Anyone read the High5 stronger sportive guide?

Kieran_Burns

'cos it's a little nuts (IMHO)

Light and high in carbs breakfast (cereals, toast and porridge). Then 30 to 90 mins before the start, caffeine load with a 750ml bottle of their caffeine energy drink AS WELL AS 3 x energy gels

Now during... they say it depends on how much you need to drink (weather conditions) but basically:

800ml energy drink + no gels
750ml + 1 gel
500ml + 2 gels
250ml + 3 gels

PER HOUR.

Oh and so you keep your caffeine level topped up one of the above should be a caffeine gel.

That means you eat / drink nothing else.

Okay, two things:

Has anyone ever seen Beavis and Butthead? The Great Cornholio? I'd turn up to the sportive with my top pulled half over my head looking for TP for my bunghole.

If I only had gels and drink for a 4 hour sportive (and in my case it'd be nearer 7 = up to 21 gels!) I would have an arse like Mount Vesuvius.

I think I'll stick with the sausage butty and jam sarnies thanks all the same.

jonginge

Did the L-B-L medium ride at the weekend on 3 bottles of torq, 2 gels and half an energy bar...

elbowloh

It's ridiculous yes. Not only would you have dodgy guts, but also be spending £30-£50 on all these gels/drinks per event.
Where are you supposed to carry all this stuff too?

tgotb

JonGinge wrote:

Did the L-B-L medium ride at the weekend on 3 bottles of torq, 2 gels and half an energy bar...

Which half?

elbowloh wrote:

Where are you supposed to carry all this stuff too?

You pick up refills every 5 miles at the feed stations. Duh!

I actually saw an invite to a High 5 lab testing session once (though I didn't go). Seemed to involve lots of MAMILs doing sportive-length rides on turbos somewhere near Heathrow, in return for free product. Not what I would call scientific...

I'm very much of the JG school of thought (though I do take caffeine gels before races). Quite why you'd want to take such an extreme approach to nutrition when you're not even racing is totally beyond me...

notsoblue

Whenever I do a sportive I always seem to accumulate gels from the feed stations that I never actually end up using. I don't think I've ever actually bought gels myself. The only time I've struggled to get in enough calories is on multi-day tours like LEJOG. And then the calories are usually just chocolate bars or flapjacks :P

smokey_bacon

That seems way over the top to me. And to be fair they should offer an money back guarantee if you dont KOM every segment on the route because of the sugar/carb/caffiene rush

mtb-idle

I gave up caffeine in 2008. That would leave me shaking like a leaf

pblakeney

One might think that High5 have a vested interest in selling vast amounts of the product and draw their own conclusions accordingly.

Initialised

Your body can absorb ~1g carb per kg body weight per hour.

So a 60kg rider could get through 3 20g gels per hour, and a 100kg rider could use 5. You could do the same with bananas (approx 20g carb each), but that's much bulkier and takes longer to get digested. Doing this means you are using carbs from the gels rather than dipping into your glycogen reserves meaning they can be saved for the climbs and sprints or the next day. Fueling like this for the middle half of a century then switching to a mix of protein and carbs for the last quarter makes sense as it should improve endurance. Caffeine can increase the storage of sugar as glycogen rather than fat so improve post ride recovery which is especially important for multi day events, but don't over do it or you wont sleep.

I remember the first time I tried riding on High5 products, all free samples from CRC and Wiggle.

To paraphrase the legendary Jarvis Cocker:
Oh is this the way that cycling's supposed to feel.
Or just 20,000 mamils riding down the road.
And I don't quite understand just what this feeling is.
But that's okay 'cause we're all sorted out for gels and fizz.

It's essentially a combination of a sustained sugar rush, caffeine and runners high.
Quite a nice buzz really and you feel like you've earned it.

meanredspider

I did a century yesterday at 30.1kmh

800ml of Zero tab/water
1x ZipVit ZV8 banana bar (love these things)
Coffee & pecan Danish (filling station Stylee)
Coffee and apple pie (proper Dutch cycling food)

I have a huge stash of High5 gels at home (from discounted marathon kits) - as with yesterday, I took a couple with me but never used them.