Booker C. Bense wrote:

_ I'm assuming that the bike race is in warm weather. You loose a
lot of plain old salt in warm weather. While I don't race any
more, I ride centuries in 80-90 degree weather and I've found
that there just isn't enough sodium in standard sports drinks. I've
taken to adding a pinch of salt to my Cytomax and that seems to
help a lot. In the winter, doing long days in the backcountry,
cytomax by itself seems to work well enough to avoid those
back to the car cramps, but in the summer I need more salt
than just Cytomax. The latest version of Powerade basically
follows this same formula[1], but it still tastes like crap to
me so I've take to adding a bit of salt to the Cytomax.

Sport drinks are probably made in such a way that the body shall consume
them immediately, so the concentration of salt is like the normal
concentration in the body fluid, but sometimes you need more than that
because you are very low on salt.

_ If you finish the day with that crusty feeling, you need more
salt.

You need salt if you are beginning to get cramp.

--
Terje Henriksen
Kirkenes