Energy drink and energy bars
DonDaddyD
Posts: 12,689
For long rides, what energy drink, bars and shot blocks should one buy?
Food Chain number = 4
A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game
A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game
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Comments
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DonDaddyD wrote:For long rides, what energy drink, bars and shot blocks should one buy?
I know that there are plenty of good, scientifically-tested, used-by-the-pros products out there, but as far as an isotonic drink goes, nothing comes close to home-made for value.
I follow the recipe from The Times- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_a ... 269054.ece - with a litre of Sainsbury's Basics orange juice it's 28p a litre, same sodium content as Lucozade Sport and over 50% more calories. And it does the trick (as tested extensively by me, not least round the IOW Sunday!).
I've got a pack of PowerBar Ride Shots (freebie with 'the comic' a few weeks back), I'll let you know on those....For 'regular food' choices, malt loaf is favoured by many (high in carbs, low in fat), went through a pack Sunday (in part for 'recovery' )- it does get squidgy and stick to your teeth though. And do not forget the humble banana.Dahon Speed Pro TT; Trek Portland
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What I normally imbibe (YMMV):
Rides under 1hr: Nothing
Rides 2-4hrs: 1-2bottles PSP/GO blackcurrant, 2 bananas. GO takes over as it gets hotter.
Rides >4hrs: panic!. Well, as above plus some more solid food
Cake stops on social rides usually help too0 -
JonGinge wrote:What I normally imbibe (YMMV):
Rides under 1hr: Nothing
Rides 2-4hrs: 1-2bottles PSP/GO blackcurrant, 2 bananas. GO takes over as it gets hotter.
Rides >4hrs: panic!. Well, as above plus some more solid food
Cake stops on social rides usually help too0 -
JonGinge wrote:JonGinge wrote:What I normally imbibe (YMMV):
Rides under 1hr: Nothing
Rides 2-4hrs: 1-2bottles PSP/GO blackcurrant, 2 bananas. GO takes over as it gets hotter.
Rides >4hrs: panic!. Well, as above plus some more solid food
Cake stops on social rides usually help too
Moi? :twisted:0 -
Greg66 wrote:JonGinge wrote:JonGinge wrote:What I normally imbibe (YMMV):
Rides under 1hr: Nothing
Rides 2-4hrs: 1-2bottles PSP/GO blackcurrant, 2 bananas. GO takes over as it gets hotter.
Rides >4hrs: panic!. Well, as above plus some more solid food
Cake stops on social rides usually help too
Moi? :twisted:
(comment made just outside Epsom IIRC)0 -
Malt loaf, jaffa cakes, fig rolls, bananas.
The Squeezy gels sold on Wiggle are the only gels I've ever got on with, but I've not used them for over two years.
Drinks: squash or, for longer rides, Hi Five. Avoid drinks with Aspartame.
As JG says, if you feel yourself flagging, better to take a cake stop than press on.FCN 2-4.
"What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
"It stays down, Daddy."
"Exactly."0 -
JonGinge wrote:Greg66 wrote:JonGinge wrote:JonGinge wrote:What I normally imbibe (YMMV):
Rides under 1hr: Nothing
Rides 2-4hrs: 1-2bottles PSP/GO blackcurrant, 2 bananas. GO takes over as it gets hotter.
Rides >4hrs: panic!. Well, as above plus some more solid food
Cake stops on social rides usually help too
Moi? :twisted:
(comment made just outside Epsom IIRC)
Yep. At the traffic lights before we turned left. I remember feeling a little weak after that comment.FCN 2-4.
"What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
"It stays down, Daddy."
"Exactly."0 -
+1 for cake stops. Some splendid cake on the IOW courtesy of PTAs at Yarmouth and Bembridge. I burnt it off soon enoughDahon Speed Pro TT; Trek Portland
Viner Magnifica '08 ; Condor Squadra
LeJOG in aid of the Royal British Legion. Please sponsor me at http://www.bmycharity.com/stuaffleck20110 -
cjcp wrote:JonGinge wrote:Greg66 wrote:JonGinge wrote:JonGinge wrote:What I normally imbibe (YMMV):
Rides under 1hr: Nothing
Rides 2-4hrs: 1-2bottles PSP/GO blackcurrant, 2 bananas. GO takes over as it gets hotter.
Rides >4hrs: panic!. Well, as above plus some more solid food
Cake stops on social rides usually help too
Moi? :twisted:
(comment made just outside Epsom IIRC)
Yep. At the traffic lights before we turned left. I remember feeling a little weak after that comment.
Oh yes. I recall that. :twisted:
Up to an hour: nowt
1-2 hours: probably water. If it's hot, then maybe 500ml water + 500ml electrolyte. Maybe some leftover Clif Bar.
> 2 hours: 750ml water + 750ml electrolyte/carb drink. I use one I picked up in Canada, but I doubt it's much different to the SIS stuff. Plus a Clif Bar, and a sandwich bag containing enough powder to make up a second electro/carb bottle. When I'm on this regime, I aim to slug the electro/carb drink every 25 mins, and take a mouthful of Clif Bar washed down with water at the same time. Once I'm out of fluid, I'll stop, buy some water, and make up two new bottles. For a v loing ride I'll take two Clif Bars. Bits of leftover Clifs get recycled (see 1-2 hours above).0 -
I like the High5 Orange one.
However, I generally forget to drink it until it's almost too late. I intend to drink a bit every 10 miles, but generally forget.
I also find that if I drink while exercising it makes me burp. TMI? Maybe...0 -
lost_in_thought wrote:drink a bit every 10 miles, but generally forget.
Needs to be a bit more often. Every 15 minutes or so. Little and often, as the saying goes.FCN 2-4.
"What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
"It stays down, Daddy."
"Exactly."0 -
I use the High 5 drink with Super carbs - the isotonic one, although it doesn't seem to be any different to the normal stuff. The energy bars I use Clif, they're organic iirc and they seem relatively palatable. At the very end of a long ride, or just before a mega climb I use a Torq gel with caffeine, which seems to kick in pretty quickly.
As ever it's how you consume this stuff that affects your performance most. I start sipping the energy drink as soon as I start riding, and try to use approx 500ml per hour. I also try to eat one energy bar per hour for rides over about 50 miles, so it gives me something later on in the ride once it's fully digested. This gives me back about 5-600 calories per hour, which isn't bad when you consider I burn approx 900 calories/hour according to my HRM. Using this system I've yet to run out of energy, even on 100 mile rides at a high'ish intensity, and have even felt I had a bit to spare at the end.pain is temporary, the glory of beating your mates to the top of the hill lasts forever.....................
Revised FCN - 20 -
Rich158 wrote:I use the High 5 drink with Super carbs - the isotonic one
Seconded. It's tasty, not too sweet and it seems to work. That'll do me! Wiggle seem to have stopped selling it in useful sachet form (take a sachet or two on a long ride and just add water at a convenient cake stop) so I just bought a box from Chain reaction.0 -
cjcp wrote:lost_in_thought wrote:drink a bit every 10 miles, but generally forget.
Needs to be a bit more often. Every 15 minutes or so. Little and often, as the saying goes.
Cool, will try that, thanks!
Must remember to drink...0 -
For longer journeys of 16 hours or more I usually take at least 4 cans of Newcastle Brown, I take a big bag of Frazzles and I take a couple of Mars Bars.
Oh, and I usually take the train0 -
Clif bars are my favourite so far. Gels I find are quite hard to ingest but do give a quick injection of energy. I was put off them further after a comment on here about how they have the same consistancy as something else.... :shock:Short hairy legged roadie FCN 4 or 5 in my baggies.
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cjcp wrote:Malt loaf, jaffa cakes, fig rolls, bananas.
The Squeezy gels sold on Wiggle are the only gels I've ever got on with, but I've not used them for over two years.
Drinks: squash or, for longer rides, Hi Five. Avoid drinks with Aspartame.
.
Or AsFARTame as I like to call it!
Clif Bars rule. On Sundays ride I got away with 1500ml water, 1 750 ml water with a Nunn tablet and 1 clif bar, but only just; the last 6 miles home, into the wind were hard hard work!
Clif bars rock, SiS bars are nasty and impossible to chew.
SiS PS stuff is good too, I buy the sachets that way I can carry spare for refil purposes.- 2023 Vielo V+1
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lost_in_thought wrote:cjcp wrote:lost_in_thought wrote:drink a bit every 10 miles, but generally forget.
Needs to be a bit more often. Every 15 minutes or so. Little and often, as the saying goes.
Cool, will try that, thanks!
Must remember to drink...
It's easy to forget, when you're in the zone and bombing/pootling (my bombing's probably most people's pootling- skinny old git on silly little bike etc), but the problem is when you feel thirsty, you're already dehydrated. If need be, set an alarm on phone/watch/Garmin/ etc. Or you could think: traffic lights, crossroads, top of hill, etc: drink time. My Jetstream's rather frequent chain drops on Sunday proved to be a useful memory aid ('Oh bugger. Might as well have a drink before I get going again'). I did need to answer a few calls of nature, but I was taking that as a good sign...Dahon Speed Pro TT; Trek Portland
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Did my first 3hr ride on Monday and had 1xbottle of High5, 1x bottle of water, 1xSIS Go gel, 1xpacket of PowerShots.
I was getting knackered and crampy towards the end. D'you reckon that was due to a lack of nutrition or the fact that I've never gone that far before and am not that fit? Or a bit of both?0 -
StuAff wrote:lost_in_thought wrote:cjcp wrote:lost_in_thought wrote:drink a bit every 10 miles, but generally forget.
Needs to be a bit more often. Every 15 minutes or so. Little and often, as the saying goes.
Cool, will try that, thanks!
Must remember to drink...
It's easy to forget, when you're in the zone and bombing/pootling (my bombing's probably most people's pootling- skinny old git on silly little bike etc), but the problem is when you feel thirsty, you're already dehydrated. If need be, set an alarm on phone/watch/Garmin/ etc. Or you could think: traffic lights, crossroads, top of hill, etc: drink time. My Jetstream's rather frequent chain drops on Sunday proved to be a useful memory aid ('Oh bugger. Might as well have a drink before I get going again'). I did need to answer a few calls of nature, but I was taking that as a good sign...
LiT - as above, it's easy to forget. Try drinking on the commute. You should then just get into the habit of it.FCN 2-4.
"What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
"It stays down, Daddy."
"Exactly."0 -
Cubic wrote:Did my first 3hr ride on Monday and had 1xbottle of High5, 1x bottle of water, 1xSIS Go gel, 1xpacket of PowerShots.
I was getting knackered and crampy towards the end. D'you reckon that was due to a lack of nutrition or the fact that I've never gone that far before and am not that fit? Or a bit of both?Dahon Speed Pro TT; Trek Portland
Viner Magnifica '08 ; Condor Squadra
LeJOG in aid of the Royal British Legion. Please sponsor me at http://www.bmycharity.com/stuaffleck20110 -
On Sunday's ride I got through 2 x 750ml bottles of PSP22, 750 ml of water plus one SIS energy bar. I almost had a gel which I could have enjoyed but for some reason that remained unopened.
Trial and error really - Cliif stuff is very good IME and SIS drinks too, but everyone's different so don't buy lots of stuff until you've worked out what agrees with you.
No need to have anything on a normal commute apart from water.Bike1
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Bike 2
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New Bike
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What I take with me to eat :
For training rides -
< 90mins, 500ml water
< 1-2hrs, 1 x 500ml water plus 1 x 500ml home made isotonic orange and apple juice usually
2-4hrs, 1 x 750ml water, 1x750ml home made isotonic orange and apple juice usually, 2-3 fruit based bars, 1xmaxim resealable gel (citrus) these are about 3 times the size of a standard powerbar gel (taken with the water). I alternate between gel and fruit bars.
4hrs+, as 2-4hrs plus cheese and jam on white rolls, maybe some maxim energy bars and replace the isotonic with maxim energy drink mixed with sqaush. The difficulty is carrying enough fluids so I use 900ml bottles and if it's warm then I have to stop and replenish
For racing -
< 90mins, nothing during, energy drinks and caffine tabs before hand
1-3hrs, 1x750ml isotonic, 1x750 energy drink, 1 maxim energy bar or similar, 2 maxim citrus gels or similar, some caffine tabs to start
3hrs+, more of the same, but use any feedstations/drinkstations available to grap what's on offer (try and found out first what it'll be and try it out before hand)
I'm reasonable lucky in that I can pretty much ok with most of the leading nutrition brands, but they are all diferent. Just tried Powershots last weekend from a friend, they seemed reasonable too.
As mentioned, try setting your bike computer (or watch) to bleep every 15mins to remind you to drink/eat. Try to drink/eat on flat/downhill sections rather than uphillsSC61.10a: FCN 3, with clip-on guards for winter
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Feltup wrote:Clif bars are my favourite so far. Gels I find are quite hard to ingest but do give a quick injection of energy. I was put off them further after a comment on here about how they have the same consistancy as something else.... :shock:
wallpaper paste?Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I believe in the future of the human race.
H.G. Wells.0 -
cee wrote:Feltup wrote:Clif bars are my favourite so far. Gels I find are quite hard to ingest but do give a quick injection of energy. I was put off them further after a comment on here about how they have the same consistancy as something else.... :shock:
wallpaper paste?
Oh no, it's much worse than that (or so i hear, I wouldn't know).- 2023 Vielo V+1
- 2022 Canyon Aeroad CFR
- 2020 Canyon Ultimate CF SLX
- Strava
- On the Strand
- Crown Stables
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jashburnham wrote:cee wrote:Feltup wrote:Clif bars are my favourite so far. Gels I find are quite hard to ingest but do give a quick injection of energy. I was put off them further after a comment on here about how they have the same consistancy as something else.... :shock:
wallpaper paste?
Oh no, it's much worse than that (or so i hear, I wouldn't know).
Pork, wasn't it?Bike1
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Bike 2
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New Bike
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cjcp wrote:
LiT - as above, it's easy to forget. Try drinking on the commute. You should then just get into the habit of it.
As we all know most of the London SCRer's are plenty good at drinking during the commute, especially on a Friday evening ;-)0 -
Christophe3967 wrote:jashburnham wrote:cee wrote:Feltup wrote:Clif bars are my favourite so far. Gels I find are quite hard to ingest but do give a quick injection of energy. I was put off them further after a comment on here about how they have the same consistancy as something else.... :shock:
wallpaper paste?
Oh no, it's much worse than that (or so i hear, I wouldn't know).
Pork, wasn't it?
I feel weak again. :shock:FCN 2-4.
"What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
"It stays down, Daddy."
"Exactly."0 -
Christophe3967 wrote:No need to have anything on a normal commute apart from water.
You say that, but there are times when I feel like Chavanel in the picture belong, and go-go juice of some kind is exactly what I need:
FCN 2-4.
"What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
"It stays down, Daddy."
"Exactly."0