what (non-caffeine) gels do you use?

maddog 2

big fan of the SIS Smart gels but I want a non-caffeine gel, for early on in rides when I just want carbs.

What do you use, and flavour?

Tempted by the Go gels, for obvious reasons, but I'm happy to try others.

Herbsman

SIS and High5.

I prefer the SIS ones because although they're more expensive and contain about the same amount of carbohydrate as the High5 ones, they contain much more water. This means that, firstly, the packet is bigger and therefore easier to grab, hold onto and squeeze, and secondly, I don't have to drink any more water than I normally would.

doyler78

Herbsman wrote:

SIS and High5.

I prefer the SIS ones because although they're more expensive and contain about the same amount of carbohydrate as the High5 ones, they contain much more water. This means that, firstly, the packet is bigger and therefore easier to grab, hold onto and squeeze, and secondly, I don't have to drink any more water than I normally would.

The High5 IsoGel don't require water either. I've used them and the SiS Go Gels and I'd happily take either.

RonB

SiS and Zipvits depending on special offers. I have tried the Torq gels but I find them a bit thick and sticky...end up drinking extra fluid to get them down.

ddraver

Big fan of the Cliff Shot blocks....have nt tried their gel gels though

RideOnTime

RonB wrote:

SiS and Zipvits depending on special offers.

+1

Pokerface

I use ZipVit and have also used SIS in the past. Orange flavour always for me!

woozor

Havent used any of the above but I use these :

http://www.myprotein.com/uk/products/mp ... l-isotonic

Herbsman

doyler78 wrote:

Herbsman wrote:

SIS and High5.

I prefer the SIS ones because although they're more expensive and contain about the same amount of carbohydrate as the High5 ones, they contain much more water. This means that, firstly, the packet is bigger and therefore easier to grab, hold onto and squeeze, and secondly, I don't have to drink any more water than I normally would.

The High5 IsoGel don't require water either. I've used them and the SiS Go Gels and I'd happily take either.

Are they the same size as the SIS gels? The normal High5 gels are tiny.

Thing is, if you're going to use gels you might need a bottle of water (as opposed to a carb drink) anyway. Having gels plus a carb drink but no water left me really thirsty towards the end of a 3.5h race and I expelled some pretty dark yellow fluids afterwards.

Don't forget for every glucose molecule you split for energy you need six water molecules! Plus you need water for to replace fluid lost through sweat etc

doyler78

They are 60gm sachets delivering 22 or 24gm of carbs - their website can't seem to make its mind up - the blurb at the top says 24 however the nutritional info below says 22gm. How that compares to the SiS Go gels I don't know but I suspect they'll have tried to at least match them.

I did say don't require water and that's simply because they are isotonic (hence their name) and will easily be absorbed by the body however that is of course dependent on what other carbs you are firing in.

racingcondor

Torq Black Cherry for me. Tastes like yogurt.

Personally I've found almost all gels require a sip of water afterwards just to clean my mouth out. The only exception to that was one of the larger High 5 gels that was very watery and that had the added problem of how to stop it going everywhere...

incog24

SIS work best for me. Pretty bland, but that's generally a good thing.

Dave_P1

Torq gels, rhubarb and custard

nweststeyn

Torq strawberry yoghurt - tasty and good. Need a drink of water with it.

CNP cola gels - absolutely disgusting, in my opinion.

t.m.h.n.e.t

High5, got 4 boxes BOGOF from wiggle a few weeks back.

Some of them contain caffeine though (assorted boxes)

Herbsman

incog24 wrote:

SIS work best for me. Pretty bland, but that's generally a good thing.

I tried one of the tropical ones during a hard-ish training ride, and it barely tasted of anything. During an actual race though it tasted very sweet. I think the more you need feeding, the tastier the food is...

T.M.H.N.E.T wrote:

High5, got 4 boxes BOGOF from wiggle a few weeks back.

Some of them contain caffeine though (assorted boxes)

Got two of those assorted boxes - only 2 caffeine ones in each box. There is no mention of caffeinated ones on the product description (it said four different flavours of 'normal' gel) but at 50p each I wasn't going to complain

t.m.h.n.e.t

Herbsman wrote:

incog24 wrote:

SIS work best for me. Pretty bland, but that's generally a good thing.

I tried one of the tropical ones during a hard-ish training ride, and it barely tasted of anything. During an actual race though it tasted very sweet. I think the more you need feeding, the tastier the food is...

T.M.H.N.E.T wrote:

High5, got 4 boxes BOGOF from wiggle a few weeks back.

Some of them contain caffeine though (assorted boxes)

Got two of those assorted boxes - only 2 caffeine ones in each box. There is no mention of caffeinated ones on the product description (it said four different flavours of 'normal' gel) but at 50p each I wasn't going to complain

Actually yeah. There's only two (Orange + or something).

Orange- Apple- Summer Fruit- Citrus Burst iirc

maddog 2

cheers all

Pulled the trigger on a box of SIS orange, so we'll see how they go.

May also try the odd Torq, if I'm in a shop that sells them individually.

brettjmcc

woozor wrote:

Havent used any of the above but I use these :

http://www.myprotein.com/uk/products/mp ... l-isotonic

+1 but mainly because they had boxes coming up for best before date earlier this year; it makes sod all difference to the taste/performance. The upside was that they were less than half price and worked out about 40p a gel.

They're currently on sale actually. 30 in a box and £15.99 works out about 53p a gel