Roctane Ultra Endurance Energy Drink Mix – Summit Tea – Review

When training and racing here in South Florida, we tend to sweat—a lot. That means we’re always looking for hydration that can help replace all the good stuff we’re losing through sweat. We’ve been using GU’s nutrition products for years, including their Hydration Drink Mix. So we were stoked when we had the opportunity to try their flavor in the Roctane line, Summit Tea.

Compared to GU Hydration Drink Mix, Roctane was created for high-intensity, long-lasting activity. They even specifically list for “hard training & hard racing” on the label. This mix packs a serious punch at 250 calories per serving. So what does Roctane have that makes it so special? Roctane includes more electrolytes and carbs (maltodextrin and fructose) and also has branched-chain amino acids (l-leucine, l-valine, and l-isoleucine) to help reduce mental fatigue and decrease muscle damage. It also contains the amino acid taurine, which helps promote heart contractility, improving cardiac output during long training or racing sessions. And finally, you’ll also find the amino acid beta-alanine, that helps promote the formation of the intramuscular buffer carnosine.

Each serving of Summit Tea delivers 1900mg of amino acids, 320mg of sodium, and an additional boost of 35mg of caffeine to put extra pep in your step (or pedal stroke). Roctane is designed to be either your primary fuel source, or act as a supplement along with gels and other nutrition.

As we mentioned earlier, we’ve been fueling with GU’s regular Hydration Drink Mix for years, so we added the Roctane as a supplement when needed on long training sessions. Tracy, our Multisport Editor, typically included one or two bottles of Roctane Summit Tea—depending on temperature—as part of her fueling strategy for workouts lasting longer than four hours. She felt more alert and energized while using Roctane. Her longest day fueling with Roctane was a seven-hour training session.

So, how does it taste? Amazing. We were huge fans of the Summit Tea flavor. It didn’t seem overly sweet. In fact, the flavor was a welcome break from other fruit-flavored mixes we were consuming that day.

You can find Roctane Summit Tea on GU’s website. It’s available in packets, as well as canisters. We’ve been using the 24-serving canister, which is available for $45. We also loved having the option of the single-serve packets for travel, which are available as a box of 10 for $32.50 from GU. They’re great for tucking in your transition bag or even your special needs bag for an IM-distance race.

If you’re looking for hydration made to go the distance, GU Roctane can definitely keep up.

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