They're good for staving off low blood sugar bonks. If you're not prone to hypoglycemia/low blood sugar episodes, or being hangry, you might not benefit from gels. They're mostly intended for high effort racers and riders -- more efficient than the rice cakes eaten by racers decades ago. The idea was to provide quick energy without bulk -- the latter being a problem with favored energy foods like rice and bananas. Racers and endurance riders can't always find a convenient place to poop.

The hangry thing is probably more relevant to ordinary cyclists. Blood sugar drops can diminish our judgment. We might lose concentration in traffic, neglect to check our mirrors or look over our shoulders before dodging a bit of debris. We might become irritated at a routine traffic issue that we'd normally shrug off and forget. If it persists for longer than a few moments, it's distracting us from concentrating on our surroundings or just enjoying our rides. Hangry might even lead us to confrontations over those annoyances.

The onset of low blood sugar can affect balance and strength, just enough to be an issue in traffic. Ignored it can quickly become worse.

Best way to experiment? Skip your usual meal or snack before a ride. Take something with you besides the gel pack -- a banana is good. I like the Kind bars better than most similar snack/energy bars. Ride as you usually do. If you feel a bonk coming on, use the gel pack, drink plenty of water, and continue. See how you feel every 5-10 minutes. It shouldn't be a huge difference -- we're not talking about cocaine here. For me the effect of gel packs is pretty subtle, the difference between the final 5-10 miles home feeling miserable or tolerable.

That same wise man was also capable of an earthy sense for sarcasm when appropriate.

Love the Nuun. I only use the lemon lime. Alternatively I use coconut water.

I'm one of the few that will pass on them. My innards don't like the bicarbonate while I'm riding......No fizzies for me.

My "Special Blend" is (per bottle):

1/2 tab Nuun Lemon Lime
1 TBS Apple Cider Vinegar
Water

My "Boot in the Arse" blend is:

One Keurig-brewed Pike's Place
1 TBS of ACV
Ice to fill bottle

Try it.

why would you mix sodium bicarbonate and acetic acid together?

Its very diluted because of the amount of water

Ok, let me rephrase, what is the point of adding an acid and a base?

Sodium Bicarbonate is a soda, not a base.

Presumably adding acetic acid to the mixture could cause it to react to that in the bottle, and then the gas perhaps bubble out, rather than react later with your stomach acid.

But I don't think that's why people do it - more for tart taste. A spash of red wine vinegar (optionally with some sodium and potassium salts) in a glass then filled with water makes are rather enjoyable concoction.

(But taste is a personal thing... if I recall when I finally got around to trying it, the Joy of Cooking's claim that balsamic vinegar is "exquisite" on vanilla ice cream was not one I felt inclined to endorse... either that or I didn't pay enough for the vinegar)

i mean it is technically a amphoteric salt, but its acting as a base to neutralize the acid.

I'm into ACV these days. Its good for a lot of body stuff, and it adds a dimension to the beverage that's hard to describe. Hey some people put butter in their coffee.

I've been using Hammer electrolyte fizz tabs for years and like them, but bought a bottle of NUUN at REI since they were 25% off. They are fine too. On cool days, I generally just use plain water since I don't sweat as much. On hot days and longer rides I'll put 1.5 tabs in each of two bottles. I also find that having a Clif Shot helps too for 50+ mile days.

I tried Nuun tablets a few years ago, but just didn't care for them all that much. I've been a Powerade Zero fan for quite a while. However, it doesn't seem to be settling too well with me of late. I've just been drink plain water on my rides, but maybe I'll give Nuun another try.

This maybe a duh question...when is the most effect time to start drinking your supplement beverage on a ride? Is it the start, middle or end? I was having a really hard time last FL summer. I was feeling really beat during cycling. I'm going to try the Nunn tablets this year.

Love the Powerade Zero, as I am diabetic and most sports drinks are full of sugars, just wish it came in powder form/was easier to find in convenience stores.

Hammer Perpetuem. Taking a few packs with me on tour starting next weekend. One will certainly be used for a 55 mile, three pass (one of which is dirt and quite steep in places) day with only one place for food along the way that will likely be closed when I get to that area. But be careful. If it's really hot out, the stuff only lasts a few hours. After that, it can turn your stomach. Don't ask me how I know.


I also like Hammer gels.

Indy, the Perpetuem lasts long if there's ice in the bottle to begin with. But only an hour or two longer.


IIRC, Perpetuem is pretty low sodium. I normally want something salty a few hours into a long (>2-3 hour) ride, although it's great for an energy boost.

Have to revise my comment on the oral rehydration salts. After an essentially all-day ride on a too-sunny sunday, I dumped the packet I'd been carrying around into around 400 ml of water remaining in one of my bottles as I boarded the subway back from Van Cortdlandt park. At that concentration it wasn't unpleasant at all since I could taste the sugar and sodium, not just the very odd hint of potassium. Though the instructions do call for using a liter of water.

If using it to treat life-threatening diarrhea mixing as directed would probably be a good idea; in a more mild "could use some electrolytes" I hope things average over the preceding couple of hours' intake of straight water, water with nuun, water with gatorade powder, etc.

Speaking of sodium vs. potassium, how can anyone enjoy potassium chloride as a salt substitute? I bought some KCl salt substitute to mix into experiments, and it tastes nothing like "salt" to me but rather has its own very unique and not entirely pleasing flavor. Or is it used not for flavor, but in recipes where "a salt" is necessary for some more chemical reason?

Fortunately jumping back on top of a 36 inch unicycle after 40 miles on a hot sunny day requires neither...

Being a diabetic as well, that's why I (used to) drink it.

Yeah, trying to find ZERO in a convenience store is like trying to find the needle in the haystack. In a pinch while out on rides, I have used the lower calorie / lower sugar Gatorade "G2" when Powerade Zero couldn't be found. If I diluted it some, it wouldn't cause too much of a blood sugar spike.

Okay, this thread and some painful cramps* last week motivated me to try NUUN (or nuun?) and, yup, it seems to work as claimed.

I used it this week, three consecutive rides on hot afternoons (which I rarely do), and still felt spry after a 45 mile gravel ride Wednesday. That's unusual for me. Normally I need a rest day between rides longer than a few leisurely miles, let alone three rides pushing myself on consecutive days.

I tried both the single serving powders in packets and tablets. Nothing magical or mystical in NUUN, just the familiar medically supported electrolytes. But as others noted, no icky sweet fake fruity flavors or strong flavor at all -- there's just a vague pleasant flavor and slight carbonation tingling when it's fresh.

I drank about 8 oz of the mix before riding, then drank the rest at the rate of one to two ounces per mile (I usually aim to finish a 24 oz bottle of water in a 20 mile ride, unless it's very hot out). Then another 8 oz or so on the cool down leg home where I just loaf around 8-10 mph the last mile. And plenty of plain water too from a second bottle. I felt more energized than usual, rather than exhausted.

Only problem? I didn't have my reading glasses so I forgot which had caffeine and which was caffeine-free. I mixed a bottle of the caffeinated version for the ride home late last night and couldn't sleep until nearly dawn.

*(Primarily due to hypoglycemia. Had it all my life. Usually it's under control with diet but flares up occasionally. In this case it may have been because I'd slept poorly for a couple of days, which zaps my metabolism. It'll often show as abdominal cramps, leg and foot cramps, even before the usual bonk symptoms -- dizziness, weakness, headache, nausea. This was my first bonk in many years, and first since I resumed cycling in 2015. Fortunately I did have Glukos brand glucose tablets with me. I chewed a couple and drank plenty of water, which relieved the symptoms within 15 minutes. I took it easy on the remaining 15 miles home and took a rest day or two before riding again.)

Good post @canklecat.

Interesting that it kept you up all night. Do you drink caffeinated beverages apart from the NUUN product, coffee and such?

I have not tried the caffeinated version and will stay away from it based on your experience.


-Tim-

I like CocoHydro because if I forget about it and it gets moisture in it, it makes a delicious almost "space ice cream" like treat and when fresh tastes great in water. If I just want an easy tab I reach for Camelbak Elixir as it was the lowest sugar compared to Nuun and some other tabs and drink mixes we sold at my old job and probably compared to a lot of mixes.

For gels I like Clif and for my chews I like either Clif or ProBar though ProBar is tastier for waffles Untapped many times over and I would probably pick them for gels as well but I so rarely do gels.

Oh, yeah, I drink coffee every day, usually two or three mugs in the morning. But not late at night. After a long gravel ride with friends I stopped to rest and socialize for about an hour before heading home. I was sipping on a fresh water bottle with the NUUN Energy tablets. Got home after midnight, didn't feel a bit tired despite the long hot gravel ride and then another 12 miles home. Read in bed for awhile. Next thing I knew it was 5 a.m., hadn't slept a wink. Got my magnifying glass to read the fine print -- 40mg caffeine per tablet. Not a whole lot, compared with the roughly 300mg per cup I have in the morning. But that was three or four NUUN tablets with caffeine between 6 pm and midnight, more than I usually drink past noon.

But some of it may have been residual energy from a good ride. I'm usually physically exhausted after a long ride and fall asleep easily. So the combination of just being energized from a good ride without cramps, along with some caffeine, probably was responsible.

Anyway, it won't prevent me from using NUUN again. I'll just read the packets more carefully to be sure I use the caffeinated tablets only early in the day, and I'll skip one or two of my usual three cups of joe.

Are these tablets now gaining favor over the powders like Heed and Perpetuem?

Seems like its going that way.