscle repair within this time.

A good quality recovery drink should have the correct things to make this happen…

However, you could just go buy a bunch of chocolate milk and scoff this instead. Will give you a similar result!! Even better make a fresh fruit smoothie with yoghurt…

bikeradar say milk

1/3rd of my recovery drink is skinny milk added instead of water.

'Recovery' and 'Sports' drinks etc are not much more than clever marketing, if you actually analyse the ingredients. You can get just about all the good stuff from other things. A decent diet of nice tasty foods will be far more enjoyable than nasty powdered muck.

The only 'advantage' of such drinks are that they contain a fair bit of the stuff your body needs, in a convenient package. But you could make up your own, just as good, from ordinary food ingredients.

The never climbed Everest with some fancy poncy bloody 'energy drink'!

Torq Recovery

Works really well (mixed with milk) but I only use it after hard rides other than that think soya/whey protein is as good as any of the more expensive alternatives.

water.

lots of it, over a period of hours – certainly helps with aches, pains and stiffening muscles

I use Rego post ride for the convenience. I am pretty sure eating and drinking "real" food would do the job but a bottle of Rego can be drunk in the time it takes to run a bath. Then I can have dinner.

yes. once you find one you like the taste of.
SIS rego for me. helps with DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness)
but i'm more likely to use it after road riding than a mtb bimble.

i'm not interested in making something cheaper myself as it's easy to mix up and leave in the fridge before a ride and tastes quite nice.

i like the everest link… whats the current death rate? somewhere between 10 – 25% of all summits? hmmmmm!

You can get just about all the good stuff from other things.

Of course you can, but it's the convenience isn't it! Particularly if you don't get home after your ride, you can knock back a recovery drink in the car or whatever, rather than driving home, having a shower, then eating, whereby it's rather too late.

I like High 5 recovery after a tough ride, and compression tights.

I use Nuun (www.nuun.com) the lime drink is my personal choice and if your planning on doing a long event 3hrs+ or multi day event then try compression clothing (http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/dhb_Compression_Tights/5360039130/)
they will make a big diffrence to either training or the main event.

Yazoo or just water and a banananananana.

Huh? Nuun are electrolyte tabs not recovery drink shirley?

They work well if you cramp, not much use otherwise, and personally I find Elete water better now, you can add it to a carb drink so you're still getting carbs, with Nuun/Zym you're reliant on food and gels for energy.

All you guys talking about convenience… how hard is it to find Chocolate milk in the UK??

Find it at every corner dairy and supermarket here in nz…

I like High 5 recovery after a tough ride, and compression tights.

DEVIANT!!! 👿

does protein in the form of bacon and sausages help with recovery? 😀

If I left chocolate milk in my fridge it wouldn't be there when I went back. Housemates are unlikely to help themselves to a sachet of Rego.

Beer and a kebab is all you need, if you rode really hard have two kebabs.

I found they help if you're riding consecutive days. I used them on coast to coast and it helped keep soreness at bay.

For riding lots of consecutive days I'd consider something like High 5 4:1 which has 4 parts carbs to one part protein, works well.

My Camelbak mix is 2 of those High5 powders and a dash of that Elete stuff you recommended last time and one of the mixed banana & vanilla (+ milk) Rego recovery drink; so all else being correct it must be me that's not performing too well then! ❗ 😉

I bung one of these in the car for post ride snack, along with a tuna sandwich and a banana. Easy, convienient, tasty, not that expensive, and it works for me. Yazoo chocolate milk, or just a pint of semi skimmed works just as well.

Yazoo chocolate milk, or just a pint of semi skimmed works just as well.

That's what I don't really get, High 5 Recovery costs <£1 per serving, I'll wager a chocolate milk from a petrol station costs more!

"Find it at every corner dairy and supermarket here in nz… "

aye and it tastes **** lovely over there – as does your schweppes cloudy lemonade you find at nearly every dairy . and lets not talk about L&P ….

Chocomilk here tastes chalky and poor in comparison

I miss NZ !

Er hello, Pot Noodle….

njee20:

That's what I don't really get, High 5 Recovery costs <£1 per serving, I'll wager a chocolate milk from a petrol station costs more!

Yazoo is 47p from Tescos.

That's not bad at all. But that requires forethought, I thought part of the argument for chocolate milk was that you could just walk in anywhere and pick some up?

I personally don't like milk, including in chocolate form, so it's fairly irrelevant! Although the vanilla FGS aren't bad, again, we're back to costing more!

Do they all have to be kept refrigerated?

But chocolate milk tastes really good. I agree, if you break down the costs per serving, some of the SIS/High5 powders probably are cheaper, but I just can't face more energy type drinks after a long ride. The chocolate FGS is very addictive, and always hits the spot. I guess it's what works for you.

Doesn't need to be kept in the fridge either, although I find it nicer.

nah its uht nick

for a nice tasting recovery drink try powerbar lion bar – its tasty !

i use zipvit mostly though !

I'll have one if I get back from a ride late and have something else planned for the next day. They do a good job for taking away that oh my god I want to eat everything in the house feeling you get sometimes. I was riding until 10pm then getting up for a 6am swim a while back. By the time you've had a shower you don't feel like much else before bed.

Torq tastes BAD.

High5 is OK even mixed with water, which makes it pretty cheap.

There is a good window where the body absorbs protein for muscle repair within this time.

I've also read that it's 2 hours and believe that it is in fact "before you do more exercise".

Beer and a kebab is all you need, if you rode really hard have two kebabs.

Now we're talking… 😉

one of the guys here at work 'invented' his own energy/protein supplement (he is nuts) – made him quite ill after prolonged use.. god know what he put in it..

+1 MyProtein recovery powder

No idea if I'm getting any benefits but it tastes of chocolate and that's good enough for me.

simonfbarnes – Member

There is a good window where the body absorbs protein for muscle repair within this time.

I've also read that it's 2 hours and believe that it is in fact "before you do more exercise".

I've heard that it's around 45mins after you finish riding where the body refuels your glycogen cells in your body

I must admit Chocolate milk worked a treat this weekend. Over the past few months I've been spent leg-wise after one long days ride. Knocked back a pint on Sat straight after the ride and Sunday I had NEW legs 😀

I have been using the High5 for a couple of months, dropped half a stone and I'm noticeably stronger on the bike and in the gym. I ran out of High5 last week and I have felt a big difference between the High5 and plain milk. I normally don't build strength easily so it is probably helping there.