Energy gels and such

markpotts147

Water + Kendal Mint Cake

belugabob

I've found that it's more important to keep topped up with energy, rather than waiting until you 'bonk' (It's usually too late, by then)

Little and often seems to be the trick.

Raymondavalon

KnightofCydonia wrote:

CustomReign wrote:

These are all great, but look into the sweeteners. Aspartame in it's various forms will rot your brain.

http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-information.html

I'm sensitive to aspartame. Are there any good recovery/energy drinks that dont' have it? I think gatorade is one but it'd be nice to know of more.

My mate who is a roadie and MTBer is also on an Aspartame free diet and researched the energy/recovery drink choices.

For those of us who choose not to consume those somewhat toxic sweeteners Gatorade seems to be the only Aspartame (and derivative) free energy drink choice out there, as far as recovery drinks go, For Goodness Shakes is dairy based and also has no artificial sweeteners. from experience I can say it works well and I have used it as a booster between 10 mile laps on a ride. It does need to be kept cool though

I occasionally use energy gels. I've tried the Lucozade, SiS and Torq offerings. They do work but I cannot say which is the better of those I have used, much of a muchness I guess.
The Torq and SiS energy bars work great but the taste and texture is rank. I just lug some Snickers bars along although chocolate can leave one's mouth a little dry on a hot day. Another good trail munch are the Traidcraft Geobars. They may not provide as much energy as the SiS and Torq products but they taste a lot better..

mhuk

A seemingly informative peice on gels here: http://www.flammerouge.je/content/3_fac ... t/gels.htm

supersonic

Interesting article.

"Basically, there are two types of carbohydrates; simple and complex. Simple ones are high glycemic quick hitters like table sugar, cola drinks and processed foods. Complex ones are slower glycemic foods like potatoes, pasta, bananas etc."

Take the right stuff with you and you don't need them in my opinion.

The Northern Monkey

Can't say i've used them tbh...but... lol.

my 2p.

Pretty good for a very quick boost of energy, but thats it.
Will just be sugar, stacked with calories and provide nothing else...

I'm fairly sure that the sports energy gels only provide a very quick boost of energy because of how they're formulated (simple carbohydrate).

The stomach/gut will break down the sugar content so fast that it'll enter you blood stream and be used very quickly (thats if you're actually exercising, if you don't NEEEED it, it'll be stored which will lead to weight gain).

I'll stick to my flapjack I think. Stacked full of carbs but provide a longer release of energy. The sugary coating provides the instant boost, followed by the slower breakdown of the oats themselves.

Hope that helps!

Raymondavalon

mhuk wrote:

A seemingly informative peice on gels here: http://www.flammerouge.je/content/3_fac ... t/gels.htm

Excellent article.
So, there's a little more to energy drinks than meets the eye.. very informative

The Northern Monkey

Raymondavalon wrote:

mhuk wrote:

A seemingly informative peice on gels here: http://www.flammerouge.je/content/3_fac ... t/gels.htm

Excellent article.
So, there's a little more to energy drinks than meets the eye.. very informative

Its a bit wikipediaesque for me. facts are alright, but its very simple, bends the truth a tad here and there.

Bare in mind that its aimed at roadies btw... their needs are totally different to that of a MTB'er.

supersonic

Thing is Raymond, the gels we see are all composed different. Who is right? You can get the same balances in some common foods!

supersonic

Have a look at dried apricots.

tjwood

There's nothing like an out of date Mars bar to keep you going through the last hour of a ride.
The out of date ones seem to taste better. Or maybe after recently discovering an entire multipack lurking at the back of the cupboard I've just forgotten what an in-date one tastes like ;-)


Asda do some nice cereal bars which advertise themselves as being "one of your 5 a day" - full of dried fruit in addition to oats and sugar and stuff, yummy.

I've decided that the full-sugar versions of "posh squash" ("High Juice" squash) made up fairly strong are about as good an energy drink as any you could buy really. But taste much better.