What to Put in Your Bidons for a Long Ride

The question comes up before almost every long ride. What goes in the bidons?

For shorter efforts, the answer is fairly forgiving. For anything over two hours, it starts to matter considerably more. And yet most riders default to whatever they've always used without giving it much thought — which is how a lot of otherwise well-prepared athletes arrive at the final hour with empty legs and a clearer picture of what they should have done differently.

Here's a straightforward guide, organized by what your body actually needs and when.

Under 60 Minutes: Water Is Enough

At lower intensities for under an hour, your glycogen stores are sufficient and sweat losses are manageable. Plain water is genuinely fine. Adding anything is optional.

The exception is high-intensity work in heat. If you're doing threshold intervals or it's a hot day, a small amount of sodium helps maintain fluid balance. An electrolyte tab or a light electrolyte mix covers this without overcomplicating the bottle.

60–90 Minutes: Electrolytes Start to Matter

Once you're past an hour at moderate intensity, sweat losses accumulate meaningfully. Sodium — the primary electrolyte lost through sweat — becomes worth replacing. Without it, fluid balance shifts and muscle function begins to be affected.

At this duration you're not yet depleting glycogen to the point where carbohydrates are critical, but if intensity is high, adding 20–30g of carbohydrates per bottle gives your body a useful supplement to its stores.

90 Minutes and Beyond: Carbohydrates Become Essential

This is the range where what's in your bidon starts to determine how the ride ends.

Glycogen stores that haven't been replenished will run low by the 90-to-120-minute mark depending on intensity. The later you leave it, the worse the second half of the ride becomes. Fuelling from early in the ride — before you feel the need — is what prevents the deficit from compounding.

For rides in the two-to-five hour range, target 60–90g of carbohydrates per hour from your bottles. A 750ml bidon with two to three scoops of a carbohydrate-electrolyte mix gives you approximately 60–90g of carbohydrates alongside a useful sodium dose, in a volume that's easy to drink on the bike.

A practical setup for a four-hour ride: two 750ml bidons, each with two to three scoops of Performance Drink Mix, plus one clean water bidon if it's hot. Drink half a bidon per hour and adjust for conditions. If there's a mid-ride café stop or support feed zone, top up there.

Concentration and Mixing

A common mistake is making bottles too concentrated — thinking a stronger mix means more fuel in fewer sips. In practice, highly concentrated carbohydrate solutions slow gastric emptying and increase the risk of gut distress. The standard recommendation is a 6–8% carbohydrate solution, which is roughly 45–60g of carbohydrates per 750ml.

If you need more carbohydrates than a standard concentration provides, carry more bottles or supplement with real food — rice cakes, a banana, oat bars — rather than increasing concentration.

Flavour Fatigue

On longer rides — anything past three hours — the flavour profile of your drink matters more than most athletes expect. The brain registers constant exposure to a single taste and begins to reject it, a mechanism called Sensory-Specific Satiety. This is why the berry-flavoured gel that tasted excellent at kilometre 40 is almost impossible to finish at kilometre 120.

A neutral-flavoured carbohydrate mix sidesteps this entirely. It lets you hit your carbohydrate targets in the later hours without fighting your own aversion to what you're drinking. If you want a flavour, add it yourself — a squeeze of lemon or a splash of juice gives variety without committing to a single taste for the whole ride.

The Simple Version

Plain water for short rides. Electrolytes past an hour. Carbohydrates and electrolytes together for anything over 90 minutes, starting from the first 20 minutes — not from when you feel like you need them. That's the framework. The specific products and volumes adjust from there.

---