Thinking of getting some gels etc to make longer rides more achievable.
Used SIS gels before and they seemed to do the trick.
Also recently used some Zero electrolyte tabs in water - not cramped but also not sure if made that much difference! Got a 52 mile roadie planned for this weekend and will keep upping the mileage every w/e til 71 mile sportive on 6th March (and beyond that).
What do you use/swear by/recommend? Specific recovery stuff any good?
So many questions…answers on a postcard ASAP please folks as I want to purchase for w/e...cheers!
Torq or Honey stinger stuff, only use the natural based products as all the other stuff has had 'interesting' side effects
Bananas.
Torq in a bottle for racing. It doesn't make me feel sick, unlike SIS.
Torq gels too currently, but that's only because Mrs Yak won a stash of them and she prefers Honey Stingers. I'm usually happy on any gel tbh, although the Honey Stingers, whilst lovely, go a bit thick in cold weather. Well all honey does I imagine.
Or if a nice long ride with time to stop and munch, then just water and cake. Or best of all, bara brith without butter.
Failing all that, and if there's nothing in the 'sport' cupboard, then I raid the kids sweet shelf and take whatever's there - haribo, little packets of biscuits, anything really.
Torq. Almost tasty! The gels that is, not tried any powders, they all make me feel sicky
Their bars are nice too. The posho raspberry and White choc ones are delicious, as are clif mint choc ones!
TORQ Energy in my water and then a mix of food for a bit of variety. I prefer to use 'real food' and leave a TORQ gel in my back pocket as an emergency, get me home measure. For other food, Mejool dates, homemade energy bars* , TORQ bars and Soreen are all great. If I'm really flagging, the best thing is chocolate milk. Makes a massive difference for me at least.
Recovery powders are brilliant IME. Make a big difference.
*energy bars- http://point1athletic.com/point1-pro-bar/
I like the hydrate with my bottle and get energy from food so don't use energy drinks. I use Zero/Nuun/whatever the SiS equivalent is in my bottles for most rides, it may or may not help but it tastes good to me and means I drink more.
Gels I use whatever I can get cheap in bulk, Hi5 at the moment but I've used loads of others too.
The elephant in the room is that a 51 mile ride is what, 3 hours? A good breakfast before you go and a banana or 2 on the ride and you'll be reet. the 71 mile sportive will have a minimum of 2 food stops so little need for gels on that either.
I prefer Nuun tablets to any other brand I've tried as they have less artificial sweetener in them. Tastes more neutral to me.
As for gels, they're a bit of a lottery. Best advice would be to buy a load of single gels and see which ones you get on with before investing in a boxfull. For example lots of folk ^^^ up there say they like Honey Stingers but they make me wretch.
Gels - SIS in orange and blackcurrent.
Drink - High5 zero tabs in the water.
Bars - PowerBar Natural Cereal Sweet & Salty or Ride Peanut Caramel.
I do also like some of the Cliff Bars. I'm not a fan of raisins, so it can be a pain to find nice edible bars.
high 5 isogel or SIS gels - both often discounted and taste good to me
high 5 4:1 powder
SIS go powder when I get it in a bundle
Like lunge, I prefer to seperate the hydration and the energy. For hydration its whatever tabs I pick up cheap, I use them primarily to stop the mouldy plastic taste and to stave off cramp.
Energy wise, I tried te toq gels recently (apple crumble and banoffe) but they tasted a bit odd, I prefer the blatently artificial taste of High5 gels. I only really use them racing though. I never ride more than three or four hours and for hat a big bowl of porridge and mabe a flapjack half way round is plenty.
For pre-race energy I like the SIS energy bars.
I guess its all personal taste thouh at the end of the day
Not racing? Water and real food. Gels in particular are sticky, sickly, messy, overpriced litter.
Recover on beer, or milk.
None they're too sweet for me
Forgot to add, I only use when racing but keep an 'emergency' gel in bag/pocket on long rides!
If you're eating properly you really don't need gels to do a lap of a trail centre 😉
I use High-5 Zero in water bottles quite a bit.
If you have an early morning training ride/session then a couple of Zero Extreme (the ones with caffeine in) in a 700ml bottle is just the ticket.
I add some plain maltodextrin to my bottles if I need calories too.
I don't really use Gels.
Torq gels, but just water in the bottle/Camelbak. Only really carry the gel to stave off wobbly legs on longer rides (over 2 hours) or when night riding after a hard day at work.
High 5 drink. Torq or High 5 gels for racing.
rather than specifically "gels" I'd say for long distance roadie stuff, is start early* on the food, and eat frequently, and keep chucking it in.
*have a big bowl of porridge about 40mins beforehand, and start on "whatever food you decide on" about 15-20mins in, and at that sort of interval for the rest of the ride. doesn't have to be massive, fig rolls do it for me, but achieving longer rides is about getting used to being on the bike and managing your energy output, not about what gel you use.
High 5 Zero tabs in my bottle - I think they stave off DOMS over the following couple of days.
Generic cereal bars, NAKED bars or mini malt loaf packs for general riding.
High 5 gels for longer road rides + Sportives.
I like Gels - the High 5 ones are cheap (bulk buy - £10ish per box of 20) and have a decent shelf life.
I get a good kick off them and they tend to agree with my constitution.
Clif Shot Bloks - less messy than gels, they taste quite nice.
how about some Berocca ? 🙂
Torq powder for me. It's expensive but I like the natural based aspect and it tastes good.
I use a mixture of Torq, SIS & High 5.
I really like Torq for powder, it's tasty and works for me. For gel I prefer SIS and H5 gels because they're less sickly than Torq gel.
Edit: stumbled across all these at events. I don't think I'd ever buy these products blind because the flavors are so personal.
I'll be using Etixx stuff for the foreseeable future as our club have just won a lot. Like a carrier bag full for 300 people.
MTB (usually lots of stops) - maybe electrolyte drink but usually water, real food.
Road (only 1 stop, often none) - Water for less than 30 miles, Electrolyte (and usually cake stop) for less than 50 miles , Energy Drink (and usually cake stop) - For less than 70 miles, Energy drink and gels (and usually cake stop) - for over 70 miles.
I usually use High 5 as it's cheap, generally not sensitive to different flavours or brands.
do any of you find that using tabs or powders (the electrolyte kind) in your water make you pee more?
Not really found any that I like the taste of so I tend to go for water and either a banana or some kind of sugary sweets for long/epic days out.
Ooh, I do like Shotblocks. They're just like neat jelly.
Torq gels and the bars ... rhubarb and custard 😉 only for racing tho
Ribena in the bottle (added salt if going to be hot) and a few Mamia organic baby food pouches from Aldi for the ride. The Blueberry breakfast is really nice.
Drinks - electrolyte tabs in the Camelbak. SIS ones usually as they're cheap and easy to get hold of (bigger Tescos usually have them), Nuun if I'm doing a bunch of back-to-back days for the range of flavours. Possibly some SIS Go Energy in a bottle if I'm racing.
Gels - usually carry one or two Torq gels just in case, but they tend to be an "in case of emergency" measure only.
Food - usually carry some or all of fig rolls, soreen (other malt loaf just isn't the same), jelly beans, haribo, dates, etc... Again, this is generally just in case. Eating sensibly the night before and a decent breakfast the morning of the ride usually does the job.
4:1 ratio of maltodextrin and whey protein powder with some added blackcurrant squash in for flavour...then have water with a little electrolyte powder in..
Bought in bulk...way cheaper than all these prepackaged gels etc...
I've found PowerBar stuff gives the biggest hit. Used one of the gels on a triathlon once and went like stink for the last 15mins of the bike, then bonked spectacularly on the run!
Tend to avoid most of the gel-type stuff now, except in emergencies. A bottle of High-5 Energy Source before a big ride loads up on soluble carbs, then on a ride Nature Valley granola bars are a fave, bananas, High-5 Zero tabs in the bottle (one per 500ml), and lots of water. Also High-5 Energy Bars taste pretty good.
Fresh orange and water 50/50 and snickers/jelly beans , and the odd pie .
I have a couple of high 5 gels in my pack.. Left over from when I bought a 'selection pack' of various high 5 things that was on offer.. I tend to just keep them as an emergency.. I generally fuel myself on ale and gourmet pork pies.
A pack of cashew nuts is also a handy thing to throw in your pack
I used to use Go gels until I did the ride across Britain s few years ago. I thought gels were provided so didn't bother bringing any. There were jelly babies etc supplied which I found were fine. I rarely bother with gels now unless riding for more than 3 hours. Other than that lidl jelly babies.