What sports additives do you use ?

I have tried most of the supermarket varieties of electrolyte fluid, and a few boutique ones too.

Supermarket Options.
Drinks

Powerade - The blue stuff tastes nice, and has loads of carbs, er sugar. Thats pretty much it though, overloading in sodium, and probably too sweet for hot days. Owned by Coca-Cola, so probably not you best option. In fact a cold coke is awesome riding fuel and possibly going to work better.

Staminade - Tastes pretty ordinary, but works well. Staminade is by far the best of your supermarket options, and the cheapest to boot! Also available as a concentrate liquid, so you can mix it easily on the fly.

Gatorade ? The less said the better, in short, WAAAY too much sugar. WAAAY too much sodium. Marketed by triathletes and footballers, realistically a cynical ?lifestyle? drink to be sold to people at fitness first.

Red Bull ? Don?t laugh, its loaded with caffeine and sugar, fair bit of sodium in this bad boy too. Especially good in 24hr races, but don?t over-do it, that?s not fun at all.

Water ? Completely underrated in preventing cramps. You can cramp from not enough salts, or too many, water is really important!

Soy Flat White - I'm lactose intolerant, hence the soy. But Protein, Caffeine and Style all combine in this beauty.

Bars and Gels.
You can buy gels, both the ?Winners? variety with Cadel Evans on them and some other weird ones with terrible packaging. Both are rubbish and best avoided. A mate of mine makes his own gels and swears by them, I will find the recipe if people are interested. You use ingredients available from the supermarket and they are very cheap.

?Winners? bars on the other hand are excellent. My favourite is the Choc-Almond one, although it?s a bit chewy, the apple-berry crumble is also nice. The ?Cadel?s Mountain Mix? variety isn?t as good: you start whining and complaining that your team isn?t good enough, or that you got a dodgy wheel change, and then come second. (Just kidding, I think Cadel is a superstar and I will be cheering him all the way into the Maglia Rosa, but his chance at a Maillot Jaune is gone.)

Snakes and Jelly Beans are useful for short bursts of energy as well.

Boutique Options
Drinks

Endura ? Seems to be a favourite of loads of people, due to big marketing campaign on the benefits of magnesium. Not completely sold myself, but this stuff is certainly better than any of the above.

Verofit ? I won 6kg?s of this stuff in a race last year, it?s a good thing I like it. It works very well, tastes nice (to me) and has a scientifically balanced electrolyte formula. There is still 4kg?s in my cupboard.

Nuun (Infinite nutrition) ? The best! I got it free in a race pack 2 years ago, 3 months later, I turned up to some race in the middle of nowhere with almost nothing but a bike, and luckily found this in my camelback. It comes as tablets that dissolve in water, like an aspro, and has low sugar and a light flavour, so it?s really good on a hot day when you?re smashing the fluids in.

Coopers Pale Ale ? Seems to be the go for rehydrating (in Darwin at least). Seriously, it has carbs, electrolytes and 95% water, so its not all bad. Don?t overdo it though, especially if you have to ride home.

Bars and Gels.
I?m with Benny here, Old school GU?s are the best tasting. I like Vanilla, but coffee is also good, GU also has the best package design IMO. This is important; you don?t want to have to fight with the packaging with one hand on the bars through even non-technical singletrack. Enduro Gels are a decent alternative.

To stop gel wrappers growing wings and flying out of your pocket, tuck them under the leg of your knicks, keeps them out of the way and keeps your jersey pockets clean.

I stick wtih High 5 4:1 drink mixture & does me just fine. For post-rides I use Endura Optimiser..mmm..chocolate..mmmm

I've become addicted to Cliff Bloks & get a regular supply from friends up in the Northern Hemsiphere :). They're not gooey & are in a nice little block that's easy to handle.

I stick the cliff blok packages in my bra as they're easy to reach then. When finished, same area applies. I did spend one ride wondering what the funny noise was & later figured out it was the package crinkling..*snork*

I think Nuun tastes like crap & will never use it again.

If you're planning on using X or Y for X big event, ensure you train with it, test it etc beforehand...I think everyone knows that!

Failing all of the above, either see a sports nutritionist (felicity @ Nutrition works is great!) or read Nancy Clark's sports nutrition guide.

Yes, I agree, Hi5 is excellent. I've used that as well, but forgot about it.

Just like droppin' a Berocca after a big night. 1 tab in 500ml of cold water and your set. These got me thru a Hot Karri Cup and taste a bit like fruit tingles (bonus).
Also tried caffeine flavoured gels (foul) , Torque Bars (looks like someone has already eaten & passed it) chewy and sit like concrete in your guts.