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+---
+date: 2013-08-01
+title: Home-made Energy Drink
+category: cycling
+featured_image: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7120/7645659336_357c65c781.jpg
+---
+
+This is a post which breaks from the normal subjects of Linux
+and storage.
+
+Today I am going to share a very simple recipe for what I drink when I
+am cycling. I have some fairly simple requirements for this. 1. It must
+work (it must rehydrate me effectively) 1. It must not be a rip off 1. I
+want to have a at least a reasonable idea of what is in it.
+
+You can spend a small fortune on these drinks. Exercise nutrition is big
+business, but starting at roughly 1 euro a bottle (3-4 euros a day at
+this time of year, plus my hay fever medicines) they can get pricey.
+
+In reality you need 3 things:
+
+1.  Water, and plenty of it
+2.  Sugar to give you back the fuel you burn.
+3.  Salt to help you absorb the fluid
+
+I use 500ml bottles from my [LBS](https://www.laboutiqueducycle.fr/)
+that I chose for very technical reasons (they gave them to me free).
+
+The important thing to get right is the proportions. Not enough sugar
+and you will not replace the glucose that you burn, too much and you
+will struggle to absorb it. Likewise with salt, not enough and you\'re
+absorption rate will be to slow, too much and it will 1) taste nasty and
+2) dehydrate you.
+
+For each 500ml bottle I go for:
+
+-   3 teaspoon sugar (15-20g)
+-   2-3 pinchs of salt
+
+That would taste disgusting, so add a touch of fruit squash to taste. I
+use Grenadine, because the children love it so it always in the fridge,
+but a sugar-free squash would be fine or a dash for fresh fruit juice.
+To allow for the extra sugar in the Grenadine, I cut down the added
+sugar by 1 teaspoon.
+
+Finally, I use unrefined sugar and for the salt I use [Sel de
+Guérande](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gu%C3%A9rande#Salt_marshes).
+That way I know I am using the best quality ingredients, something I am
+sure the likes of Gatorade do not do.
+
+Final cost is minimal, but it seems to work for me. Everyone is
+different, so these levels need adjusting for you.