# Skratch labs or Hammer HEED?



## Har (Oct 16, 2002)

I am ordering one or the other today, thoughts?


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## Alaska Mike (Sep 28, 2008)

I've been using Skratch Orange for the past few months on the trainer (road riding hasn't been possible). I sweat a lot more on the trainer (even accounting for evaporation), and it's done the trick for me so far. The flavor is light enough that I don't feel like I'm choking it down. YMMV.

HEED does have a small fueling component (carbs) that Skratch doesn't. I'm in the solid food/gels camp (SLRFG), and 100 calories/serving isn't a whole lot of fuel, but do whatever works for you.

Experiment a little.


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## looigi (Nov 24, 2010)

FWIW: I've used these and various other powdered drink mixes over the years but now buy fruit juice and dilute it to 100-150 cal/24 oz bottle. I add measured pinches of salt and potassium (salt substitute) to bring in up to snuff electrolyte wise. I don't think this is significantly better or worse than the powders, just something different.


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## arkitect (Apr 25, 2011)

Well, I can only comment on Skratch Labs since I haven't used the Heed products. I love Skratch Labs drinks, they have a taste that is very light, so much so that as compared to most "sports drinks" out there, I first thought I mixed it wrong! Not a whole lot of calories in the drink, the concept is to eat your calories and use the drink mix to replentish what you lose sweating. 
First drink that I don't have problems digesting, or adding to the amount of gas in the atmosphere.....


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## willieboy (Nov 27, 2010)

I used both and for me orange Skratch labs is the choice.


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## beactive (Jan 2, 2012)

I have used both and today I tried Skratch on a 67 mile ride and loved it. Its very light in taste and as arkitect wrote I ate my calories (220 cal/hr) which worked out great. I felt really good throughout my ride today in Malibu, CA.


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## Har (Oct 16, 2002)

Thanks for the input, did a lot reading and i am going to try the Skratch and eat my calories.


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

looigi said:


> FWIW: I've used these and various other powdered drink mixes over the years but now buy fruit juice and dilute it to 100-150 cal/24 oz bottle. I add measured pinches of salt and potassium (salt substitute) to bring in up to snuff electrolyte wise. I don't think this is significantly better or worse than the powders, just something different.


^^^ This. I use diluted fruit juice with glucose & fructose powder from the bulk food store with salt and potassium (No Salt) added. It's pennies per bottle.


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## kbiker3111 (Nov 7, 2006)

Errr, Skratch has 20g of carbs per scoop.

I would choose Skratch 11 times out of 10 over Heed, but dang that stuff is expensive. Usually I use Powerbar performance or Gu2O since they're cheaper.


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## STBW (Aug 27, 2013)

I used to use Cytomax and gave it up once I started using Skratch. Used to get rot gut all the time when I rode a lot, not anymore. Skratch is definitely the choice.


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## Local Hero (Jul 8, 2010)

Skratch over heed. 

Lately I've used osmo in races. 

In training I'll drink anything. Gatorade, cytomax, emergen-C, metamucil, diluted juice, myo...whatever.


I just realized this is a bumped 4 month old thread.


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## woodys737 (Dec 31, 2005)

Local Hero said:


> Skratch over heed.
> 
> Lately I've used osmo in races.
> 
> ...


It's a good bump. Skratch and Osmo over Heed for me as well. Interesting read in July Velonews about hydration. Talks about water fallows salt among other things so too much in the gut will pull water out of cells/plasma...I'm severely paraphrasing so read the article.


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## STBW (Aug 27, 2013)

Woodys, did you ever see the video Allen Lim did on this? Pretty interesting stuff. 

Keeping it real with hydration science and practice to make you faster - YouTube


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## DasBoost (Aug 15, 2013)

As a diabetic, this has always been finding the right balance of sugar so I have energy but not too much that I get the sleepy/weak/woozy feeling of hyperglycemia.

So far I've found that Cytomax is a nice blend of sugar/carbs/etc if I've already eaten a meal beforehand, but on an empty stomach during an early morning ride with just some PB & toast and gels/chews it definitely is felt in the stomach.

Skratch Exercise is my go-to for early morning rides on little to no food as it has more sugar but since I haven't had a full meal and just a little food and gel/chews it balances ok and I can burn it off without getting too high of a blood sugar. Or if it's a hotter-than-usual afternoon ride, I'll use it as well but tweak insulin dosage a bit. 

Have contemplated trying Hammer HEED and Perpetuem but the high sugar/carb combo is way too much even for longer rides. 

I've got some Osmo in my shopping cart on Competitive Cyclist to try out and see how it compares to Cytomax and Skratch.


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## woodys737 (Dec 31, 2005)

STBW said:


> Woodys, did you ever see the video Allen Lim did on this? Pretty interesting stuff.
> 
> Keeping it real with hydration science and practice to make you faster - YouTube


Have not seen that. Cool stuff! That's basically the jist of the Velonews article.


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## GRAVELBIKE (Sep 16, 2011)

Never tried Heed, but I'm a huge fan of Skratch Labs.


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## STBW (Aug 27, 2013)

GRAVELBIKE said:


> Never tried Heed, but I'm a huge fan of Skratch Labs.


I put a thread up with a discount code for a site that has really good prices. It is only valid through Saturday, but the prices are pretty low there all the time anyway. You can save some cash.


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