http://www.active.com/mountainbiking/Articles/Make_Your_Own_Homemade_Energy_Gel.htm This article caught my eye. I'm thinking about trying the recipe. Thoughts/Comments? Homebrew Power Goop 7 and 1/3 tablespoons of honey 3/4 teaspoons of blackstrap molasses 1/10 teaspoons (just shy of 1/8 tsp) of table salt Honey Goop With a Protein Kick 6 tablespoons of honey 5/8 teaspoons of blackstrap molasses 6 and 3/8 teaspoons of soy protein isolate 1/16 teaspoons of salt 1-3 tablespoons of water
It's a whole lot easier to simply use brown rice syrup, straight-up. But if you like cooking, mixing, etc. this sounds pretty good.
Back in my day we'd take fig newtons, smoosh 'em up, mix with honey and stick in a ziplock bag. Tear off a corner and squeeze out as much of that sticky mess as you dared during the ride. Never occured to me to put it in a foil pack and sell it. Dang. Yes, the little seed things would get stuck in your teeth. Just gave you something else to think about while suffering.
Here's some excerpts from an interview with triathlete Brendan Brazier about raw, vegetarian foods that increase athletic performance: http://www.naturalnews.com/023342.html Here's a quote where he talks about making your own energy gel: "Really good during long races just to have a date or even make an energy gel. I'm sure people -- a lot of people are familiar with energy gels that you can take during a long run. And a lot of them, all the commercial ones as far as I know, are really highly processed and not so healthy, but it's very easy to make your own and I have a recipe for those in the new book, the Thrive Diet. You just take agave nectar, a couple of dates, blend them together with a bit of lemon and lime juice, grate off lemon and lime, mix them with a little sea salt, and that's a great gel. You just put that in a gel flask and that's high energy that will keep you going strong throughout the race. It tastes good. It's refreshing and it's a really simple solution, of course, 100% raw and natural end process." Here's his book about performance nutrition: I haven't tried his gel recipe yet, but I plan to.
Dude, the molasses is for potassium. But as for the OP recipe, it doesn't sit well with my stomach. Hope you have better luck with it.
Molasses has lots of vitamins and minerals. If you want a potassium bump, just use salt substitute which is potassium chloride.
Easier than all this is frosting from the can. You laugh, but surprisingly the Clif Shots and Vanilla Frosting are hauntingly similar in their attributes. Obviously frosting isn't fortified with all the extras (I'm sure you could Dr. it though since that's kinda what we're talking about anyway), but the sugar and sodium and a couple other ingredient are very similar. Plus, it's way cheaper at a mere $3 per can or less :bang:
On some longer rides I've used flower tortillas, with peanut butter, and Expresso Hammer Gel. Rolled it up, and had a tasty "go long time" burrito. \\/
I don't know about tilt. But I would use Tang in place of Gatorade if I was making it mix-style. Tang and a little bit of salt.
I tried this recipe last night and I can't tell if I felt any better or worse. The taste is OK. Not great, but not unbearable. What I can say is that it is a LOT of honey and there's no way I could eat this stuff on every ride. I love honey, but eating almost an entire GU flask of it just grosses me out.
Lemon goes great with honey. Prolly any citrus would taste good and help cut that overwhelming honey taste. I have a kumquat tree and those would be perfect!! Real tart!! My problem with that recipe is the molasses taste. And my stomach.
