By Sebastian Madlangbayan, founder of Cleonse: the world's cleanest 3-ingredient organic electrolyte.
The best electrolyte for cycling does two jobs at once: it replaces the sodium you sweat out and delivers carbohydrate your legs can burn. For endurance riding, look for roughly 300–600mg of sodium per hour plus real carbs. Cleonse hits 500mg of sodium and 24g of cane-sugar fuel per bottle — built for exactly this.
I'm Sebastian Madlangbayan, founder of Cleonse and a former state champion tennis player, so I know the feeling of cramping up in the third hour when you got your hydration wrong. Cycling is one of the most demanding sports for fueling because you're out there for hours, often in heat, and the effort is relentless. Let's break down what your body actually loses on the bike and how to replace it.
What you actually lose on a long ride
Two things drain during a hard ride: fluid-and-sodium through sweat, and glycogen — your stored carbohydrate — through effort. Get either one wrong and performance falls off a cliff.
Sweat isn't just water. It carries sodium, and the amount varies enormously between riders. Studies put average sweat sodium around 950mg per liter, but the range runs from about 200 all the way to 2,300mg per liter — a fivefold difference between a light salty sweater and a heavy one. On top of that, sweat rates on the bike in heat can differ by as much as tenfold rider to rider. That's why generic advice fails: you have to replace what you lose.
Meanwhile, your muscles are burning through glycogen. Water alone doesn't refill that tank — you need carbohydrate coming in during the ride to hold your power and delay the bonk. This is the piece a zero-sugar electrolyte tablet simply doesn't address.
How much sodium and carbohydrate cyclists need
Here are the working numbers most endurance coaches and sports scientists use. Treat them as a starting point and adjust to your own sweat and gut.
| Need | Endurance cycling target | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Sodium | 300–600mg per hour (ACSM); 500–700mg per liter of fluid on 3+ hour rides | Electrolyte mix, not plain water |
| Carbohydrate | ~30–60g per hour for most rides; up to ~90g/hr on long, hard efforts | Drink mix, gels, real food |
| Fluid | Enough to limit losses to ~2% of body weight; typically 500–1,000ml/hr in heat | Water + electrolytes |
Notice the sodium range tops out at 600mg an hour. One serving of a serious electrolyte mix should get you most of the way there — you shouldn't need to choke down four tablets to stay ahead of your losses.
What to look for in a cycling electrolyte
After years of testing products on court and on the bike, here's my checklist for a ride bottle.
Real sodium, not a token amount. Sodium is the electrolyte you lose most, and it's what actually helps you retain fluid. Aim for a mix that delivers a few hundred milligrams per serving, not 100mg you'd have to triple up.
Carbohydrate you can actually use. For rides over about 90 minutes, you want carbs in the bottle. Sucrose — plain cane sugar — is glucose plus fructose, and because those two sugars absorb through separate pathways in your gut, the combination moves fuel and fluid efficiently without overwhelming your stomach. That's the same glucose-fructose logic behind premium sports fuels.
A stomach-friendly, simple formula. The last thing you want three hours in is GI distress. Long ingredient lists, sugar alcohols, and heavy stevia can upset some riders' guts. Fewer, simpler ingredients mean fewer surprises. If clean formulation matters to you, I go deep on it in what makes an electrolyte actually clean.
It has to taste good enough to keep drinking. The best formula is useless if it's so sweet or so salty you stop sipping. Dehydration on the bike is often just a drink you didn't finish.
Why Cleonse works well on the bike
I didn't design Cleonse specifically for cycling, but the way it's built happens to line up almost perfectly with what a ride bottle needs.
Each stick mixes into a standard 16 oz (473 ml) bottle and delivers 500mg of sodium — right at the top of that 300–600mg-per-hour window, so a single serving covers most riders for an hour of solid effort. It also brings 24g of organic cane sugar, which lands squarely in the 30–60g-per-hour carbohydrate zone once you account for anything else you're eating. That's not empty sugar; on the bike, it's exactly the fuel your working muscles want.
And the formula is just three ingredients: organic lemon or strawberry powder, organic cane sugar, and French grey sea salt. No stevia, no sugar alcohols, no gums, nothing that tends to sit heavy in the gut mid-ride. You can check the complete nutrition on our facts page. The two flavors — Organic Lemonade and Organic Strawberry — are light enough to keep drinking deep into a ride, which is half the battle.
Where Cleonse is not the answer: if you're doing a short, easy recovery spin and want zero calories, or you're deliberately training your body to ride fasted and low-carb, the cane sugar works against that goal. Honesty matters more than a sale — on those days, a zero-sugar tablet is the smarter pick.
How to actually use it on a ride
A simple, real-world approach with Cleonse on the bike:
For rides under an hour, one bottle with a stick is plenty — often you could even ride on water alone. For a two-to-three-hour ride, plan on roughly one stick per hour, alternating with a plain-water bottle if you're a lighter sweater so you're not overdoing sodium. On long, hot days, pair it with a banana, a few dates, or a gel to push your carbohydrate toward the higher end. And weigh yourself before and after a hard ride now and then: if you're down more than about 2% of body weight, you're under-drinking and need to sip more next time.
Before and after the ride matter too
Most riders only think about hydration once they're clipped in, but the bottle you drink before you roll out sets you up for the whole day. In the couple of hours before a long or hot ride, sip fluid with some sodium so you start topped off rather than already behind — you retain fluid better when there's sodium in the mix than when you chug plain water, which mostly runs straight through you. Don't overdo it to the point of sloshing; just arrive at the start line well-hydrated instead of playing catch-up for three hours.
Recovery is the other bookend. After a sweaty ride you've lost both fluid and sodium, and replacing them helps you rehydrate faster and feel human again sooner — especially if you're riding again the next day. A stick in your recovery bottle alongside some protein and carbohydrate closes the loop. Heat makes all of this more urgent: the hotter and more humid it is, the more you sweat, the more sodium you lose, and the more a real electrolyte drink earns its place over plain water.
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Shop CleonseFrequently asked questions
Do I need electrolytes for a short bike ride?
For an easy ride under an hour in mild weather, water is usually fine. Electrolytes earn their place once you're riding longer than about 60–90 minutes, sweating heavily, or riding in heat — that's when sodium loss starts to affect performance and cramping risk.
How much sodium should a cyclist drink per hour?
The American College of Sports Medicine points to roughly 300–600mg of sodium per hour for endurance exercise, and 500–700mg per liter of fluid on rides over three hours. Salty, heavy sweaters sit at the top of that range; light sweaters need less.
Is sugar in a cycling drink bad?
Not on the bike. During endurance riding, carbohydrate is fuel — your muscles burn through glycogen and need it replaced. Cleonse's 24g of cane sugar is intentional fuel. The context where sugar isn't wanted is sedentary days or deliberately fasted low-carb training.
Why cane sugar instead of maltodextrin or dextrose?
Cane sugar is sucrose — glucose plus fructose — which absorbs through two separate gut pathways and delivers fuel efficiently, without the ultra-processed feel of maltodextrin. It's a whole-food carbohydrate that also happens to sweeten the drink, so there's no need for stevia.
Can I use Cleonse for indoor training or racing?
Yes. Indoor sessions on a trainer are often sweatier than outdoor rides because there's no wind cooling you, so sodium replacement matters even more. Use the same one-stick-per-hour starting point and adjust to how much you're sweating.
Keep reading
Editor's note — sources: Sodium-per-hour and per-liter guidance reflects American College of Sports Medicine ranges as summarized by Rouvy (rouvy.com/blog/how-much-sodium-per-hour-cycling), which also reports average sweat sodium near 950mg/L (range ~200–2,300mg/L) and large individual variation in sweat rate. Carbohydrate-per-hour ranges (~30–90g/hr) reflect standard endurance sports-nutrition guidance. Cleonse figures are per the product label. This article is for general information and is not medical advice; individual sweat and fueling needs vary — test your strategy in training before race day.