I am so glad you tried again, and found a way to make it work for you. So it was a 36 mile ride all together? Good for you. And to find a way to memorize the route, that's impressive. Looking forward to more tales of the road!

I've tried those Cliff blocks at expos, but not on the road. I bought a case of gel at a discount when I was training for the marathon, so I feel like I've got to choke back some more of that before I invest in other training treats...that said, I ate some sport beans today (also a sample from an expo)--orange flavor--and liked them a lot. Maybe the gel just needs a bit more salt for me to be able to like it. Oh well. Gel.