I love them, especially the black cherry w/ caffeine flavor. I also find them less messy than the gels. To portion them, I squeeze three to either side of the packet and then fold it in half. Then I cut the top off of one half, so when I pull it out of my jersey I can squeeze three out easily. Reading my description, it sounds cumbersome, but it's really not.

Am I the only one who had a bad experience with these?

It was humid and hot and when I went to get the blocks, they were real gooey and messy, sticking to the inside of the bag.

What am I doing wrong here???

By the way, for most of these types of product, use REI because you can order one package instead of a whole box. Once you know what you like, then get a box. This goes for gels as well.

[QUOTE=kosherdave]My gf bought the jelly belly energy beans and said those are good too, I haven't tried them yet though.
QUOTE]


The Jelly Belly Sport Beans are great. They taste like candy and are easy to eat. No Mess and fast!

But instead you have to worry about "hitch hikers". Anything on your fingers will adhere to the Cliff Bloks like flypaper - in my case it was sand. Nothing like a crunchy Cliff Blok!

The orange bloks are great in my oppinion. I seem to buy them more than others. It's nice to have an REI right in Pittsburgh. I can buy single packs, and try the different flavors out.

Sa-WEET.
...and I mean that in a good way.

Cran and black cherry are my favs.

I like the Black cherry, they also have a little caffeine which is good.. I find them less messy than gel shots..

Love 'em. Great texture, just soft enough to chew fast, but not so soft that they are slimey or fall apart. Very good flavor. So far, just had the strawberry.

I'm partial to the cran-razz.

They are a bit of a pain to get out of the package, but they're a lot nicer to eat (and far less sticky) then gels. If you open the package a day or so early, they'll get a sort of skin over them and they will be easier to eat. I planning on seeing if a light coating of sugar will make them less sticky.

The Cran-Razz are really good, as are the strawberry and lemon-lime. The black cherry are awful and Ive never had the orange. The black cherry have caffeine, I believe the orange do as well.

I think Performance is dropping carrying these, that may be why they are on sale. The local Performance here has gotten rid of almost all their Clif gels, blocks, etc and seems to be carrying only the Clif Bars.

They are all good. I haven't tried black cherry or orange yet though. They seem to be the ones always out of stock.

I prefer gels still when I am really pushing close to the edge though. No chewing necessary.

-D

okay, i'll be the disenter here. i don't care for 'em. the flavor of the cranberry is okay, but the strawberry has a fake, chemical taste to me. they are a hassle to get out of the bag. and i find each block to just be too big. to me, it's like shoving an entire mouthful of gummie bears into your mouth. they aren't awful; i've had worse stuff. and i can see using 'em if you do really long rides, just for a change of pace. but i don't bother with 'em any more, and i'll do training rides up to 80-85 miles

smoke

I guess I'm out as well - don't like them. I love Clif bars, but tossed the bloks after 2 or 3. Jelly Belly Sport Beans rule, and I will grab some of the kids fruit snacks in a pinch.

John

I was huge on the Sports Beans kick until I realized if you leave them in the car, they all kind of melt together :)

love the bloks as i couldn't deal with the texture of gels. performance recently had buy on get one free on a whole case at a grand opening of their new store, so i got one of cran-razz and one of lemon-lime. cran-razz is the best, lemon-lime second, orange third, didn't care for strawberry. haven't tried black cherry cuz i haven't seen it in a store. i use little ziploc snack bags and put two packages in the bag and don't have to worry if i don't finish them on the ride and get all nasty sitting around in an opened package.

Wow...guess I'm the only one who thinks they're disgusting!! I bought some, tried one and had to spit it out. I think it's the texture that grosses me out.

I LOVE them. Strawberry is my favorite. They are listed as "organic" and I tend to find that I have less stomach problems with the stuff labeled organic. That being said I can't ride a whole century on just blocks...I need something else.

Also I wish they were packaged 3 at a time. That would put them on par with a gel. I usually end up with a package with some left...

My LBS has a hard time keeping them in stock. Which means I just have to check in more often for them. At least that's the excuse I use for stopping in. ;)

I also love them. I find them easier to deal with than gels. I like the flavor of most gels, it's just the stickiness I don't like to deal with. With the blocks, I rip a small corner and squeeze them out one by one without having to handle them. I've tried all the flavors and like them all with orange actually being my favorite. I did a century+ two weeks ago and did it mostly with blocks. I haven't used them in a race yet, but when I do I will do like Pizza Man and pre open the packages for easy access.

+1000 on bloks

I find these work just as well, and I can steal them from my kids' lunch box! ( No trip to the LBS required)

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/5995/299282ex7.jpg


Nutritional Facts
Serving Size 1 pouch
Servings Per Container 10

Calories
80

Amount Per Serving

Total Fat 0.0 g
Saturated Fat 0.0 g
Trans Fat 0.0 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 50.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 21.0 g
Sugars 14.0 g
Protein 0.0 g

Meh.

They're tasty, yes. Sweet and nice, yes. I actually really like them.

But they're like friggin $2.50 for a bag of six dinky little cubes! What the hell is that? As the guy who's always on a budget, I just find it sort of outrageous that they're charging this sum for a coincidentially tasty combination of high fructose corn syrup, sugar, glucose whatever, etc. The ingredients are nothing special at all (it's simply high-carb).

They're just like gummy bears, but with the price jacked up because the target audience happens to be a more affluent type of road cyclist. They remind me of the similar "Cycle Wipes".. basically Wet-Ones that cost three times as much because they've got a picture of a bike on the front. I can't stand it. And I couldn't afford it, anyway.

+1 on the Scooby-Doo snacks.

Yeah, I was pondering that this afternoon when I realized there was only TWELVE :eek: packs for the sale price of $20! Yikes!

I used them and they worked great..I don't chew them, I sorta suck them into little pieces one by one as I ride. It really encourages you to drink more water!