Let me just start by saying that when it comes to sports drinks I am certainly a creature of habit. If I’m going on a long ride where I need to worry about calorie intake my sports drink of choice is the classic lemon-lime Gatorade. I don’t stop there though, I always buy one large bottle which will fill up two bike bottles half way then top these bike bottles off the rest of the way with water. In my opinion this makes the perfect cycling beverage. Not too sweet but just enough flavor to encourage drinking which is exactly what I need. It’s also available everywhere so when you run out on a long ride it’s only a convenience store away.
The other thing you should know is I’m a sucker for free stuff. I really don’t care what it is if it’s free I’m there. With that being said the other day I saw an ad on the web for 5 free samples of a new sports drink. I just couldn’t pass that one up so I gave the minimum amount of personal information up and sent off my request. Usually it takes a couple of months for free samples to arrive if they arrive at all so I quickly forgot about it.
Last night when we got the mail there was a package for me. It was the sports drink samples and it took less than a week to arrive. I know, kind of weird. When I pulled out the samples everyone was mesmerized by the bright shiny packages that came out. There were three different flavors so immediately, the kids found the best sounding flavor and asked if they could try it.
They chose a great sounding flavor – Mangosteen. Just the sound of it made my mouth water. Mango’s and Steen combined into one flavor. OK, I really don’t know what Steen is but the Mango sounded great. Could it be that my old standard of Gatorade would be replaced? My mind was racing as my son got out a bike bottle and mixed it up.
After the Mangosteen concoction was mixed up we all poured some into small glasses to give it a taste test. Have you ever thought you were going to take a drink of seven-up only to find out you are drinking water instead? I had one of these experiences with Mangosteen. As I took my first sip I was expecting to taste a smooth mango taste but what I really tasted was the nasty taste of soap. Before I could say “Hey, this stuff tastes like soap!” one of my kids beat me to it. Jenny was talking to someone at the door while we did the taste testing but when she got back she gave the Mangosteen a whirl and said exactly the same thing. Could it be that Mangosteen is really another name for soap? Was the free sample actually for soap and not a sports drink? I checked the package and it was really a sports drink.
The most anyone drank of the Mangosteen was one sip except for me. For some reason I kept drinking my sample until it was all gone. I think I was hoping that it would magically transform itself into something that tasted good. No luck, it still tasted like soap.
My oldest son was at work last night for the taste testing so we pulled out the bike bottle from the fridge this morning just to see his reaction. This was going to be good. To my surprise he actually liked it! I don’t remember making him eat soap when he was younger if he said a bad word so I’m not sure where he acquired the taste. I guess we all have different tastes. He must prefer soap.
I didn’t say who made this Mangosteen because I’m sure a company worked really hard to get just the right concoction together. It just wasn’t for anyone in our family except for soap boy. For now I guess I’m still a creature of habit with the lemon-lime Gatorade. I’m staying!
4 comments:
I'll take gatorade over any of the expensive sports drinks.
I was at a race where they served Hammer HEED, so I decided to buy a canister last winter. I still have half the canister left because it tastes like bread and I can't take it in quickly at all on hot days. But I guess bread is better than soap.
When you said it tasted like soap, I was waiting on the sentence where you described a broken dishwasher leaving residue on your bottles. But that didn't happen. I don't think I'll try mangosteen!
I swear by NUUN tablets. They have no carbs, only electrolytes. The only time I tried HEED I was not impressed. Had a hard time getting it to dissolve.
Just water please. Occasionally I go for orange-strawberry gatorade... but overall the sweetness makes me feel nauseous if I drink it for too long.
Hiya, Mike. I was curious about that Mangosteen so I googled it. Turns out it's a fruit that has no relation to a mango. It was interesting reading. :)
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