It's great for high intensity efforts when you can't spare your hands to open packaging and don't want to chew. It really pulls its weight on long days too - I've used it for intense 8 hour hikes and full days of backpacking with just Skratch and a little bit of protein thrown in and felt great afterwards (nutrition-wise at least lol).
The lemon lime flavor is not overly sweet - the light citrus flavor is perfect for preventing palate fatigue. I've used it for years now and while I gradually develop aversions to protein powders, snack bars, favorite pizzas, etc over time, I still love this.
Caveats: the stronger you mix it, the harder it will be to dissolve. I generally mix it in a blender bottle at home and then pour it into the flask or bottle that I'm going to use during my activity. It tends to form powdery pockets or goobers that are hard to dissolve if you try to mix it in a water bottle or something with a nozzle/recess at the top. It will make your bottles smell forever like lime, so I have a couple of dedicated bottles that I only use for skratch.
I have used insulated bottles from Polar and Camelbak. Here are the benefits of Bivo over these bottles: 1) keep hot drinks hot and cold cold. After several hours my hot chocolate is still warm on cold rides and there is still ice in my bottle on the hot days. 2) they are much easier to fully disassemble and clean. Even though I wash my caps weekly in the dishwasher and fully disassemble them every few weeks. I still found mold in my Camelbak/Polar caps. Not with Bivo. 3) I drink so much more with this bottle. I have nearly choked at times with the volume of liquid that comes from this bottle. No more hand cramps from trying to squeeze a cold stiff bottle. Just pull the cap open and pour.
I have taken these on road and gravel rides and they stay put in my cages as well if not better than the insulated plastic bottles. The bottle cap/cover accessory is also great for keeping out the muck on wet or dusty rides.
I have used Scratch Labs products for years, especially since I got back into cycling. Even as a diabetic, I need to have their chews available, as well as, gels, and other sources of energy nutrition. I also am a big user of their hydration products for both the sodium/potassium and carb mix. The combination of all these are necessary to sustain a two hour plus effort in the saddle, especially when coupled with high intensity interval training. You can rely on these sources to fuel your ride, whether hard or easy!
It�s nice to have some type of cover over the nozzle on any water bottle. It keeps the road grime off of what you�re putting in your mouth. It actually helps your grip as you can leave the top on when you open the nozzle by pulling it up from a cage, flip the top off with one hand and drink. The ring on the other end fits nicely into a groove on the nozzle. It�s a no-brainer for a Bivo bottle if you�re a person who wants to keep the drinking nozzle clean while riding.
