So I've been riding for about three months. Right now my long rides are around 50 miles on Saturdays. I ride with some more experienced riders, and all of them seem convinced that if I don't start consuming things like HammerGel and Accelerade I'm going to turn into a pumpkin. Well, they say I'm going to "bonk". What is at issue is not that I am not consuming calories on the bike, just that I'm not consuming them in "sports nutrition" form.

I just don't see spending my hard-earned money on high tech sports food. I eat a decent meal ahead of time and have been drinking Gatorade (made from powder) and water, and eating fig newtons, bananas, and Clif bars. I suppose according to current "theory" I'm supposed to be consuming some protien too, but there's protien in the clif bar. I also for the most part can't have whey protien unless it's the isolate type because I'm lactose intolerant.

Am I making some terrible mistake? Are these drinks somehow superior to Gatorade? I suppose if my stomach were bothering me or I was unable to actually consume enough, that would be different. At least one of the guys I ride with is of the "expensive is better" school of thought and I get the impression that all their gels and drinks are part of their strange "I'm an athlete" thing. I also have the suspicion that if I could pay for a clinical trial of fig newtons and my homemade soy protien recovery drink, I could "prove" it's 44% better too.