Which Gel or energy drink do you drink??

[im4smiley]

I like the power gel's tropical fruit, strawberry banana and raspberry cream. I didn't like the tangerine as mcuh and I haven't tried the chocolate..as much as I love chocolate..I am not sure about the gel..someday i will try it.

[betagirl]

Drink: Cytomax. It tastes better than gatorade to me. But if I do drink gatorade, I prefer orange or red. Not a big fan of powerade

Gel: Gu chocolate. I found powergel to be kinda gross.

Another recent discovery are Clif Shot Bloks. The berry are good. Not a big fan of the orange. Those are the only 2 flavors I've tried so far.

[mtkitchn]

I like the banana Gu, only because I try to avoid caffeine and that's the only one I know of w/no caffeine. Any others I should try?

[Trekhawk]

Drink - I like Cytomax.
Gel - I like banana Gu too. Another one I tried on the weekend (they were handing them out at the ride) was PowerBar Gel 4 x Sodium Flavour Plain Energy. CindySue said it tasted like Popsicle and I think thats a good description. I like that it was less gluggy than Gu. Easier to get down towards the later part of a ride.

[Aggie_Ama]

I love Luna Bars- Lemonzest! I think it tastes like the Lemon Pastry Creme Girl Scout cookies. They tend to melt on my long rides making a sticky mess. I usually put them in the fridge the night before so they are only slightly melted by the time I eat them. My new favorite food is the Sport Beans.

I like Gatorade myself. My husband said he hates it and must water it down to drink it. My blood sugar tends to drop on rides and I find the sugar is just what I need. For any ride over 20 miles I bring one bottle of water and one bottle of Gatorade.

I haven't done the gels. I am an odd duck and have to chew something. If I drink things (like a smoothie) I mentally do not feel satisfied. Just a weird quirk of mine.

[yellow]

I'm a recent convert to all Hammer, all the time. Hammer gel and Sustained Energy and/or Perpetuem for longer rides (2+ hours), just gel and maybe some Heed for shorter rides. I thought it was all hooey, but it works for me. In fact I have been REALLY surprised at the results (as in, why the heck didn't I do this sooner??). I don't eat any (or very little) solid food on rides anymore; don't need it.

[maillotpois]

I'm all Hammer for gels. Love banana and at the double this weekend I tried apple cinnamon, which was also very good. Like applesauce.

I think Hammer stuff tries to use more complex carbs.

For drink we use Power Bar's Performance drink. I have started using their recovery drink during longer rides and it works well. Has some protein in it, similar to some of the hammer drink products. I was not able to drink the Hammer drinks when I tried at Knoxville double last year.

[Fredwina]

I like Cytomax for drinks, I like the citrus/orange, but I'm alos developeing an affinity for grape. As for Gels, I used to the Clif shots, but find I like the Shot Block better. Less messy and then do give you some thing to chew on.

[Duck on Wheels]

Got introduced to a new bar at spin class. Called "Green", and is actually green inside. All the ingredients are actual fruits, grains and veggies. Tastes like a fig newton, but with chocolate instead of cookie covering. Expensive, though. And I haven't tried it on a long ride.

[FreshNewbie]

Bought some raspberry flavour Hammer Gel yesterday to try before my cycling class. I actually liked it, didn't have a problem eating it and it was easy on my stomach. The salesperson told me that apple cinnamon was good but somehow I had a feeling that it might be too sweet, I guess I will try it next.

[SadieKate]

For one hour or less rides, tropical fruit Cytomax mixed with pink lemonade Crystal Lite for a yummy tart drink. Longer rides, I use Hammer Gel, either raspberry or banana. Endurolyte capsules when it's hot.

I'm going to experiment with other drink mixes to augment the gel on long rides. My stomach is OK with things like Nectar and Mojo bars, fig newtons, Pay Days, cantaloupe and PBJs but sometimes my tastebuds rebel and I can't eat too many peanuts anyway. I never hold the rest stop food selection against ride organizers because I never know what I want until I'm standing there. How should they?

On the other hand, I can be highly critical of the food at the end.

[Grog]

I love Clif Gel (Razz-Sorbet). I actually think it tastes good and is enjoyable to eat. (Think jam by the spoon.)

I love Clif Electrolytes (lemon preparation) but I ran out and I can't find it in Canada, not sure it's imported. So yesterday I mixed about half the suggested quantity of Country Time lemonade powder with a pinch of salt in my 600 mL bottle. Just as good, pretty much the same amount of calories, certainly pretty simple carbs. So that's what I'll be drinking for now.

[tulip]

Just a quick note for those of you (us) who ride to lose weight...all those gels and sport drinks are VERY caloric. Really, for rides of fewer than 40 miles or so, you only need water (PLAIN water) and a banana. Otherwise, you're likely going overboard with the sugar and calories.

[CorsairMac]

actually I just discovered the Emer_gen_c has higher minerals and vitamins than their Electro Mix and the sweetener is fructose which I can tolerate - so I've switched over the Emer-Gen-C.




OT: Mimi you avatar is Hilarious!! is that Your cat???

[FreshNewbie]

Tulip, I think there is much more to consider when it comes to rides below 40 miles. For instance, I usually ride early in the morning and can't eat a large enough breakfast that will hold me for 40miles, so I take a bar or gel with me. On a 40 miles ride you can burn more than 1000 calories, although it's true that you don't need to replace the calories you burn, but still your body needs some source of fuel (carbs, fat, protein) In fact hammer gel i bought has only 2 grams of sugar and 80calories, I can live with that considering that I don't eat a lot of them. Now, you are right about sport drinks, they have a lotttttttt of sugar, I usually try to mix them with water. Anyway, thats just my .02$