[Closed] Carb. Drinks That Aren't Sickly Sweet?

I like Shot Bloks. Just gulp them down.

SIS green tea flavour.

SIS is far and away the most sweet of any I've tried (and I've tried most of the big ones).

Torq neutral is just that, or their flavoured ones are pretty sharp. I like High 5 myself, either tropical or summer fruits.

Make your own energy drinks.

myprotein.co.uk for maltodextrine and fructose. Mix it 2:1 (malto:fructo) and adjust quantities accordingly (long days would get 50-80g in a 750ml bottle).

If you want flavour, add some cordial or a nuun/high5 zero tab.

High5.

the 4:1 stuff is great and not sweet and sickly at all - i never get bored of it even on long rides with a few bottles of it.

Unflavoured Torq is exactly that - we call it "magic water".
It has no electrolytes though, so you may need a supplement if that's a requirement.

I use diluted pure apple juice. Roughly 50:50 juice:water.

That'd give you [url= http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=apple+juice+350ml ]about 40g of carbs per bottle[/url]. One of those per hour, plus a [url= http://groceries.asda.com/asda-estore/search/searchcontainer.jsp?trailSize=1&searchString=pork+pie&domainName=Products&headerVersion=v1&_requestid=97570 ]mini pork pie[/url], at 12g carbs each, would be getting you 52g carbs per hour which isn't far off the most your body can process anyway.

I use Gatorade which i water down slightly. Far less sickly than Lucozade.

myprotein.co.uk for maltodextrine and fructose. Mix it 2:1 (malto:fructo) and adjust quantities accordingly (long days would get 50-80g in a 750ml bottle).

+1, matodextrin has the advantage over fructose/glucose of not being as 'sweet' (although fructose is twice as sweet as glucose which kinda makes up for it). They also sell electrolyte powder which you can add.

Just remember to reduce the carb ammounts in hot weather, or take seperate carb and watter bottles, other wise you might find you need a drink but don't need the energy, which is horrible!

Erm...... Beer?

Unflavoured Torq is exactly that - we call it "magic water".

It's not quite though! It tastes (I imagine) a bit like you've boiled some pasta, then drunk the water! Not offensive in any way, but it's not the same as drinking plain water.

njee20 - Member
> Unflavoured Torq is exactly that - we call it "magic water".
It's not quite though! It tastes [b](I imagine)[/b] a bit like you've boiled some pasta, then drunk the water! Not offensive in any way, but it's not the same as drinking plain water.

Most of the citrus torq drinks are quite sour. Quite a revelation after the sweetness of SIS stuff.
You can get a tub of the non-favoured & do a 50/50 mix with a flavour of your choice to weaken the flavour but still get the carbs.
SIS gives me really rotten guts & stomach cramps. This stopped as soon as I started using Torq.

Pure carbs will give some people stomach cramps and wind.

Houns beat me to it.

BitterBak FTW.

Torq Vanilla is excellent - very soft, tastes like melted Vanilla ice cream..

I also am adverse to overly sweet carb drinks and i get on pretty well with the zipvit ones, they taste of weak squash and i find that i can drink them all day.

Other than that, as already mentioned make your own with maltodextrin/fructose/fruit juice.

Thanks for the info. apart from beer. I don't drink alcohol. I'll have a look at the suggestions you've made.

My Protein Tri Carb, summer fruits.

If you really wanted practically zero sweetness then using MyProtein's maltodextrin on its own without anything else will give a very neutral flavour. You could then flavour the drink with a squash or cordial of choice to suit your own taste.

Adding fructose as others have suggested kind of negates the object of what you are trying to do because fructose is very sweet. Maltodextrin on its own however will still give a high carbohydrate content but with very little sweetness.

Another alternative is to make up your own gel using maltodextrin at a very high ratio to water and then put it in one of those very small bottles that runners use. You can then just have water in your bottles (or hydration pack) to wash the gel mix down and clean your palette at the same time. I have done this on a number of rides and it works very well.