Gels and their consumption.

[landsurfer]

I can't eat and ride.
The " Whitey Throat", as my sister calls it ... she has the same issue.
I can suck Jelly Babies to death but thats about it ...

But i can drink, and use electrolyte tablets in my bottles and after reading a "Dr Hutch" article I have started dissolving Gels in my bottles.
Any thoughts on this approach to hydration and carb uptake ???

[foxyrider]

You could stop to eat?

Gels really are the devils last resort, they are well known for causing stomach upsets and er, issues associated with a rapid need for toilet facilities!

If you can manage a jelly baby you should be able to suck Cliff Bloks - a good dose of energy in a semi solid form. Electrolyte drinks are never bad but it's real food you need on longer rides.

So back to my first line - stop to eat, stay clear of hard to digest stuff like apples and nuts and go for bananas, Jam sandwiches, flapjack and similar. But also fuel well before your ride, porridge is a good slow release anytime snack, pasta provides carbs but steer clear of cheese sauces - the fat content isn't easily digested.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

You could stop to eat?

So back to my first line - stop to eat, stay clear of hard to digest stuff like apples and nuts and go for bananas, Jam sandwiches, flapjack and similar. But also fuel well before your ride, porridge is a good slow release anytime snack, pasta provides carbs but steer clear of cheese sauces - the fat content isn't easily digested.

I second all of that.
On some of my endurance rides I have eaten on the bike from 30 minutes in but when stopping after about 4 - 4 1/2 hours I had to eat for a full ten minutes before continuing.
If you stopped every hour for solids for five minutes your endurance would be superior to any fluid intake with additives unless its blended liquefied dinners

Gels........a dirty word, only took one in my whole life as was curious, nearly threw up.

[honesty]

I quite like gels. I have no problem with stomach issues either. Each to there own. Yes I'd rather stop and lounge around have a big piece of cake and coffee, but as a bit of a boost (more than likely psychological rather than physiological) I like them. Theyre a bit of a sugary treat without being 1000 calories of double chocolate fudge cake death. Current favourite are these https://www.32gi.com/product-category/sports-chews/ which are a bit like those sugared fruit sweets your grandma used to have at Christmas.

[landsurfer]

I like gels as well ....taste nice and never had a trace of digestion problems ....
Agree with the porrage and banana stuff, I usually combine both 90 mins before I set off on a long ride ...
Flapjack sits in my stomach like a brick!!!

[softlips]

I like gels as well ....taste nice and never had a trace of digestion problems ....
Agree with the porrage and banana stuff, I usually combine both 90 mins before I set off on a long ride ...
Flapjack sits in my stomach like a brick!!!

Same here.

[hamster]

One other point. My dentist remarked that he has seen a lot more tooth decay recently amongst his cycling patients. He finds a correlation with gel usage and warned me off using them regularly.

[whoof]

What other people can or can't eat is never a lot of good to someone else as from the above posts it's a very personal thing. I suppose you have tried to eat very small amounts of solid food with plenty of liquid and regularly?

The other thing is you are carrying around huge amount of stored energy. If you super small (50kg) and super thin (5% body fat) you would have 22500 calories of energy stored as fat. The hard bit is getting your body to burn more fat and less glycogen whilst you are riding. This requires that you probably try a little less hard but if you don't run out of energy you will may be as quick if not quicker in the longer run. Conditioning your body on training rides does take a long time but can be worth it.

[foxyrider]

One other point. My dentist remarked that he has seen a lot more tooth decay recently amongst his cycling patients. He finds a correlation with gel usage and warned me off using them regularly.

I don't think the gels help but it's been an issue for a long time. I and my similarly aged ride mates all have bad teeth that predate gels. Never really managed to pin down a cause as dental hygiene and diet seems to not make a jot of difference!

[landsurfer]

One suspects that the acid levels in gels are lower than in fresh citrus fruit ..... I would love to read the research paper that links dental erosion and gels ....
Any medical students looking for a dissertation get on with it ...lol

[Andy3460]

One other point. My dentist remarked that he has seen a lot more tooth decay recently amongst his cycling patients. He finds a correlation with gel usage and warned me off using them regularly.

Reminds me of a line years ago on a radio show called Week Ending.

"A spokesman for the British Dental Association today named Polo Mints as currently the biggest cause of damage to teeth. A spokesman for Rowntree said, "Yes, but teeth do far more damage to Polos."

Lololololo

I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my XT1068 using hovercraft full of eels.

[foxyrider]

One suspects that the acid levels in gels are lower than in fresh citrus fruit ..... I would love to read the research paper that links dental erosion and gels ....

Maybe it was all the orange squash we used to drink!

[landsurfer]

One suspects that the acid levels in gels are lower than in fresh citrus fruit ..... I would love to read the research paper that links dental erosion and gels ....

Maybe it was all the orange squash we used to drink!

Good point and the coca cola that gets touted around as the cyclists drink of choice because of it's caffeine content .... I stick to water and electrolytes when on the bike .....

[ianrobo]

I can suck Jelly Babies to death but thats about it ...

That's all you need ... each Jelly Baby contains 5g of carbs and the max number of carbs you can digest in an hour is 60g.

Yes I am a low carber but on super long super effort rides then the only thing I eat are Jelly babies, perfect food for cycling and cheap

[david7591]

I too use jelly babies, and also energy drinks. If I want anything more substantial, I stop to eat.