Gels? What's the score

boogi11

I have only just started riding and am doing about 30 miles, but feel 40 is easily within reach, possibly even 50. What's the score with these gels, are they the same as energy bars, whatd do people recommend? My mate puts some stuff in his water and he says it's amazing, but is it that good?

slowsider

Look for the Pot Belge brand, they'll get you to 50 miles or more

harrydaisy

SIS stuff is really good and it's well worth taking a recovery drink after a decent 40 miles, apparently replaces lost minerals ect

Herbsman

Gels are for racing. If you're not racing, you don't need gels. Eat food instead.

Herbsman

If you're that desperate for a sugar rush though, eat sweets. They're cheaper.

Penfold06

Gels are a great way of getting carbs into your system fast for when you are starting to feel a bit low. The beauty of gels is that it's very easy for your body to digest them and they get into your system really fast for an instant boost. A gel may take 5 mins to kick in whereas bars etc may take 30mins or more.

As he said^^^ gels aren't really necessary for training, unless you're trying to get your body used to taking them (some can be a bit upsetting on the stomach if you have too many) ready for racing/sportives or are really going for it. They are however great as a back up incase you get to the last few miles of your training ride and start to bonk, a quick gel should be enough to get you home.

Generally though solid food is best for regular training. try some bars/malt loaf/banana or the like.

jgsi

Herbsman wrote:

If you're that desperate for a sugar rush though, eat sweets. They're cheaper.

Midget Gems

I do concur that using up expensive gels on Sunday run type rides are a complete waste.
I have just done 30 race miles tonight... on about 300ml of Gatorade, didna bother with any recovery drink, just hurried back for a fried egg sarnie

Ands

Herbsman wrote:

Gels are for racing. If you're not racing, you don't need gels. Eat food instead.

Not true. Have you ever tried to eat an energy bar an hour into an Alpine climb in 35 degrees heat?

DavidJB

Last race I did I ate too many gels 2 in an hour (silly) and finished the race, jumped out of the van after getting changed and puked up watery gel nasty!

cougie

Energy drink should be fine (and cheaper) for those distances.
Don't use gels - what will you do with the sticky wrapper afte having the gel ??

Shot blocks are a decent half way house if you think you need more energy. Which you don't.

Mike39496

Forget gels, those cola Powerbar shots are delicious! Could eat a pack of them any time.

Herbsman

Ands wrote:

Herbsman wrote:

Gels are for racing. If you're not racing, you don't need gels. Eat food instead.

Not true. Have you ever tried to eat an energy bar an hour into an Alpine climb in 35 degrees heat?

Yes. I was fine. Man up

DavidJB

You shouldn't be using gels for a normal ride period. You should eat flapjacks, greener bananas anything with long chain carbs. OP don't waste your time and don't eat before an hour.

Or do what I do get 2 bottles, one with 8% mix of multodextrin (which you can get from myprotein.com for £4/kg) in one bottle and a regular water in the other bottle. I use this for rides of over 35 miles and up to 50, if over 50 I take a flapjack but hardly ever use it unless I'm doing a hard 60mile+ session (i.e sprinting over hills etc)

Anything less than 30 miles and you shouldn't need anything but water because you wont get through your glycose store that fast. If you're tired its because you're body isn't used to doing that distance, stick with it and don't waste your money on gels unless you're in a 40mile+ road race and make sure you're drinking enough! 1 bottle of water per hour 1/2.

Pross

I was comparing the energy content on gels and energy bars yesterday. The gel had less energy per 100g than the bar but I believe the balance is such that it gives more instant energy. I tend to use the gels with caffeine towards the end of a long ride if I feel myself flagging but prefer to keep topped up through a ride to avoid getting to that stage either with energy bars (I like the Power Bar peanut and caramel), bananas, malt loaf or Nurtigrain bars. I've certainly never needed to use gels as regularly as the recommendations say and can imagine it would leave me feeling a bit sick!

rick_chasey

When you start riding over an hour or so, you need food to keep you going.

Cycling's a non-weight bearing sport, where you use up all the energy you have before you get so fatigued you can't carry on.

Gels, bars, energy drinks, sweets, other food - they're all just ways to get energy into you in different ways.

By and large, gels are easier to eat since you just squirt them into your mouth/face - and they tend to have a more immediate effect than others.

The same with energy drinks - you just drink them .

Bespoke cycling food like gels and bars are good in that they get a lot of calories in you quite quickly, and they're often engineered to help with other parts, like replacing salts or whatever.

However, by and large, for the level amateurs perform at day-to-day - there's no need for such high tech food. Bananas, grain bars, malt-loaf - even coca cola do the job just fine.

If you're doing something unusually difficult, say climbing a mountain or doing a sportive - where getting a lot of calories in fast and easy - head for the bespoke cycling foods.

Otherwise, you'll save yourself some money (and enjoy the taste!) if you stick to more normal foods.

cougie

With running the general idea is that you can do runs up to 15 miles or so without any extra energy taken on.
So that's probably about two hours of exercise - I think that holds up with cycling. It is easier to eat whilst riding rather than it is when running - but I only bother on rides over 2 hours or so.

SBezza

If you eat a decent diet and say eat a meal 2 hours before going out, you should be perfectly able to go 2 hours at a decent effort before you actually NEED energy products. Your body has a massive store of fat which unless you are going at a very high effort, will be used alot of the time alongside the glycogen. Obviously if you are less fit, then it may feel you are actually running out of energy, but more likely you are just suffering from fatigue.

If you can do 30 miles, then doing 50 miles doesn't really take anything special in the way of feeding, eat a breakfast bar, couple of fig rolls, a flapjack etc if you really feel you need it. It is possible to do 5/6/7 hour rides with just normal food and water, though you probably have to build up to that. I would save your money and just use normal food rather than gels and special energy bars, you will be surprised at how the body can quite easily go for long periods without them. I personally only use gels for races when actually eating is impossible due to the intensity.

keef66

Herbsman wrote:

Ands wrote:

Herbsman wrote:

Gels are for racing. If you're not racing, you don't need gels. Eat food instead.

Not true. Have you ever tried to eat an energy bar an hour into an Alpine climb in 35 degrees heat?

Yes. I was fine. Man up

Or Woman up, possibly.

dodgerdog

SBezza wrote:

If you eat a decent diet and say eat a meal 2 hours before going out, you should be perfectly able to go 2 hours at a decent effort before you actually NEED energy products. Your body has a massive store of fat which unless you are going at a very high effort, will be used alot of the time alongside the glycogen. Obviously if you are less fit, then it may feel you are actually running out of energy, but more likely you are just suffering from fatigue.

If you can do 30 miles, then doing 50 miles doesn't really take anything special in the way of feeding, eat a breakfast bar, couple of fig rolls, a flapjack etc if you really feel you need it. It is possible to do 5/6/7 hour rides with just normal food and water, though you probably have to build up to that. I would save your money and just use normal food rather than gels and special energy bars, you will be surprised at how the body can quite easily go for long periods without them. I personally only use gels for races when actually eating is impossible due to the intensity.

Spot on. The issue is the bodies aboility to breakdown and utilise complex carbs as well as the relative ability of the body to multitask between consuming solid fuel (food) and maintainintg a constant level of exercise. There are known levels of uptake that the body can sustain which I seem to remember will liberate about 400cals/hr from carb. When cycling at a decent pace you are liely to be running at a burn rate of about 600+ Cals/hr and hence the recommendation to start consuming from the first 20 -30 mins.

As Bezza has highlighted the body holds approx a 2 hr burn store of energy in the glycogen deposits in the liver and the glycogen stored in the muscles. After this has been burnt it depends upon the calorie burn rate as to whether your body starts consuming muscle or fat if you are not taking on board supplementary energy (carbs).

The aim of taking energy on in the form of energy bars/gels etc is to offset the shortfall between calories burnt and those that the body can liberate from food/energy reserves hence the two hour magic cut off. The other factor to remember is that the body will denude its energy reserves overnigt hence feeling groggy and not at your sharpist in the morning and reinforces the need for breakfast if you are intending to exercise.

jgsi

cougie wrote:

With running the general idea is that you can do runs up to 15 miles or so without any extra energy taken on.
So that's probably about two hours of exercise - I think that holds up with cycling. It is easier to eat whilst riding rather than it is when running - but I only bother on rides over 2 hours or so.

On Sunday, I was chatting with another guy who was doing the race as I would treat it as he normally did 25s and 50s tt, a blessed relief
Nice day and wearing a skinsuit so not much in the department of nutrition on board...
Seeing him 30 miles in, he was going strong (on the front and towing people along) .. ok, he'll be there at the end...or so I thought... checking back on the result, he was a dnf... the race distance was 68 miles.. food probably had nothing to do with it maybe

McBoom

If you hate money buy gels.

Ands

keef66 wrote:

Herbsman wrote:

Ands wrote:

Herbsman wrote:

Gels are for racing. If you're not racing, you don't need gels. Eat food instead.

Not true. Have you ever tried to eat an energy bar an hour into an Alpine climb in 35 degrees heat?

Yes. I was fine. Man up

Or Woman up, possibly.

Very true
Well I wasn't fine. I got a few kms from the top of Alpe d'Huez and decided to shove half a Mule bar into my mouth. I quickly realised I had no ability to chew/swallow what was in my mouth but as there were two gendarmes patrolling the road ahead I didn't dare spit the contents of my mouth on to the road in front of them. I had to cycle past looking like a hamster for another 100 yards before I dare get rid of it. :oops: Subsequently followed it up with a gel

DOn't use gels much but do carry an emergency one on hilly rides - got 'stuck' a few weeks ago with hills on all sides and no ability to turn the pedals - a gel was easier to stomach than a bar - gave me the boost I needed to get going again

thescouselander

I've got into gels on club rides - personally I find then quite convienient as they can be consumed very quickly. I find solid food a bit of a faf to unpack and energy drinks just make me really thirsty so gels seemed just the thing. I seem to be able to do about 30 miles without any extra nutrition so I usually take a few gels on rides longer than that.

Another thing is I'm surprised people on here are claiming gels are expensive - compared to some of the kit people buy gels etc seem quite a small expense by comparison.

Ever one is different though - I suppose it's an individual choice at the end of the day. Just use what works for you.

TKF

It's worth noting that your body adapts to processing certain types of food. If you are going to be relying on gels for a race then practice with gels in training.

Also useful to find out which ones do/don't work for you. Some gels are a shock to the stomach and will be rejected.

Personally I prefer sportives to races. In training and during the event I'll have an isotonic drink (High5 Zero) and munch on jelly babies, nutty bites and a banana or two. I'm mildly hypoglycaemic (low blood sugar) so managing energy levels is something I've done since long before I began cycling.