carbboom

Hello - How about a little survey on energy gels....


What brands and flavors of energy gels do you prefer ?

Gus Riley

Power Gel and Harvest Bars.

Baboon

GU Vanilla bean and PowerGel tangerine double caffeine.

velo

All Hammergel flavors. Powergel (lime, I think is the flavor? lemon/lime?)

catfish

power gel strawberry/bannana for me

lotek 

I tend to prefer the Vanilla variety and really don't care
all that much about brand (but hammer gel is kinda snot like!)
I did try Power gel's (is that right?) new flavour
Green Apple this past weekend, its much thicker than the
others and the flavour is pretty good.
Can't stomach the berry and chocolate stuff too sweet.

Marty

fubar5

Even though this IS spam, it is exciting to have someone from a company like carb boom here. So I'll post my favorites. PowerGel Vanilla or Strawberry Banana (I haven't tried tangerine yet, but the double caffine sounds cool). I had a Gu Banana split or something like that a few weeks ago that I liked. I noticed that the GU is a little thinner in texture than PowerGel and went down easier and with these H2O. I haven't tried Carb Boom yet, but I have been meaning to try it out. I was read that CB uses complex carbs rather than simple. Is this something all gel companies do? Or just Carb Boom? And if using complex carbs is unique to CB, what is the benefit/purpose?

roadie gal

Hammergel - plain, vanilla and banana. I also like the fact that you can buy big, reusable and recyclable containers rather than have all of those little packets.

salamibender

GU vanilla and bannana, that double caffeine would get me home

JaredMcDonley

powergel vanilla and bannana al the way for me!!!!

LOVE them!!!

RiPHRaPH

since you didn't come right out and say you work for this company and wanted ideas to market your product for free.... i will see that i never buy your product.

lotek 

Huh?
I don't get it, his/her username is CARBBOOM,
his signature line is a link to carbboom.com
wheres the dishonesty?
If this is a marketing survey, so what?
I appreciate him/her taking the time to ask.

Marty

hunterseeker

I have yet to try any energy gels. They freak me out. I think I make an association with squishy gel-like artificially flavoured concoctions with thickened mucousy things, and so can't quite bring myself to try one. There are some novelty gel candies I can't bring mysellf to eat either (one comes in a big plastic nose).

And yet I'll eat all kinds of scary or weird stuff with off-putting smells and colours and textures -- like preserved bean curd or natto [specially rotted soybeans -- pretty slimy -- japanese thing] or power bars or smoothies with powdered algae and protein powders -- so I can't figure out why I've got this aversion. I mean, an energy gel is probably something like jam or jelly or lemon curd, right? I eat those.

Cathy

AlphaGeek

I use pure honey in a GU bottle. Yum, goes down easily with a little water.

cyclezealot

Power gel tangerine flavor double caffeine.
Also, My LBS's will no longer carry my Jogmate, Muscle Recovery bars/gels. Think local demand not great.
Disappointed- think stuff revives me after a commute to work- when I definitely do not feel a need for a nap ! Stuff supposedly revives spent muscles and causes you to loose that burnt feeling.
Any of you use it. Hope it can still be found. I bought a case of it. Talked to those who do hard races and they say it works.

Spinarooni

GU Tri Berry and harvest bars.

windchaser

cliff shots dbl caffienated

niterider

There is really no sense in taking in complex carbs while you are riding because it's not doing anything to help your ride at that time. Complex carbs are better taken the morning before a ride and the night before to build your energy stores. Simple carbs (sugar) are best taken during the ride with branched amino acids such as what's in GU so you don't bonk. Hope this helps. Stay tuned because I may be able to get GU, Clif Shots, and Clif Bars at wholesale shortly. If anyone is interested, let me know.

Joe Gardner

I just tried the powergel strawberry-banana yesterday for the first time. I was really hurting at 35miles; After the gel (Thank you Tom!), I had no poblems finishing up the last 9 miles. I just purchased a case of the stuff from CC. I don't think I will use the product every day, but on longer (40+ mile rides), I'll take a packet or two. Im going to definatly take a few packets this weekend for my century.

lotek 

I keep a packet in my under seat bag, so if I forget to take
some on a ride I've always got some stashed away.
I agree that for the most part I don't need it on short rides, a good breakfast usually takes care of this.
I had my first POWERBAR recently, that is some godawful stuff.
I much prefer Clif bars over it. horrible texture.
Good luck on the century Joe, let us know how you do.

Marty

ewep

GU and Powergel does the trick. The Powerbar isn't that bad either.

Bobsled

GU plain and orange.

ljbike

If carbboom was looking to see who the competition is, I guess he got an answer. It's curious though, that there was no response, from him, to fubar's legitimate questions. Not good PR.

I've used their energy bars and they're pretty good. I also use GU.

Aerow

Powergel Chocolate seems to be having the most consistant effect on my endurance level. I don't really mind the tast of any of the gels. I drink green drinks, fiber supplements, etc which are all really terrible, so anything with a little sweetness is really a bonus.

IowaParamedic

Do your energy gels contain sodium?

I have this layer of energy gel deposited around my midriff, so I don't usually partake in extra energy. So I don't know too much about them.

A doctor and I were discussing glucose absorbtion in diabetics and how similar it was to cyclists. He said sodium aids the absorbtion of glucose while still in the mouth.