Getting ready for your next mountain bike ride and want to grab an energy drink along with you but don’t know which one?
Don’t worry because I’ve got you covered!
In this article, I’ll be explaining how energy drinks affect your overall physical performance and introduce you to some of the best energy drinks that can keep you riding through the mountain like a champ.
Let’s get started…
What Is Mountain Biking?
Mountain biking is a sports activity that lets you ride a bicycle on different types of off-road trails, mainly on mountains.
The rough terrains of mountains require you and your bike to have endurance, speed, balance, and technical skills for navigation.
The big difference between mountain and road bikers is that mountain biking lets you experience the natural winding trails.
Criteria To Consider When Buying Energy Drinks
- Caffeine
- Sugar
- Price
Caffeine
Caffeine is the key ingredient in all energy drinks as it’s what gives you the energy boost you love.
There are plenty of benefits that you can get from caffeine, which include enhancing your cognitive functions and improving your physical performance.
However, you may experience some adverse side effects if you excessively consume caffeine. These side effects include:
- Insomnia
- Anxiety
- Increased heart rate
- Diarrhea
- Dehydration
- Caffeine addiction
So it’s important to always limit your daily caffeine consumption to no more than 400mg, as recommended by the FDA.
Sugar
Sugar, just like caffeine, provides your body with energy though the effects are not as long-lasting.
Once the effect wears off, you’ll most likely experience a sugar crash where your energy levels will dip immensely, and you’ll start to feel slow and lethargic.
This happens when you have energy drinks that are high in sugar which can affect your whole riding experience.
My advice is to go for energy drinks with less sugar content to avoid experiencing a sudden energy drop in the middle of your mountain biking.
For guidance, you can follow the AHA‘s recommended maximum daily sugar intake for healthy adults, as shown in the table below:
| Gender | Recommended daily intake |
| Men | 150 calories / 36g |
| Women | 100 calories / 25g |
Besides low-sugar energy drinks, there’s also plenty of sugar-free options if you’re looking to avoid zero sugar and calories in your diet plan.
It’s important to note that sugar-free energy drinks use artificial sweeteners as a substitute for sweet flavoring.
While the FDA has approved them to be safe for general use, there are still some concerns over the long-term effects of artificial sweeteners, so it’s still best to moderate your consumption.
Price
Nowadays, you can easily find amazing deals for good-quality energy drinks. So thankfully, you don’t have to worry too much about spending more than you’re willing to just for a good energy boost.
As long as you know where to find them, you’ll be surprised at just how many good-value deals are available out there.
Check out my article on the best cheap energy drinks for more specific brands that are kind on your wallet.
Is Caffeine Good For Mountain Biking?
Caffeine is known as one of the popular ergogenic aids and is commonly used in the sports world. It helps improve your physical performance, from strength to power.
The ergogenic effect of caffeine helps to enhance upper body endurance and strength, and its effects can be seen in both aerobic and anaerobic exercises, according to this 2016 study.
Caffeine can be beneficial for you during your ride as strength is vital, especially when going up those mountain hills.
Mountain biking requires all your body strength, from hands handling the bike to legs on the pedals, so it’s not surprising that you’ll experience common injuries, mainly muscle soreness.
It’s also considered an anaerobic exercise, a sports activity that breaks down glucose for energy without using oxygen, and it requires short bursts of high-intensity energy.
This explains why mountain bikers need anaerobic power to ensure a good cycle performance. The extra boost you get from caffeine can help in bike handling and preventing injuries from accidents.
Caffeine can help address all the issues above that you may encounter with mountain biking, reducing tiredness while improving your overall biking performance, which helps prevent serious injuries.
In terms of its lifespan, caffeine has a half-life of about 5 hours before it leaves your body system. Although you won’t feel the effects anymore after that, the rest of it takes longer to leave your system.
While caffeine has been proven to boost your physical performance, it can negatively affect your momentum if taken excessively. You should follow the FDA’s recommended maximum of 400mg of caffeine per day.
How Does Sugar Affect My Mountain Biking Performance?
Sugar, mainly glucose and fructose, can replenish glycogen to increase your ability to gain strength and muscle. But too much sugar can be detrimental to your health.
The carbohydrates in your body break down glucose, which will create glycogen that’s needed to work your muscles.
This explains why having the right amount of sugar in your body is important in maintaining or resupplying your glycogen stores in a quick and effective manner.
Although high-intensity sports like mountain biking lose muscle glycogen faster, you should still keep your sugar intake in moderation to avoid experiencing a drop in your physical performance.
How Can Energy Drinks Improve My Endurance?
The main purpose of energy drinks is to provide you with additional energy to fuel your stamina and endurance to get the most out of your biking experience.
The caffeine in energy drinks not only helps in terms of energy but also your overall physical performance. You’re going to need that extra boost of stamina, especially when you ride for long hours.
According to a study done on 15 trained athletes, energy drinks have improved their cycling time-trial performance by 3% compared to using a placebo.
Whether you’re going up hills or down rocky grounds, consuming energy drinks can help maintain your stamina.
Besides that, energy drinks can improve upper-body muscle endurance, as proven in this study.
Caffeine also has glycogen-sparing properties, which increases your body’s ability to break down fat, instead of muscles, for energy.
So both sugar and caffeine act as a protective shield and supplier to your muscle glycogen.
Other good alternatives for maintaining your stamina while biking are sports drinks, energy gels, and plain water.
Is Creatine Good For Mountain Biking?
Creatine naturally occurs in the muscles and helps us gain more muscle mass, improve exercise performance, and boost our physical strength.
When mountain biking, there are instances where you’ll need high-intensity bursts of power for riding up the hill, and this study shows that creatine helps to increase muscle strength.
Besides that, this study shows that creatine can be used to avoid muscle loss, which would be beneficial especially when you have an injury, or are recovering from one.
While there may be concerns over the dangers of creatine, its only clinically significant side effect is weight gain.
Thus, creatine is safe to consume and can be beneficial to you as long as it’s kept at a normal range (0.84 to 1.21 milligrams per decilitre).
Energy Drinks vs. Sport Drinks
Both energy drinks and sports drinks can benefit you during exercise or sports, as a sports drink helps with hydration while energy drinks give you energy.
Aside from keeping you hydrated, sports drinks can replenish your glycogen stores, especially during heavy sports.
They’re also great for restoring your electrolyte levels as your body will lose water and electrolytes while sweating.
I prefer energy drinks over sports drinks because a boost of energy is what I need the most to get through the day compared to a quick hydration fix, which I can also get from plain water.
All in all, it depends on your own preferences and what your body needs, as both energy drinks and sports drinks help to decrease muscle breakdown by refilling your muscle glycogen supplies while you ride.
For a more detailed comparison between energy drinks and sports drinks, check the article here.
Energy Drinks Alternatives For Mountain Biking
- Water
- Cherry Juice
- Yerba Mate
Water
There’s no denying that water is an important nutrient for our bodies and plays a significant role in most of our bodily functions.
Consuming plain water can help replace what you’ve lost while sweating by maintaining endurance and energy. It also keeps you hydrated and maintains muscle function, especially during high-intensity exercises.
Cherry Juice
Cherry juice is not only tasty but contains plenty of benefits that improve your physical performance.
It increases your metabolism, improves your immune system, and also contains healing properties, which help ease your post-workout recovery.
Cherry juice, regardless of whether it’s in juice or powdered form, has anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties that are proven to be beneficial for endurance sports.
Yerba Mate
Yerba mate is a type of herbal tea that can also help maintain your bike performance.
Beneficial properties that can improve your health, like antioxidants and nutrients, can be found in yerba mate. It also contains caffeine which can increase energy levels and improve your mental focus and alertness.
Unlike highly caffeinated beverages, yerba mate only has a moderate caffeine content of 85mg, which won’t give you any adverse side effects.
Best Energy Drinks For Mountain Biking
Bing Energy Drink
Bing Energy is produced in Colorado and has about 120mg of caffeine and 9g of sugar, packed with natural flavors and colors, including cherry and grape juice.
I personally prefer my energy drinks to contain around 50mg to 100mg of caffeine, so Bing Energy definitely leans more on the higher caffeine spectrum.
That said, if you have a higher caffeine tolerance, you may experience little to none of the side effects.
On the plus side, it has a little amount of sugar, so you won’t have to worry as much about a sugar crash later.
In terms of price, a single can of Bing Energy roughly costs $4 to $5, which is a little pricey in my opinion.
Zipfizz Energy Drink
Zipfizz is a powdered energy drink that has been around since 2003, making it a well-known brand, especially among Americans.
A tube of Zipfizz contains a moderate amount of 100mg of caffeine and zero sugar. It also has a wide selection of fruit-based flavors to choose from.
Compared to Bing Energy, Zipfizz is more affordable at roughly $2 per tube. However, the cost will vary according on where you shop and how much you want to spend.
Feel free to check out the simple guide I’ve written on how to find the best Zipfizz deals, you may yourself a bargain.
REIZE (10 out of 10)
REIZE is my personal favorite because it helps keep me energized. It’s sensible 50mg of caffeine is enough to keep me awake and mentally focused throughout the day, without unnecessary side effects.
What makes REIZE great for mountain biking is that you can experience its benefits without worrying about maxing out your daily caffeine and sugar limits.
REIZE contains a smart blend of beneficial ingredients such as taurine, ginseng, and B vitamins, which can help improve your health, as well as your endurance and strength while mountain biking.
To enjoy REIZE, all you need to do is tear open a sachet and mix it with 250ml (8.4 ounces) of water to get your energy drink, so I recommend making your energy drink in a bottle before your ride and having it on the go.
It’s also completely sugar-free with only 11 calories, so definitely no sugar crashes.
Best of all, you can get REIZE delivered straight to your door for only about $1 per drink.
That’s amazing value for money.
Give REIZE a try, and you might find that it’s the best energy drink for mountain biking.