Cool. Crisp. Clean.

That is what the newest version from Gatorade promises to be. And luckily, it delivers!

One day I came home to find a new style of Gatorade bottle on the counter, and since I love the stuff, I rushed over to check it out. The first thing I noticed was the big “RAIN” on the label, which conjured a feeling of refreshment.

The label, plus the light, transparent look of this Gatorade instantly told me what it was – a refreshing new drink without the thick aftertaste of regular Gatorade.

How did I know that so fast? Easy – it’s a common problem among athletes that Gatorade is pretty strong and leaves a definite aftertaste. It also leaves a thick, sticky feeling in your mouth if you don’t wash it down with some water. And we’ve all been waiting for something like this to come out, so once it did, I recognized it instantly!

But… I didn’t try it. I put it in the fridge for once I finished my other Gatorade.

Then a few days later, when I was getting ready to ride, I filled a bottle with this new RAIN. Apparently I wasn’t even thinking, because I didn’t notice anything special about it.

Then it hit me – there was a very good reason I didn’t notice anything…

The RAIN was not leaving an aftertaste in my mouth! At that point, I was sold.

Later that day I tried some cold right out of the fridge, and it was cool and refreshing. I proceeded to tell everyone I knew about how great this new Gatorade was. I was so excited to say, “check out this new Gatorade, it doesn’t leave a bad aftertaste!”

Now that my little story is out of the way, here’s a bit more info on the product itself:

I find this to be a happy-medium between regular Gatorade and the Propel fitness water. The flavor is crisp and refreshing, but not overpowering. And it still provides as many calories as usual.

My final verdict is…

I will be drinking Gatorade RAIN almost all the time. Usually I mix my own from the powder, since it saves space and is more economical. But for racing, there is no question – I’ll be drinking RAIN.

On training rides, it’s not a big deal to sip some water after a swig of thick, sugary Gatorade. But if I’m racing, I’d prefer to carry a couple bottles of sports drink – if I’m carrying RAIN, I can do that!

As far as flavors, try all of them. I’m quite partial to the Lime.

Official website: www.Gatorade.com

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One of these days I’ll be entering the Mount Washington hill climb in New Hampshire…

But to hold me over, I took a nice hike up in the White Mountains over the weekend. We went up to about 5,260 feet, which would have provided a nice view of Mt Washington, but it was extremely foggy. I’ll have to upload some pictures.

What did I learn though?

1. It gets windy up there! The winds at the summit (a full 1,000 ft below Washington’s summit) were definitely strong enough to knock you off your bike.

2. Hiking really works your quads. If you are on steep, technical trails, your quads will get a killer workout from all the rocks you have to climb over.

3. Hiking is fun!

I’ve always been a tea drinker, but now I’m really into it. It started last winter when I got into the habit of drinking 2-3 glasses of white tea per day. Granted that was at home where I had a full kitchen, but even at college I can fit a glass or two of tea into my schedule.

Active.com has a great article about tea, which everyone should read:

http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12683

That’s good, but Matt Furey is who really turned me on to tea. He talks about green and white tea straight from China – the good stuff! But you don’t have to go to China to get tea. If you live in or near a bigger city, you should find plenty of green and white tea in one of the supermarkets. If not, you can always order it online.

But the point is, whatever tea you can get, drink some! (And don’t worry, tea is not bad for your teeth.)

News flash – fruit is good for you!

Fruit provides carbohydrates for energy, tons of vitamins and essential nutrients, and a good dose of water, which will make you feel full, keeping you from filling up on empty calories. And fruit tastes good, too!

If you aren’t eating enough fruit or just want to learn a bit more about it and the role it plays in your diet, check out this article about fruit at active.com.

Moral of the today’s story: Eat more fruit!

Or, at the very least, start using some healthy energy drinks that contain antioxidants, such as FRS and Fiva.

Photo credit: moria

Since I haven’t been training too much lately, I’ve decided to enjoy the fall and do whatever sort of training comes my way. I need to throw some running in there, and I figured I might as well get back into Cyclo-Core too.

And in doing so I learned a very important lesson…

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