Nutrition Review – Skratch on the Road

After our MTB weekend, I’m back to the road bike grind. Because I wasn’t thrilled with how I felt when I drank Hammer HEED, I decided to try Skratch products. They’d been recommended by our local bike shop. For the purposes of this review, I’m comparing the nutrition information for orange flavors of both drinks. 

I was a bit dubious about the Skratch products, because after reading this article over at Total Women’s Cycling, I’ve been trying to find products with maltodextrin as their sugar source. This has eliminated a lot of heavy-stomach-feel for me on my rides, and a lot of sugar crashes I didn’t realize I was having before. Skratch Sport Hydration Mix lists cane sugar as its first ingredient, boasting a full 19g of sugar; HEED lists only 2g [to be fair, both list a similar total carbohydrate count – 20g and 27g, respectively]. Worse, Skratch contains way fewer supplements (and claims many fewer benefits). although it is flavored with and contains real fruit. Surprisingly, it has 380mg of sodium vs. HEED’s 40mg.

On Tuesday, I mixed Skratch across 2 16-oz water bottles – 3/4 in the first and 1/4 in the second – and set off to ride 21mi on a 92-degree afternoon. [See my ride here.]

Bottom line: There isn’t a lot to say except that Skratch tastes like gatorade and I felt GREAT on my ride. I was slow and hot on the first half of my ride, but had a great boost of energy at the end – something I think we ALL love when cycling – and finished strong. Is it the sodium? the real fruit? I don’t know, but I’ll try Skratch again!

On Wednesday, I went for a 25mi ride in 80 degree weather. I didn’t feel like a hydration mix was as necessary then, but spread 1 1/2 packets evenly across my water bottles because I knew I wanted to push my speed on the ride.. I was able to stay on my bike much longer than usual without stopping, and needed far less in terms of other nutrition/snacks than usual – only 3 clif blocks about halfway through! Had my front chain ring not gotten stuck halfway up a killer hill, I’m sure this would’ve been one of my best rides to date. [See this ride!] A+, Skratch. I’m also not getting any sugar crashes!