Energy Gels - How To Use Them?

I've only ever used them when racing. If you are not racing, then you can usually find the time to eat proper food at a fraction of the cost. One could be handy for emergency use if you feel the dreaded knock, but I just stop at a convenience store and buy a can of coke and a Mars bar if that happens.

I much prefer to use an energy drink mix in one bottle and water in the other. I carry an extra portion of energy drink powder to top up a bottle if I stop for more water. I can do 70-80 miles at a fairly hard pace just on that. However, I usually will have a cafe stop and eat real food and have a tea or coffee etc. The groups I ride with during the week always do a cafe stop. I don't carry any food for them, just energy drink and water.

I will carry extra food when I go 100+ miles. Usually in the form of a few Nākd bars and probably two sachets of energy drink powder. As the mileage ups, I plan refuel stops as I certainly wouldn't want to be just consuming energy gels the whole ride.

Last month I did a 250 mile unsupported ride. There is no way I could carry enough food without a large bag of some sort! So I planned 3x cafe stops with two or three convenience stores/ petrol stations in between which I knew would be open, especially in the evening towards the end of the ride. I also carried 4 sachets of energy drink mix.

I consumed 4500cals on that ride, drank 6lts of fluids and burnt roughly 9-10000cals, losing 2lbs in weight by the end of the day. No gels whatsoever, but the final 80 miles saw me stopping every 20-25miles for more fluids. Pee remained straw colour, so I wasn't dehydrated, but my fluid intake does increase when I get above 150 miles.

So, gels can be useful, but unless you are riding somewhere remote you can usually just buy something cheaper. Personally I find the 60-90g of carbs an hour too much - that figure seems to have come from the pro-race world. I might be riding hard but there's no way I'm putting out anything like the power output sustained over 4hrs that those guys are, and I don't need to try to eat with a heart rate above 170bpm either!

On the energy drink front I use Bulk Powders Complete Hydration mix. You can always get a big discount, I usually buy it at 50% off. That works out at less than 30p per bidon, best offer I've had was only 20p per bidon. That's pretty darn cheap. It has the right balance of electrolytes as well as the glucose/ fructose sugars. Doesn't clump, so mixes easily and tastes pleasant enough.

I always carry one just in case and put a sucrose/glucose mix in my water bottle for the first 2 or 3 hours. Hi5 works well for me and Wiggle's price is OK. I find when I take it, it kicks in after 5min. and lasts 45. They really help maybe one ride in 7.

I use them as part of the bigger picture when fuelling longer harder rides, I try to follow the rule of thumb 60-90g of carbohydrate an hour advice and a gel contributes 20-40g of that.

I use them along side mini soreen, bananas, Clif Bloks etc just to keep my nutrition varied and tasty! The caffeinated ones give me such a kick it doesn't seem legal sonetimes 😁 I save them for 'last big climb' or particularly tough gravel sections.

Edit: don't even bother trying to sip and re-use, even when I think I've squeezed out every last drop out of one the empty wrapper still comes back out of my pocket a sticky mess!

Treat them as you would ordinary food, they just fit in your pocket more easily and can be easier to digest than solid foods.

When you need them can depend on how "fuelled" you are to begin with,how long you've ridden for & what intensity. For instance George Russell was snacking on a SIS gel whilst being interviewed before an F1 race recently, to keep his carb levels up he said, which to a cyclist might seem odd as an F1 race is max 2hrs effort anyway, but he almost certainly doesn't carb load on a race weekend as prep.

I'd have said it takes on average 20mins to digest a gel, and the effect lasts again depends on the intensity & how much fuel you've got left in your tank. I've been in situations where I've used one and ridden the next hour no problem, others I still had to stop every 10mins and just keep snacking on stuff.

If you start to nearly bonk, it's like dehydration really imo, it's too late by that stage to recover properly, it will get you home but you'll still feel shattered, it's best to really approach feeding as after an hour whether you feel you need something or not, eat something be that food or a gel and just keep doing it at regular intervals to keep ontop of it,not to let the energy drop too far and try to recover from it.

Also worth pointing out as alot of people will avoid that regular feeding, or do fasted rides, as you'll think its better to push yourself to increase your limits, and so what if you end the ride nearly bonking, that's perfectly fuelled right ? all that does is impact your recovery time to be able to do the next ride.

I dont use Gels for under 100km/4hrs ride, just relying on water in one bottle and energy mix in a second.  I'll take a standard Natures Choice cereal bar along to nibble or make a cake stop.

Over 100km I go loaded for bear with a SIS energy bar or a Beta fuel jelly every hour or 20miles which ever comes first.  By the end of a big session its more like every 15miles.

I also go fasted a couple of times a week for ~30mi/2hr rides before breakfast.  I cant swear its that but it seems to have entended my "bonking range" which used to be about 70mi.  I havent got my fuelling wrong and bonked for over a year now.

I use Torq gels and flapjacks myself, but tend to use them for longer rides. If the ride is below 90 minutes I might not use any at all if the intensity is low enough (70-75%). On longer rides (2 hours plus), I tend to eat a banana immediately before starting and then have my first snack (a flapjack) after about 40 minutes. This delivers 263 calories and 43g of carbs. After that, I will have my first gel 40 minutes later, delivering 114 calories and 29g of carbs. I will then have a gel every 20-30 minutes depending on intensity.

I find this strategy works really well for me and I can stick to a pretty standard meal plan outside of that, with a couple of almond milk protein shakes throughout the day (one immediately after a ride). Generally, my Garmin Edge recommendation for calorie consumption during a ride matches pretty well with what I actually consume.

With regards to stomach issues, I have had absolutely none with Torq gels and flapjacks and one of the things I particularly like about them vs products like SiS is the ingredients list 

I tried SiS gels when I first started riding as they were on offer in Lidl, but I don't particularly like them. I find the flavourings and texture to not be to my liking. The Torq stuff, on the other hand, is really tasty!

If I were to do longer rides (4 hours plus), I would be more likely to consume real food along the way or add an additional flapjack at the 1 hour 20 minute point and start gels after 2 hours.

The use of gels is a very personal thing.  There is nothing magical contained in any of them, they are basically a sugar syrup which can be easily digested to give an energy boost.  Problem is that the majority are simple sugars/carbs so they produce a spike (after about 5-10 mins) which is then usually followed by a natural low (when the body counteracts the sugar with insulin).  Personally, I try to limit their use since:

1.  gels are far from healthy (complex carbs in real food are much better at avoiding highs/lows)

2. the body has had a lifetime of processing things like oats/bananas, etc., 

3. gels can quickly rot teeth

4. gels are an expensive way of getting basic carbs

5. gels come in a very environmenatlly unfriendly wrapper (cf: banana!) even when disposed of responsibly

So, for me, I will carry a gel on a long ride for the times when I know I need energy but cannot face eating any more (typically 5-6 hours into a ride when staring at a bloody big hill).  Then again,  I have seen folks knock back a couple of gels at a cafe on a club ride, which shows that everyone has a different view of them. 

Thing is, most riders should have enough glycogen to last a 2 hour ride so refuelling only becomes an issue after about 90 mins, and if the effort is going to be sustained then I reckon on about 50g of carbs an hour after that (one flapjack/banana/bar is typically 25g - 40g of carb) so one needs to keep the reserves topped up but the body can only digest so much. 

Whatever you do, don't try gels for the first time on an important ride, they can upset the digestion of some folks, which is far from pleasant!