Pure Sports Nutrition Tested | staying hydrated while mountain biking

There is a world of research out there on sports nutrition, and if you have any passing interest in getting more out of your time on the bike. I’d expect you would have spent some time considering what you drink and eat before, during or after riding. While there is a lot of fine detail to get into to truly maximise performance, the general premise is that we ride and operate at our best when we are adequately hydrated and fuelled. On top of that, we recover best to ride again with proper hydration and fuelling.

Water and regular packable foods work fine for most riding, until things get a little harder, hotter, or longer in duration. At this point it can be hard to replace lost minerals with water alone, and eating a sandwich can prove troublesome when you’re breathing through your eyeballs trying to get through a liaison stage before your start time, or trying to close the gap to the racer in front of you. For racers, or those looking to get more out of their time on the trail, sports nutrition makes sense.

I tested a bunch of products from Pure Nutrition in 2023, and enjoyed the range on offer from their gels to their recovery drinks and electrolyte mixes. In early summer I was sent some samples of their new Performance Race Fuel. It is a non-flavoured electrolyte mix that packs a whopping 90g of carbohydrates per serve. Compared to many market leaders, this is more than double the amount of carbohydrate, and well over what a bottle of Gatorade or similar will deliver. But the thing is, it’s not just sugar.

The Performance Race Fuel comes you can get single serve packs (97.5g) or larger bags, and each serve packs 90.2g of carbohydrate (9g sugar), 650mg sodium, 150mg potassium, 20mg magnesium and 30mg calcium. Speaking to Zoe Wilson, our in house dietician, she did state that carbohydrates are so important to stay on top of for training or events, “It’s so important to fuel properly, especially for high intensity rides or races. A high carb sports drink can make a great addition to your race nutrition arsenal, as long as you practice using it in training first!”

On the trail 

The Performance Race Fuel mixes fairly easily, but not like a straight electrolyte mix. It pays to follow the directions and mix it with less water to dissolve, then fill the bottle. With no flavour, you’re unlikely to get tired of it, but it does have a a slight texture. I expected to notice this more when riding, but I didn’t. What I did notice was it did increase my desire to drink, no doubt from the electrolyte mix as well. And that is no bad thing.

Racing has a very high caloric need, but it turns out I didn’t race in the testing period – I just don’t really bother in the heat and humidity of a Queensland summer. But I do ride, and do some long adventure rides. On those, a bottle of Performance Race Fuel accompanied a bottle of regular electrolyte went a long way to covering hydration and nutrition needs. I even found I could knock off as 3.5 hour hilly ride with the two bottles and one muesli bar. And I normally snack way more than that!

That carbohydrate has to come from somewhere, and Pure Nutrition use Cluster Dextrin, which is said to reduce perceived exhaustion. I can’t comment on that, but I know that I had zero issues with an upset stomach which I can get with mixes that are higher in carbohydrate from mostly sugar.

Verdict

This is a product that has a fairly narrow use case. I think for those doing long days on the bike against the clock or otherwise, it is worth picking up a few single serve packs to try it out. Some prefer to keep hydration and fuel separate, but I find that in longer distance or higher intensity events I can’t afford to do that, as it can be difficult to meet the nutritional demands if the amount you drink doesn’t pack much of a punch. Like the other products from Pure Nutrition I have used, the Performance Race Fuel is well-considered and does what they said. I’ll continue to use this for hard events and training.