Gels

[telstarbox]

I love doing long rides but sometimes forget to eat enough as I'm going round, or find I'm more than several km away from  the next Co-op.

Haven't tried gels before but the Adnams Ghost Ship one sounds tasty and I have a strong stomach. Are they worth trying?

[giropaul]

My advice would be to experiment with different ones before any important ride. Not all makes suit everyone. I personally like either the ones from Decathlon, or my favourites, Overstim, that do specific gels for different parts of the ride - but I have to order these in bulk from France.

[Kim]

They seem like a good idea to carry for emergencies and never use...

Holly: Hope they've got some odds and sods on board [the Nova 5]. We're a bit short on a few supplies.
Lister: (drinking tea) Like what?
Holly: Cow's milk. We ran out of that yonks ago.
Lister: ...What kind of milk are we using now?
Holly: Emergency backup supply. We're on the dog's milk.
Lister: Dog's milk?!
Holly: Nothing wrong with dog's milk. Full of goodness. Full of vitamins. Full of marrowbone jelly. Lasts longer than any other type of milk, dog's milk.
Lister: Why?
Holly: No bugger'll drink it. And the advantage of dog's milk is that when it goes off it tastes exactly the same as when it's fresh.
Lister: Why didn't you tell me, Hol?
Holly: What, and spoil your tea?

[T42]

We can get apple purée in little resealable pouches with screw tops.  As a pick-me-up I've found it far better than any gel, and it's not too sweet.

Other than that, on a long ride you need protein & fat as well as carbs and magic chymickals.  When I can get them I carry mini-salami and crystallized ginger.  The salami counteracts the bleh feeling of always eating sweet stuff, the ginger gives you a bit of zing.  Both at once taste oriental.   Seeberger ginger is good if you can get it.

[Cudzoziemiec]

We can get apple purée in little resealable pouches with screw tops.  As a pick-me-up I've found it far better than any gel, and it's not too sweet.

Sounds like baby food!

Other than that, on a long ride you need protein & fat as well as carbs and magic chymickals.

True. Eat real food.

They seem like a good idea to carry for emergencies and never use...

Holly: Hope they've got some odds and sods on board [the Nova 5]. We're a bit short on a few supplies.
Lister: (drinking tea) Like what?
Holly: Cow's milk. We ran out of that yonks ago.
Lister: ...What kind of milk are we using now?
Holly: Emergency backup supply. We're on the dog's milk.
Lister: Dog's milk?!
Holly: Nothing wrong with dog's milk. Full of goodness. Full of vitamins. Full of marrowbone jelly. Lasts longer than any other type of milk, dog's milk.
Lister: Why?
Holly: No bugger'll drink it. And the advantage of dog's milk is that when it goes off it tastes exactly the same as when it's fresh.
Lister: Why didn't you tell me, Hol?
Holly: What, and spoil your tea?

Oddly enough, my son was talking about camel milk yesterday (as a result of his mad autarchic food ideas).

[quixoticgeek]

They seem like a good idea to carry for emergencies and never use...

I have a caffiene energy shot gel thingy in my food bag. I picked it up on the final day of RatN, when I was planning to ride through the night as a emergency for if I am struggling to stay awake. I've not used it yet, but I wonder what state I'd have to be in to resort to it...

J

[ElyDave]

I find the occaisional gel OK, but they do not satisfy the hunger.  Zipvit gels are thick and wallpaper-paste-like; I find both the high-5 normal and iso-gels easy on the stomach, adn quite like the SIS-Go double espresso gels pretty good, they taste sort of mocha-ish and give a nice caffiene hit.

Other than that, Trek bars and flapjacks ans 9-bars both work for me outside of cafe stops.

[bludger]

I try to have a gel with me in case I'm feeling seriously minging from heat or whatever.

The last time I actually used one it was because I'd slashed a tyre open on a flint and needed a tyre boot. It went down very well because it was a hot day.

[T42]

We can get apple purée in little resealable pouches with screw tops.  As a pick-me-up I've found it far better than any gel, and it's not too sweet.

Sounds like baby food!

You know, that might not be such a bad idea - easy to digest when you're at the limit, lots of nutritional goodness.

Chum of mine carries one of those 200 ml bottles of drink for the elderly who've no appetite.  I tried it myself for a while but never quite got around to drinking it.

[zigzag]

gels are convenient energy when going fast. i try not to carry them in their original packaging as it's too fiddly to open. i squeeze them either into a small plastic honey container, or into a water bottle and dilute with water - more palatable and even taste good!

[Pingu]

Jelly Babies.

[tonyh]

Biscuits. Ginger nuts - handy size, not too crumbly, noticeable taste.

[DuncanM]

The other advantage of the watery gels like the SIS ones is that they are easy to carry and can get you through for a bit if you run out of something to drink. I think they are a good emergency backup, but unless I was racing (or sometimes as a 5 minute before the race pick-me-up) I wouldn't plan on consuming them.

[fuaran]

I like Clif Shots Bloks. They are chewy blocks, so less messy than gels. Though best to have them with water. And quite tasty. Some of them have caffeine.

[Greenbank]

They seem like a good idea to carry for emergencies and never use...

I have a caffiene energy shot gel thingy in my food bag. I picked it up on the final day of RatN, when I was planning to ride through the night as a emergency for if I am struggling to stay awake. I've not used it yet, but I wonder what state I'd have to be in to resort to it...

In my experience, it wasn't anywhere near as effective as I wanted it to be when I did need it, but that's mostly because of the 20-30 minutes it takes for the caffeine to start to take effect.

In subsequent situations I've used a caffeine gel as part of a napuccino which has always worked much better for me when I'm flagging.

For normal gels I prefer the "Isogel" types that have more water content. I find them a lot less unpalatable than normal gels.

[citoyen]

When I can get them I carry mini-salami and crystallized ginger.  The salami counteracts the bleh feeling of always eating sweet stuff, the ginger gives you a bit of zing.  Both at once taste oriental.

This is by far the best advice I've read on the internet today. I'm definitely going to try this.

[citoyen]

I like Clif Shots Bloks. They are chewy blocks, so less messy than gels. Though best to have them with water. And quite tasty. Some of them have caffeine.

I like those. They're like soft wine gums.

Clif also do gel shots, which are like normal gels but extra concentrated. The 'Double Expresso' [sic] one is amazing.

[citoyen]

the Adnams Ghost Ship one sounds tasty

I've had one of the beer-flavoured ones - don't think it was that particular one but there are a few around. Sounds like a fun idea, but the novelty soon wears off and you remember you're just eating sickly sugary snot. That tastes vaguely like beer.

I generally go for the 'simple' flavours, preferably citrus. But like Kim, I only carry them for back-up/emergency use, rather than regular consumption. They are good if you need a quick hit, but not being a racer, I don't generally burn calories fast enough to need them topping up that quickly.

[rafletcher]

From what I can recall (might have been one of the Van Tulleken brother's programs), just the hit of sugar on the tongue - for example from a boiled sweet - was enough to release the extra energy in the body, in anticipation of being topped up. I think gels are fine if you're racing, otherwise real food has them beaten hands down, even energy bars.

[Phil W]

Last time I used gels I puked (on the way up Holme Moss) over a dry stone wall onto a load of large caterpillars.

[trekker12]

gels are convenient energy when going fast. i try not to carry them in their original packaging as it's too fiddly to open.

As evidenced on the roadside following a sportive or running marathon where it's easy to find the little torn off tops or worse the whole packet discarded rather than put the sticky remnants into your back pocket. The packets are plastic and I don't think they are recyclable although I haven't bought one for years so things may have changed.

Apart from the likes of Chris Froome needing one when he's used all he has up a mountain I never ride in a way I can't stop and get food or take a cereal bar from my back pocket on the move- but then I don't race.

[citoyen]

When I did the Etape Caledonia, they had litter zones shortly after the feed stations where you were permitted to discard gel wrappers etc. Good idea - people are going to drop them anyway (because people are cunts) so you might as well manage the problem and make it easier to clear up afterwards.

Of course, there were still plenty of gel wrappers dropped outside these zones (because people are cunts).

[Kim]

See, if it wasn't for those pesky UCI regulations, the wrappers would rattle about harmlessly inside the fairing until the wobbling sweat-soaked gel-stained rider was extracted at the end of the race.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I like fig rolls. They're tasty (to me, ymmv), cheap, widely available and I'm sure I read on somewhere highly scientific like road.cc that they contain almost exactly the same proportions and amounts of carbs, fats and proteins as a gel. But they still leave you with the cloying feeling of always sweet things, as T42 noted.

[thing1]

By pure coincidence, I'm giving away an armful of gels and energy drink type powders over here, if you or anyone that wants to dabble in trying them.