You need to find out where you are with Perpetuem. Maybe a full dose is too much? Maybe too little? I usually use HEED early on and then switch to a HEED-Perpetuem mix later on during a ride. Everybody is different. Find your mix, then enjoy the ride. Ive been using Hammer products, namely HEED and Perpetuem for quite a while (20 years) and Ive found my "mix". Once you find your sweet spot you will be good to go. I like to get my calories and nutrition from a liquid and not a solid as I don't want to have to waste energy digesting solids during a long ride. Hammer is science for endurance athletes. You do the fine tuning.
I've bought various water bottles--plain and tepidly insulated--the latter lasting about twice as long as the plain one. Where I live we have microclimates, when I leave the house it can be 63' and eight miles inland 85'. This mean my ice filled insulated bottle water starting is fully melted at the 1/2 way point and will become rather yucky on the way back (and I still have another 500 feet of elevation to climb coming back. The Camelbak Podium is an excellent way to quench ones thirst on a hot day on my return leg, as it maintains the ice cold temps for two hours easily when kept full and makes the return so much more pleasant. It's a little heavier and rattles in my plastic water bottle cage, but a thin strip of Velcro dampens out the sound.
I follow GU's suggested uses. 1 Gel before ridiing & one at my mid-way turn around place. Between the Gels & an energy bar with a cheese stick. I've never bonked on any ride. Longer or as scheduled. Fast & easy to absorb & tastes great when room temp or out of the back of my jersey pouch. Starting my outdoor riding season. I always have two boxes of mandarin orange,Gels. That way I'm covered for the season & stationary bicycling days during bad weather.
Many polymer bottles tend to get stiff as the temperature drops making for a harder squeeze made even more of a challenge with heavily gloved hands. Not these. This bottle remains flexible even in the very cold (0deg F).
I chose the white ones which seem to have picked up and retained some color from drink mixes I use. Better than the other way around, I would think.
We should probably use drink mixes without the dyes. I don't drink it for how it looks; who does?
