1/4 cup of malto is about 100 kcal. i load a bottle about 2/3 the way up then pour water in. its amazing how much malto you can get in there and still not have it be thick. make sure you shake it well then top it off because the malto will lose almost all its volume once it hits water. how much you load is all preference and how your body deals with it. on hot days ill have 1 bottle with gatorade/malto and one bottle with regular water (for hydration and for dousing myself). i also experimented with adding a couple tsp of baking soda in as an acid buffer but i didn't notice any immediate differences.

No food is going to help you if you can't stomach it during a ride. That's mostly the point of the different bike foods, palatability and edibility on the bike. Gels and good sports drinks are more useful the longer and harder the ride, IMO.

We're talking different purposes here...gels are for quick energy, due to the ease with which they're digested. Energy bars take longer to digest. If you want to try organic energy bars, try Pro Bars - they're awesome!

ill start with "to each his own"


with that said, im game for anything that boosts my performance natural or not. im trying to put in as many miles as possible and as fast as possible. if Gu does it, then Gu does it.

now does anyone know any surefire ways to increase my red blood cell count?...i have a race on Tuesday :)....srsly.

Iron tablets. Just be careful of constipation.

I personally use Clif products because I feel they're more "natural"

On one of my frequent routes, a hilly 35 miler, i'll take a blended concoction of milk, pnut butter, banana and honey in a sports bottle. It's no fun becoming hypoglycemic out on the ride and having to limp home. Oh yeah, it tastes pretty good too

Iron? During a ride? Why?

Not during the ride. Before, in preparation for his race, but nothing's going to happen by Thursday. You have to be taking it fairly regularly.

I am working this summer at a high-end coffee shop. While training on the various machines, I invented the Raspberry Hammer Gel mocha. It was incredible. Just sayin'...

That makes a little more sense... I mean, I certainly don't think it hurts, but iron deficiency is so rare in healthy people that I can't see it being of much benefit. Now, if you're actually iron deficient for some reason there is benefit, but most recent work suggests there's no benefit in supplementing if you have normal iron levels. Here's one link to get you started: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17618003

come on. that's vile.

I mean, I couldn't do it on a ride without yorking, but it's a mix of mostly carbs, with a little bit of protein and fat. I'm guessing it wouldn't work so well on race day, but for a long, steady effort, if your stomach can handle it, rock on.

I tend to like the Clif products too.

My pre-ride snack is a Clif Bar, washed down with a bottle of water. It takes an hour to get to where I ride during the week, so it's in my system by the time I start. Besides, they're seven for six bucks at Wal-Mart. ;)

This is what I use.

I buy malto myself every once in a while. It goes into the beer I'm brewing. The taste is, well actually I don't know because it goes into the beer but the beer it always good! :-)

Actually, that isn't entirely accurate. Anything your body uses for energy is converted to glucose. You can eat glucose and it goes straight to energy (or fat depending on when it's used) or you can eat things that the body has to convert first. If you are in the middle of a workout the straight glucose is probably fine but I still think there are better and worse sources (unrefined sugar, for example, has important micro-nutrients). There are apparently benefits to having the body do some work to convert it's food in the course of normal living - and a mix of "slow" and "fast" carbs are probably a good idea when exercising. I still don't see much need for a rapid injection for recreational riders, though. I don't know how much that would impact insulin levels when cycling, but I tend to not feel too good if I eat too much sugar at once.

Thanks for all the "food for thought". I think I will be discussing some of this with my doctor at my next physical. He's a cyclist too.

Good points all around. Yes, preservatives and other junk DO matter, but the actual molecules your body breaks down to glucose are the same whether they're "natural" or "artificial." Gu really has a very short ingredient list and I would use it without hesitation. The whole issue of whether rapid absorption is good vs. slow is not a big issue, and unless you're diabetic I wouldn't worry much about insulin levels while riding. It's not like if you eat too much carbohydrate on a ride you'll become diabetic. The good news is your stomach will let you know if you eat too much on a ride well before insulin or any of that becomes an issue.