All they have to do is keep making the stuff.


Easy for us to say (and full disclosure I LOVED the PowerBar gel burst things. I called them the "crack-cocaine of sports nutrition"!!) - but when in a BIG corporation, Accounting is saying we are losing money on a product or service or practice of their business . . . guess what happens?? The bottom line becomes EVERYTHING!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Sometimes (often) it's not even about losing money. It's about margins. PB could very well be making a "profitable" margin on their endurance products BUT if they can double that margin by moving that money to another area, i.e. healthy snacks, it makes sense to do so from their perspective.

The only PowerBar PE bar remaining on the shelves at my local Kroger grocery store is the peanut butter flavor. I have two for lunch every day at work. I like the PowerBar PE bar because it has less saturated fat than the other similarly-priced energy bars on the shelves. The yellow and red PowerBar sticker will always be a fond reminder of my early multisport glory days.

Fleck wrote:

but when in a BIG corporation, Accounting is saying we are losing money on a product or service or practice of their business . . . guess what happens?? The bottom line becomes EVERYTHING!

Bottom line is always everything. They are running a business not a coop. And they have always been a part of a big business, up until 2016 owned by Nestle, which sold to Post. They are in the midst of a shift in business and perhaps selling branded nutrition items at bike shops no longer makes sense.

http://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/news_home/Business_News/2016/08/QA_Inside_the_transformation_o.aspx?ID=%7B05C64F93-6815-438C-B6C4-D349FF57C27D%7D&cck=1

If it is the electrolyte thing go EFS Liquid Shot, not in a convenient small pouch though, comes in flask or bottle.


EFS Liquid Shot is thinner than most also, but may be a little pricier, have not looked in awhile. Cannot remember what it was but something in PowerBar Gels did not agree with me, and once I tried EFS I stuck with it.

Well, I asked PB on their website about the gels: "I went to buy some gels and noticed that only four flavors are available. Will the other flavors be available soon?" The response: "At this point these are the only 4 flavors of gels that are currently in production."

The article from food business news linked above says it all. Lots of competition for a smallish market in foods for endurance sport vs everyday convenience nutrition with a protein/healthy focus.

Same story at our local Publix grocery store ... peanut butter flavor only. I started buying them online through Amazon Prime so I could get chocolate.

Yep. I haven't had a gel in years (I'm gonna say since 2011), and I make my own bars now. I do occasionally have bloks during a run.

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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.

It is all true... Bye... Now who makes a non-thick gel?
Mark Johnson‎ to PowerBar
February 25 at 5:21pm ·

Rumor is that you're discontinuing PowerBar Gels and Blasts and such... I see a vary limited listing of the Gels, what you say PowerBar?

PowerBar Hi Mark, due to declining sales we are unfortunately discontinuing these products. However, they are still available on Amazon.com and our website.

Damn. That's unfortunate. I absolutely loved their flavors and thin consistency.

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Toro Performance

Agreed. I just try to stock up and can't find any. Most gels on the market are too thick. The powergel tangerine had some caffeine and low viscosity which was perfect for racing. I also loved that Powerbar Perform because it was cheap and had a lot of salt in it. Looks like I need to start searching for alternatives.

Just ran out of my last gel.

Had to by Cliff Razz gels. Those are a lot thicker and far less sodium.

If anyone finds a good alternative, let us know.

Also looking for a PowerBar Gel alternative that's similarly liquidy, with sodium / caffiene / blend of glucose-fructose. Any suggestions? Currently investigating Accel Gels (http://www.pacifichealthlabs.com/Accel-Gel-_p_14.html) and SIS Gels (https://www.scienceinsport.com/...is/all-products/gels)

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/nbrowne1

Accel Gels don't ship to Canada
SIS Gels cost $45 to ship to Canada

Purchased a box of BOOM as only $15 to ship to Canada...

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/nbrowne1

If you want caffeine in the gel 2nd Surge is decent.

If you do not want caffeine in the gel and you do not mind a flask instead of foil pouches I have found EFS Liquid Shot to be really good stuff.

2nd surge doesn't ship to Canada
EFS Liquid Shot doesn't look too great for carrying while running.

Any other suggestions?

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/nbrowne1

I bought some SIS gels. They are pretty fluid but have a Wei texture and a medicinal taste. I bought two boxes of six each and am not a fan. Bleh. Still looking...

Any other suggestions?


We received a few boxes of the Garneau gels (I know you would not think of them for nutrition), recently to test out. We took them to Cuba for a week of cycling there, and I used them every day for the 100K+ rides we did everyday for a week and they were great. Gels are gels - with all due respect if you look at the make-up of them, they all tend to be the same from brand to brand!

I did a long ride last year where I had a smorgasbord of gels in my pocket - Hammer, PowerBar, Gu, Clif, Garneau - one of each, and the ride went great! :-)

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

that is always the problem when a small enthusiast company gets gobbled up by large profit-seeking corporations.. not so much losing money, more a case of not making enough money.

Small outdoors companies all become women's clothing stores (Orvis, Early Winters now Sahalie, etc)
I guess all small sports nutrition companies become purveyors of snack foods..

Torq gels are very good, and very similar in both nutritional content and consistency to Powergels

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MS: Exercise Science
Your speed matters a lot, sometimes you need to be very fast, where sometimes you need to breakdown your speed.

Thanks, they seem pretty expensive but will try them out. A local running store has them in stock.

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/nbrowne1

PowerBar Gel Bursts things were great. I can't believed they're discontinued. They were a must on the really long stuff.

I just bought these on Amazon (They came from the UK) and they are the best thing ever!

They are practically liquid (Like that concentrate Gatorade big pouch you get on some goodie bags) so you don't need fluids to wash them down. I strongly recommend these!

https://www.amazon.com/...00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Follow me on IG: @Commandersnake

when x-c ski-ing, i learned to keep power-bars very close to warm areas inside my clothing :-) nowadays, i just make date squares and use them. tastier, cheaper, plenty of calories and they stay edible in a jacket pocket.

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run well, run happy
george

Last weekends long run was fueled by Tailwibd being run as a gel. I used a gel flask. Wirked very well (maybe even better than a normal gel).