To Gel And Back by Bill Strickland

A review of 8 products

To Gel And Back
The assignment: eat only energy gels for a week. The outcome: uh-oh.
By Bill Strickland, Executive Editor

The dinner table is presided over by a lean, regal flank steak marinated with Worcestershire, tomato juice, onion, lemon juice, garlic and pepper, broiled to tender perfection and carved impeccably--diagonally across its grain in slices as thin as the walls of a Vittoria Open Corsa. The charry, dense fragrance of the meat, like a powerful psychedelic, transposes senses. Vision is taste. Smell is caress. My lower jaw trembles. I will not admit to weeping but my eyes moisten like when, during a late, three-beer night, I find myself emotionally involved in a long-distance telephone commercial.

For solace, I squirt a Tri-Berry Gu into my mouth. It's my sixth energy gel of the day, my 37th in three days.

Like the David Blaine of bicycling, I've somehow agreed to live on nothing but energy pudding and water for a week. I'll swallow 42 flavors and 52 total packs before I pull the plug on day five, when my morning heart rate is 92. I learn a lot about gels. (See reviews at left, based, additionally, on three months of ride testing.) I also renew my appreciation for two nutrition fundamentals:

1. Drink more. I expected to pump sewage like a treatment plant on the Hudson, but because gels contain little water the opposite occurred. Unless you drink 8-10 ounces of water with every pack, gels pull fluid from your bloodstream as you digest them, which can slow you, cut endurance and cause cramps. But here's the big reminder: Although our bodies can effectively absorb about one quart of water every 60 minutes, we can lose two quarts or more during a hard hour of riding. The American College of Sports Medicine suggests offsetting this imbalance by drinking about 17 ounces two hours before riding.

2. Eat more (variety). I rode strong all four days, which reinforces the beauty of a portable product that delivers energy in as little as five minutes, is palatable during strenuous cycling and doesn't freeze, become brittle or crumble. But dietary monotony reduced me to ooze while off the bike. One simple tip guarantees a spectrum of healthful food: Make half of your plate fruits or vegetables, one-quarter of it protein and one-quarter carbs.

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From www.bicycling.com