Feed Zone Portables
 

I picked up "Feed Zone Portables" on the advice of pdedes in another thread and I have to say it appears to be an excellent resource for nutrition on the go.

Sticky Rice will be here in two days thanks to Amazon Prime and I plan to get cooking.

Has anyone tried the hydration products from skratchlabs.com? Would be interested in preferred flavors and if you notice any actual improvement in hydration and overall performance...I was surprised to read that you actually need four times the level of sodium found in most sports drinks.

I went through a few of the skratch products, favorite flavor was orange. They were okay, probably the best of that breed. But this past summer as my overall mileage increased I moved away from getting electrolytes in that mode and just started taking hammer endurolyte tabs and drinking plain water. The flavored products don't always act compatibly with my digestive system on longer rides. But YMMV.

I get along very well with the lemon/lime from Skratch Labs. I find some of the other products on the market, with a long chemical/ingredient list including artificial sweeteners, have strange after-tastes that make me reluctant to drink as much as I should, and also mess with my stomach... As above, YMMV.

I'm hoping to get that book for X-mas. I was eating Nature's Bakery fig bars, but they went down from 180 calories to 110 or something like that. Not enough anymore. I've made my own apple bars which are OK, but not great.

As for the drink, I got some samples at the Tour of California and didn't enjoy the taste on either flavor I tried. Super nice guys at their tent, though.

With respect to skratch labs hydration mix, i haven't tried it, although the book gives enough information that you could diy. The biggest takeaway for me was the caloric requirements that you have vs perception. I have used those tools to achieve some significant weight loss.

I was able to check out his other cookbook from the local library. I'm not sure how many recipes were in the book, but there were only 2 or 3 that I think actually appealed to me. Overall, the book was interesting, but none of the recipes really grabbed me. I'm waiting to get my hands on the portables book, but I'm not sure that I would buy it without getting it from the library first.

The caloric burn charts are interesting and reasonably easy to understand and apply. At my best I learned I'm likely burning less than 800 calories per hour and the numbers were consistent when I compared my pace when cycling and running. It was surprising to learn that even elite athletes on the Tour will only burn 1000 calories per hour, in part due to their efficiency.

If you want to try before you buy, I've found a number of youtube videos from the authors Allen Lim & Biju Thomas illustrating some of the recipes. The hardback book (Feed Zone Portables) was on Amazon for $15.95...well worth it from my reading so far.

I initially tried to PM you pdedes, but my post count is still under 50. I'm glad I read your suggestion in the Waffle Stingers thread.

For those who have tried them...any favorite recipes?

The rice cakes are a classic, I make a vegan version with tempeh and scrambled tofu - they are a great alternative to all the sweet on-bike food. However, this time of year all my riding happens early in the morning, and I find that the savory taste is not the best for first thing in the morning for me.

I am also a huge fan of the Rice/oat/dark chocolate/sea salt bites. They are super easy to make (mix oats and rice, throw in rice cooker; when cooked, mix with other ingredients, use their ice cube tray method for wrapping the bites) and easy to eat on the bike, even when I am having my breakfast on the rollers.

I like the blog/website a lot as it includes a few different recipes that I plan on making soon. Skratch labs is good - I have had the lemon lime flavor and may order some more. It's more expensive than the big tubs of Cytomax you can buy online, but apparently it's more natural. I don't know how it compared to HEED, but I like having calories on the bike and I think HEED doesn't really have any, or at least the tablets do not.

I've tried the orange and raspberry flavored mixes from scratch labs. I really like the orange. The raspberry, not so much.