do anyone use energy gel’s and additives when riding/ racing and do thay help and are thay any good

Energy gel’s what?

I have been known to use the gel’s energy.

old army trick, bit of salt in your water to stop cramps, cheap as chips 8)

edit: and a bag of jelly babies after each climb for blood sugars

chip’s?

if you want, carb loading 😆 😆

sorry it was an apostrophe joke.

Useful to have one in the bag in case of energy shortage’s on the trail’s. But there are better option’s for fuelling while riding- jelly baby’s are good, since they’re cheaper and you can control the do’se. Eating a ‘solid meal before the ride i’s better ‘still.

😆 @ Northwind!

Chapeau, sir!

I swear by the Clif Shot Blocks, especially the strawberry ones. If I get to the stage where I’m tiring I eat a couple of cubes and feel much better again. 6 in a pack should last you a couple of hours and bonus they taste better than most gels too 🙂

Ignoring the revolting pedant I use them when racing. There comes a point when after prolonged effort I can’t eat normal food. They are quick and easy to eat.

Normally buy a box of 24 in spring and that’ll last me a year.

Don’t use them on normal riding although I often put one in my camelbak in case someone is really struggling.

They do help, the energy boost is noticeable but short lived (30 minutes?). The caffeine ones work as well but caffeine in that forms seems to make me feel sick so I avoid them. Stay off all other caffeine for a few weeks and it is really noticeable.

For general riding normal, cheaper food is fine and is what I use.

Its an easy and quick way to get a shot of easily assimilated sugars. some have a fair dose of caffeine in as well. I prefer jelly babies and coffee.

Only when racing, one every 45 minutes. Both Sponser and ZipVit are good, and both do sample packs so you can try cheaply before committing to a large box.

Use carb drink when racing, often keep a gel or 3 in my pocket just in case, but find I can get enough energy through drink (High5 for me). Torq gels are excellent, strawberry yoghurt are lovely!

‘Sometime’s you guy’s are utter tw@’s!

‘Sláinte T’SY

I asked a similar question earlier this week, do a quick search, I would link but on my Moby.

I just got a ‘sample pack’ of 5 x High 5 gels & stuff + water for £2.99 from wiggle.

I’ve used them a few times, I found that jelly babies work on shorter rides, but over 4-5 hours they start to give me massive stomach cramps, something to do with glucose being slow to absorb in large quantities whereas a mix of glucose/fructose absorbs by different pathways through the gut. Either that or it’s just the ‘jelly’ part solidifying my gut!

One or two jelly babies every 15 mins + home made peanut butter and honey flapjack every couple of hours. Works ok on the road but off road is just cake and coffee at half time.

I seem to have a massive stock of High Five energy gels that CRC shipped with my orders recently.

I have two in a camelbak pocket incase of the wobbly legs.

Don’t think I’ll bother though.

Gels..?

Is that like baby food in a sachet?

http://www.offeroasis.co.uk/freebies/kidstoys/free_plum_baby_food_sachet.html

For normal rides/ training rides below 2 hrs I will have just water, anything over I have Zipvit electrolyte drink, a bar and a gel. If I’m racing then plenty of water before and a ZipVit energy bar about 30 mins before the start. During the race I will have electrolyte drink with a gel every 30/45 minutes. HTH.