End Trail Hanger! A Taste-Tester's Guide to Sports Nutrition from Interbike 2017 5

Whether you’re heading out for a quick-rip or an all-day epic, giving your body the fuel and hydration it needs is paramount. We’ve all experienced bonking, hanger, and the dehydration hangover to some degree. They can turn a ripping good time into a struggle when your mind won’t work and is focused on food that’s miles away rather than enjoying the ride. Fueling before, during, after, and even throughout the day is one sure way to keep the good times rolling. 

While exploring the halls of Interbike in Las Vegas, Nevada, we "took lunch" by pinballing between the nutrition booths to see what they had to offer. Here are some of the goodies we found from easily available brands. Consider throwing them into your pockets and packs for that next ride...

Skratch Labs

Skratch Labs is focused on using clean ingredients, and you can taste it. No artificial flavors, sweeteners, additives, or binding agents. They have been on our radar and in our shopping carts since Interbike last year after giving their coffee flavored recovery drink a try. Super yummy. They were one of our first stops this year to see what was happening and have some mid-show refreshments.

Skratch Labs Drinks

Two new flavors of their Sport hydration drink mix, Strawberry and Passion Fruit, kept us trolling by for refills. Flavored with real dehydrated fruit and reformulated to have more electrolytes than before, these are not the super-sweet drink flavors that leave you wanting a water chaser. They are clean, delicious flavors you want to drink all day.

"May you never know trail hanger again."

- Courtney Steen, Vital MTB Women's Editor and Boyfriend-Proclaimed Food Snob