Shot Bloks, GU, Accelerade, Oh My!

[Bikingmomof3]

Jennifer, here are several links that you might find helpful from bicycling.com on staying hydrated and fueled during endurance activities:

http://www.bicycling.com/article/1,6...4780-1,00.html
http://www.bicycling.com/article/1,6...4999-1,00.html
http://www.bicycling.com/article/1,6...4997-1,00.html

Thank you. I will print these out. I cannot even get midly dehydrated and running around with a full tummy of water does not work-I tried.

[roadie gal]

I've tried the Hammer Gel. I like the plain and vanilla or mixing the berry with plain. I went back to Gu because I wasn't using the gel fast enough and I was getting worried about it spoiling in the big flask once it was opened. I don't worry about the little sealed foiled packs the same way.

Roadie Gal,
Have you tried Using Hammer Gel in a Flask? I've just got some, and will be expermenting over the weekend...

[colby]

I tried some more gel flavors and thought I'd report back.

REI had Gu Strawberry-Banana... MMMMM tasty! It has a lighter texture than the banana flavor, and when you burp it back up (as is inevitable) it's really not noticeable. It's a really gentle flavor.

I also decided to try some of the caffeienated flavors. I can't really tell about the caffeiene, but it's pretty low on the list of ingredients.

Gu Tri-berry: better than Clif Razz. All of the Clif ones have that brown rice syrup flavor, and Gus and Hammers don't seem to. Cliff Razz is caffeiene-free though.

Gu Espresso: tasted like espresso. It was actually better than I expected. I wasn't sure about the coffee flavor, but it turned out to not be so bad. If you like coffee and can tolerate that taste while running, it would work well.

I also picked up Clif Mango flavor and Gu Vanilla flavor, maybe even Gu chocolate, but I haven't tried them yet. Strawberry-banana is my new favorite, though I got as many regular bananas also so I have a little variety. I like having one or two that I know is good to come back to every so often. Hopefully strawberry-banana is a regular flavor.

[Fredwina]

without getting too much over my (and everybody else's) head, Clif is organic, so they can't can't use Maltodextrin (which is modified corn starch, not to be confused with the infamous High Fructose Corn Syrup), The different manufacturers will vary the mix of the sugar(s) according to their theories (i.e, Hammer doesn't believe you should ingest anything ending with -ose)
Read the links that Indy Steel provided, Good Stuff