Went out for a training ride [bicycles] with a friend yesterday. Low 40's F, lt. rain and in the hurry of the moment I did not grab a water bottle.
Time passes and that parched sensation occurs so my buddy gives me his second bottle, as I'm downing it I realize he's gotten his hands on some new sport drink so I finally ask him what it was.
His reply was Pedialyte, a fluid replacement for infants and young children. It's got some dextrose, fructose, sodium, potassium. It was also bubblegum flavor, if for any reason you decide to try this please try some other flavor ... I just about knackered across the highway when that first swig hit.

Pedialyte is often used when an infant or very young child is getting dehydrated due to a bout with diarrhea. Had never thought about it as a "Sports Drink". Bubblegum would not be my choice of flavor either. I don't even like the idea of that flavor for infants/toddlers.

A far cheaper alternative to Pedialyte is to buy packets of oral rehydration salts and mix the drink up yourself. It is pretty bland stuff, but you can flavor it with just about anything you want-koolaid, lemon or lime juice, etc.
It is mixed at full strength(1 litre of H2O/packet) for treating severe dysentery, which is too concentrated for plain old hard exercise. I have found it to be ideal mixed at half strength for strenuous backpacking in hot weather.
If the idea interests you, Google up oral rehydration salts
and look for Jianis Brothers in the result list. You can get packets from them in various quantities/prices.

Almost forgot. If you decide to try the salts, a real nice
way to cut the stuff is with Crystal Lite lemonade. It comes in a cylinder of little tubs, each making ~1 gallon of drink. If you like lemonade, that is.

Or you can just make your own gatorade. I like this version: 1 package regular (as opposed to artificially sweetened) koolaid (pick a flavor you like), 1/2 C sugar (that's half the regular dose), 1/4 ts table salt, 1/4 ts potassium chloride (Nu-Salt), and 2 liters of water (that's twice the regular dose). There are slight variations on this if you google "gatorade recipe," and it may already have been discussed here somewhere, but I like this version.

Edited by rosierabbit on 02/14/2007 13:25:53 MST.

I've been using ElectroMIX from Alacer Corp, the maker of Emergen-C. One lightweight packet (0.17oz/5g) makes one liter of electrolyte solution, as in a typical sports drink. I get plenty of carbs in my snacks so I don't really need to carry the sugar component of sports drink. ElectroMIX has a faint lime flavor (not zesty), and no artificial sweetener.

Edited by Otter on 02/13/2007 16:42:22 MST.