Nutrition gels during cycle

kellt

I generally use high 5 orange gel sachets while riding. Does anybody suggest any other gels and their opinions on same and any other alternatives. I also use zero cal tabs for water bottles also any opinions and alternatives ?

TheTubes

I use the Zero cal tabs aswell, mostly just to give the water a flavor, I'm not sure if they make much difference to me.

As far as gels go I use Gu, I tried a few when running and found a lot of them very runny, the Gu were the only ones I could take without messing myself
I've bought a pack of these but havent tried them yet, according to the pack 5 = 1 gel, there are 9 in the pack.

All things considered though, I don't really like gels, I used them when I was running (1 an hour for 4 hours in Dub marathon) mainly because its difficult to take anything else when running.

The last long cycle I was out on I had this waffle thing I got in the Edge sports in cork, it was lush, must get it again. Most of the time I just take cereal bars, etc. and I think they are good. Personally I prefer taking something like a cereal bar over a gel as its easier on my stomach and I don't feel so sh1t after a few of them

Raam

I use the High 5 stuff. It does the job for me. I quite like the Zero tabs.

ednwireland

zym tablets and high 5 shot bloks

Lumen

Make your own gel and carry it in a gel flask.

Khannie

Those zero tabs annoy me. I hate marketing arse like that. "Participants burned, on average blah blah". Of course they burned more fat. They had no sugar to use. "Electrolyte drink" = add some salt.

I use sugar, water, lo-salt and mi-wadi. Sometimes I'll add some unflavoured whey in there to help with recovery. Same thing as those gels really unless I'm missing something? Probably about 1/20th the price. You can't taste the lo-salt but it is good for electrolyte replacement (from sweat) and rate of hydration.

I see those high five gels have caffeine in them. That's news to me about caffeine increasing fluid absorption rates (and I have invested some effort in reading about fluid absorption for post weigh in rehydration). From the reading I did, salt, sugar and water was about as good as it gets for getting fluid through the walls of the small intestines. I read a paper by a guy in the Australian army. I'll dig out the link if anyone's interested.

For caffeine I use these if I'm trying to shift fat. Also very cheap. 1 or 2 (depending on your caffeine tolerance) about an hour before the ride is best as I understand it. While caffeine does help with endurance it does so by using fat early on so that glycogen stores are retained for later use. I don't see that working so well when you're half way through a ride, though they say perceived effort is lower when you have caffeine taken too so maybe that would help.

Raam

Khannie wrote: »

Those zero tabs annoy me. I hate marketing arse like that. "Participants burned, on average blah blah". Of course they burned more fat. They had no sugar to use. "Electrolyte drink" = add some salt.

I couldn't give a bollix about whatever the marketing ploy is, I use them for the electrolyte benefit. Also great as a hangover preventer.

Khannie

Raam wrote: »

I couldn't give a bollix about whatever the marketing ploy is, I use them for the electrolyte benefit. Also great as a hangover preventer.

Lo salt does exactly the same thing.

edit: My favourite hangover preventer is a 1g vitamin c tab, pint of water and lo-salt. Brilliant stuff for staving off a head.

Raam

Khannie wrote: »

Lo salt does exactly the same thing.

Tried it in the past for a year, didn't do the job for me unfortunately. Not as a hangover preventer, as on the bike nutrition.

ThisRegard

Khannie wrote: »

I see those high five gels have caffeine in them.

Only the caffeine ones do, obviously. And isn''t the caffeine in them aimed at giving you an extra little kick, nothing to do with fat loss or fluid absorption ?

Khannie

Tell me more. Those tabs surely use sodium choride and potassium chloride for electrolyte replacement. What's different and how did it manifest itself for you?

The only thing I can think of that might be different is the level of sodium in lo-salt being below 50%. You could fix that with some table salt though.

Khannie

ThisRegard wrote: »

isn''t the caffeine in them aimed at giving you an extra little kick, nothing to do with fat loss or fluid absorption ?

The marketing gear I read was going on about absorption rates and talking about how caffeine helps in endurance sports. Caffeine does that through glygogen sparing (and another way of saying that is "increased fat use").

ThisRegard

I don't think they claim that the caffeine increases fluid absorption directly, I think the only direct mention of that is with regards to electrolytes. They claim the caffeine increases endurance, presumably from the kick, and that it increases carb absorption rather than fluid, but the increase of carb absorption has a knock on affect in increasing fluid absorption ? Then again I'm not a food scientist or dietitian, I leave that to my wife.

Lumen

Caffeine has recently been destricted by WADA (it used to be limited to equivalent of 6 cups or something) specifically because it doesn't offer significant net advantage.

Amphetamines FTW.

Raam

Khannie wrote: »

Tell me more. Those tabs surely use sodium choride and potassium chloride for electrolyte replacement. What's different and how did it manifest itself for you?

The only thing I can think of that might be different is the level of sodium in lo-salt being below 50%. You could fix that with some table salt though.

LEAVE ME ALONE, I F**KING LIKE THE THINGS!

Seriously though, I find them more convenient to use. I used to get bad cramps in races. Maybe I had my mixture levels wrong for when I was using salt. I also like the taste.

Tombones

An oatfield glucose barley under the tongue. Cheap and last for ages.

Khannie

Raam wrote: »

LEAVE ME ALONE, I F**KING LIKE THE THINGS!

LOL!

Yeah. They're more convenient. No question there. I'm just scabby. edit: If you were just using table salt, that's defo the problem. I used to get filthy cramps myself until I switched to lo-salt. Potassium chloride in lo-salt may taste like crap, but it's great for staving off cramps.

VanhireBoys

Flat Diet Coke then add 2 teaspoons of Nescafe and 2 tablespoons of sugar..! Boil it up in a saucepan till its all dissolved .. Then put in the fridge overnight.. A few icecubes in just before you take off...!

This works for me...!

Raam

VanhireBoys wrote: »

Flat Diet Coke then add 2 teaspoons of Nescafe and 2 tablespoons of sugar..! Boil it up in a saucepan till its all dissolved .. Then put in the fridge overnight.. A few icecubes in just before you take off...!

This works for me...!

How long does it take to pull you down from the ceiling?

07Lapierre

VanhireBoys wrote: »

Flat Diet Coke then add 2 teaspoons of Nescafe and 2 tablespoons of sugar..! Boil it up in a saucepan till its all dissolved .. Then put in the fridge overnight.. A few icecubes in just before you take off...!

This works for me...!

Mother of God!! :eek:

15lean

Raam wrote: »

I couldn't give a bollix about whatever the marketing ploy is, I use them for the electrolyte benefit. Also great as a hangover preventer.

Problem is your paying through the nose for a heavily marketed product that can be bought cheap as chips elsewhere

15lean

Caffeine improves fat oxidation, therefore saving glycogen stores until a later point in the race/training session. Also stimulates nervous system giving people that ''energetic'' feeling

Icyseanfitz

VanhireBoys wrote: »

Flat Diet Coke then add 2 teaspoons of Nescafe and 2 tablespoons of sugar..! Boil it up in a saucepan till its all dissolved .. Then put in the fridge overnight.. A few icecubes in just before you take off...!

This works for me...!

ive to try that stuff although its probably 50/50 chance of a heart attack haha

granda

i have used powerbar gels and found them ok but now i use the powerbar drink and find it much better than the gels plus i always take a couple of fruit bars(aldis best) along on long rides, i think the moral of the story is each to there own there is no right or wrong its what works for you

Lusk Doyle

Khannie wrote: »

LOL!

Yeah. They're more convenient. No question there. I'm just scabby. edit: If you were just using table salt, that's defo the problem. I used to get filthy cramps myself until I switched to lo-salt. Potassium chloride in lo-salt may taste like crap, but it's great for staving off cramps.

Do you work in a lab and wear a white coat??? :P