How many energy bars and gels do you get through per season?

Herbsman

I ordered 48 bars and about 70 gels, for use before/during races only. Will see how long they last. How many do you get through in a season?

BeaconRuth

I get through fewer than I get given as freebies. (I usually have a small stash of bars and gels - which I haven't bought - which are going out of date.)

Ruth

SBezza

Bloody hell how many races are you doing, I will probably get through about 30 gels in a season. I only use them on 50's, 100's and 12 hour TT's. Don't tend to use bars, can't eat them whilst racing, though may make more use of them in a 12 hour, usually use other types of fruit bars and <whispers, so BeaconRuth doesn't hear > chocolate bars.

Tom Butcher

It used to be none, then after getting a few freebies I thought yeah these are OK for racing so about a dozen, then I got sent a box of 50 as a freebie last November so this year it'll be a lot more - must admit they are quite addictive though once I've gone through these I wouldn't be using them except for racing again.

bompington

Two

masterchef

only use gels in anything over a 25, but depends how hilly the course is!!
sometimes iv used them in a 10 though only because i was feeling terrible! lol

hammerite

I've managed on freebies like Ruth up until recently when my free stash run out. So I ordered a box of 30. I always keep a gel in my back pocket when training as a just in case emergency - I think I've only ever had to use it once.

Depending on how many road races I do I'll expect that box of 30 to probably last until close to the end of the RR season. I'll probably have to get a stash before the CX season starts as I seem to have grown a habit of squeezing a gel down before a race starts :roll:

jgsi

BeaconRuth wrote:

I get through fewer than I get given as freebies. (I usually have a small stash of bars and gels - which I haven't bought - which are going out of date.)

Ruth

How out of date can they go ..?

I bought a full box of short dated Viper gels that actually do feel like they do good for 1/3 of the retail price... loads left in the cupboard.. last year I ended up 'rewarding myself' 3 or 4 sports beans every lap ( road race lap length I hasten to add), more of placebo effect probably.

MikeWW

A lot....

RoadMeridaBen

I probably used 2 gels last season and a few kit kats and the odd cereal bar :P
What you have ordered would probably last me the next 10 years.

Herbsman

I have at least 20 races planned this season but maybe more. I plan on riding to and from a few that are up to 30 miles from home, so will probably scoff a couple of bars on the journey. I don't expect to get through all the gels; I only used about 5 last year as I only did three races that were longer than an hour.

FransJacques

1 before each cx race. 1 before a 90 min circuit race & 1 during. 1 before Hog Hill b/c it's also 60 min.

This is the racing forum but I go through tons of gels for sportives - about 1 an hour. At 83-84 kg my engine burns a LOT of fuel to keep me moving.

In total: ~20 freebies plus 1 x 20 pack of SIS Go gels and 1 x 20 pakc of High5 caffeine so 60?

Herbsman

How is everyone getting all these freebies?!

mentalalex

i get through lots

my freebies mostly through sponsorship

ozzzyosborn206

i normally have a bar before any race over 100k, and take up to 3 gels with me, then just use them as and when i feel the need, some races i won't have any, others i will neck them all. Depends how i am feeling really. Also take a gel with me on long training rides for emergencies, but tend to stick with cereal bars for training. Any of you guys with sponsorship know who would be a good bet at asking for sponsorship for a team of about 8 road riders and 8 mtbers?

FransJacques

Racer get freebies via sponsorship but at races there is nothing free - everything would be gobbled up.

At sportives, they're not free cuz you've already paid £15-25 but I've more than made up for that on a couple occasion. On one Wiggle sportive I got 8 gels and 8 packets of 2:1 and 4:1. On one action medical sportive I got 6 ZipFit gels and 20 Zipfit packets of the pink energy drink. I think the product sponsors mis-calced on those 2 occasions.

firsthippy

SBezza wrote:

Bloody hell how many races are you doing, I will probably get through about 30 gels in a season.

I used 26 gels in one race.

Herbsman

firsthippy wrote:

SBezza wrote:

Bloody hell how many races are you doing, I will probably get through about 30 gels in a season.

I used 26 gels in one race.

Was it the Tour de France?

SBezza

firsthippy wrote:

SBezza wrote:

Bloody hell how many races are you doing, I will probably get through about 30 gels in a season.

I used 26 gels in one race.

I want to now how you wasn't sick, even the longest race I would think about using them, I would have a max of 4 and that is for less than 4 hours

firsthippy

It was the ESCA 24hr TT.

I ate:

~13L of fluids (water, Go, High5 4:1, Cytomax)
1 Pepsi
1 Pepsi Max
1 V energy drink
2 small instant coffees
26 Powergels
9 Powerbars
1 chicken roll
1 ham roll
1 brioche jam
1 brioche plain
1 bowl pasta
1 Kit Kat
5 Pro Plus tablets

I was a bit ill after switching to the 4:1. Once we stopped that it was better. If you train for it you can consume it.

SBezza

Bloody hell, even in a 12 hour I will only have gels towards the end, the rest of the time it is real food. I don't get on with Hi5 stuff either, just make me want to wretch.

Only 5 pro plus tablets (good knows how much caffiene I get through in a 12 hour )

trickydisco

Endurance mtb racer rob lee took on 46 gels for a 24 hour race!

http://www.xcracer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=60

At my last 24 hour (where i did pretty good ;-) I consumed:
18L weak isotonic solution (Gatoraide mixed at half strength would do it)
1L Flat Coke
2L Flat Sprite
6 x Torq Bars
46 Energy gels
1 small loaf of Marmite sandwiches

firsthippy

SBezza wrote:

Bloody hell, even in a 12 hour I will only have gels towards the end, the rest of the time it is real food. I don't get on with Hi5 stuff either, just make me want to wretch.
Only 5 pro plus tablets (good knows how much caffiene I get through in a 12 hour )

I trained on gels and powerbars so no problems there.
Hi5 4:1 I did a 12hr training ride on the night course the week before and was fine on it.
I was falling asleep during the 24hr but too dozy to take enough caffeine. I won't be making that mistake again.

Rob Lee must have trained on the gels. No problems. I could've swapped out the bars for gels but the variety was important. I was also mixing my drinks quite strong 8-9% GO for example, whereas he used weaker drinks and more gels. Either would work as long as you are getting max carbs into your system without gastric upset.

andy_wrx

Always seems to be an article in Cycling Weakly or C+ about how you need to shift about 3 gels an hour when you're doing 'epic ride' sportives :roll: ...

...but I can't help noticing how many adverts the sportsfood companies put in these magazines :twisted:

firsthippy

I used to not eat or drink much on a bike. This is fine when your longest ride is 8hr and you can scoff the whole fridge when you get home but not for 24hr. You can't afford to bonk - it'll take too long to recover during the event.
It took a decent amount of time before I could stomach all that crap. Wilko will do 540mi on Go and peanut butter/honey sandwiches because that's what he's used to and what he trains with.

SBezza

firsthippy wrote:

SBezza wrote:

Bloody hell, even in a 12 hour I will only have gels towards the end, the rest of the time it is real food. I don't get on with Hi5 stuff either, just make me want to wretch.
Only 5 pro plus tablets (good knows how much caffiene I get through in a 12 hour )

I trained on gels and powerbars so no problems there.
Hi5 4:1 I did a 12hr training ride on the night course the week before and was fine on it.
I was falling asleep during the 24hr but too dozy to take enough caffeine. I won't be making that mistake again.

Rob Lee must have trained on the gels. No problems. I could've swapped out the bars for gels but the variety was important. I was also mixing my drinks quite strong 8-9% GO for example, whereas he used weaker drinks and more gels. Either would work as long as you are getting max carbs into your system without gastric upset.

Some people just don't on with certain products, training with them or not, and for me Hi5 is one of them. As for training with gels, unfortunately I don't want a 2nd mortgage just for energy products that are not really needed in bulk during training, 12 or 24 hour TT's. I can understand higher intensity races where eating food is very difficult, but even I, whom feels it very hard to actually eat on the bike can manage solid food during a 12 hour TT. Plus the benefit of food (or energy bars as these are solid food), is that it is a more sustained release of energy which is better for ultra endurance events.

Energy drinks are needed to supplement the food intake, as it is unlikely whilst racing or training you could actually eat the 60-80 garms of carbs recommended per hour for the best performance. I generally use Go, but don't really train with it either, and it doesn't upset my stomach.

firsthippy

That's why people should try a variety of options in training - to see what works and what doesn't. I can eat drink almost anything but I'd never bother with those dry type granola bars, for example, as they are too hard to swallow for me.

The reason I use gels and bars is one of convenience - carrying 12 hours worth of sandwiches or bananas or pretty much anything else is impractical and I don't want to be stopping at shops to refuel. A cheaper alternative is to make your own bars and gels so you get more energy for carrying the same quantity of food for less coin. Anyway, mortgage rates are low.. splash out!

I also know my energy expenditure for my given race pace and even with the huge amount of calories I was ingesting I was in deficit after the 24hr but crucially I wasn't dehydrated, nor did I bonk. A few tweaks this year and things should be much better too.

SBezza

firsthippy wrote:

Anyway, mortgage rates are low.. splash out!

Unfortunately my current mortgage is a big one, so not so cheap

firsthippy wrote:

I also know my energy expenditure for my given race pace and even with the huge amount of calories I was ingesting I was in deficit after the 24hr but crucially I wasn't dehydrated, nor did I bonk. A few tweaks this year and things should be much better too.

You will always be in deficit, as your body just can not process the amount of food required, as mentioned above it can only process about 60-80 gms of carbs an hour so about 320 calories of carbs, you will be burning alot more than this each hour. Unless pedalling very slowly You probably were dehydrated unless you were stopping for a pee every hour or so, just not dehydrated enough to warrant a significant drop in performance.

PS get a helper or 2, then you don't have to carry much food at all. I carry about 1-2 hours worth in a 12 hour TT.

firsthippy

I stopped for a couple of whizzes and ended with my weight pretty close to start weight, ie. fat.

I had a great team. I don't have them when training though - they're just not -that- sick in the head.