I have used Clif bars and Clif Shot Blocks since I started riding. I generally carry a couple sleeves of the shot blocks on every ride, and a Clif bar on anything longer than 90 minutes.
No real complaints, but just placed a refill order and was curious as to whether or not there was something better out there. Lately the shot blocks seem to wear off pretty quick. I go through a ton of calories in general, so anything that lasts longer would be fantastic.
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Gu chomps? I tend to use the clif bars, an NZ product called Em’s PowerBars, and gu chomps. Much of a muchness, but more options without caffeine.
If it’s cals you need then throw a gel in too. For IM then I go through the following routine on the bike.
x:15 2x chomp
x:30 gel
x:45 2x chomp
x:00 half clif/Em’s bar
Repeat x 5
If you are good with Clif Bars, I’d recommend you stick with them. They are readily available and probably the lowest cost bar on the market ($0.99 ea at Trader Joe’s and less than that in 6/12 boxes at Target). There are a gazillon old school options like fig newtons and pop tarts that we all used before powerbars came into existence.
For the Bloks, there are GU Chews/Chomps, Honey Stinger Chews, etc.; as well as old standbys like gummy bears and red vines. Personally I don’t like trying to chew and breathe at the same time so I go with gels. You can get SIS gels for around $1/ea.
im really liking the chews that skratch labs make right now. i hate the packaging of the clif bloks, which was reason enough to find an alternative. but the chews themselves i like better than clif as well.
Pop tarts. Stropwafles. PBJ. Candy. Anything really. I stopped using “nutrition†on long rides because it got expensive and I hated the taste of bars during rides. Calories are calories for me during a long ride.
You eat on rides shorter than 90 minutes?
For training, especially indoor rides, I find something leaning more towards real food is better. Pretzels, Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars, and ATAQ plant based raw energy bars (sponsored) are the 3 I do the most while riding inside. Racing is a bit of a different beast and more often than not for long course racing I end up using Gatorade endurance carb chews. They have normal chews but the carb chews are actually really solid and a few packets of those during the bike sets me up to run really well.
Try Tailwind. It’s easy to mix & carry and provides as many calories as you want it to.
I use the Cliff Zbars instead. Easier to eat and a little less of a “meal” per bar.
I’d say it depends on the length and intensity of your ride. The longer and lower intensity, the more I gravitate toward more satiating, longer-digesting food with more complex carbs and even some fats. I much prefer real food and bars to gels/chews aside from high intensity races, as I feel that I once I start gels, I need a constant stream or I will bonk.Here’s some categories of workouts and the corresponding nutrition that I use:
long, low intensity (almost entirely Z2)- cashew/nut clusters or bars (basically nuts + a little honey), small nut butter sandwiches (especially on the indoor trainer)
long, med intensity (for example, sweet spot intervals mixed into a 3+ hour ride)- RX or clif bar, target about 1/hour (~250 calories/hour)
long, high intensity (e.g. long road race or Gran Fondo where you’re racing the whole time)- Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars as Ben said (1/2 package every 20-30’), Kellogg’s Nutri-grain bars (once per 30-40’), couple gels for quick energy toward the end
short (1.5 hours of less) low intensity- starved, maybe an RX kids bar toward the end if I’m hungry
short medium intensity- clif bar mini or RX kids before, maybe add in another of nutri-grain if >1 hour + decent intensity
short high intensity- nature’s bakery fig bar or nutri-grain before and 45-60’ in (if >1.25 hour session, or really hungry)
short races (<1 hour crit, 20-40k TT): caffeine gel about 10’ before, electrolyte + light calories in the bottle (e.g. scratch, SIS hydration). For half marathons, I add in a gel at about 50’ plus a few sips of gatorade at each aid station. Olympic tri’s, I have a gel about 15 miles into the bike + a few calories and electrolytes in a 24 ounce bottle.
This has worked really well for me in training and cycling races (top 10s at highly competitive long rides/races like Assault on Mount Mitchell, Blood Sweat and Gears, Blue Ridge Brutal). Haven’t really gotten the nutrition/hydration right for longer than olympic distance tris- I am a massively heavy sweater and my body struggles to absorb the fluid I need to replenish sweat losses along with taking on calories. May need to go away entirely from solid foods and just to gels + electrolytes + calories
I’d say it depends on the length and intensity of your ride. The longer and lower intensity, the more I gravitate toward more satiating, longer-digesting food with more complex carbs and even some fats. I much prefer real food and bars to gels/chews aside from high intensity races, as I feel that I once I start gels, I need a constant stream or I will bonk.Here’s some categories of workouts and the corresponding nutrition that I use:
long, low intensity (almost entirely Z2)- cashew/nut clusters or bars (basically nuts + a little honey), small nut butter sandwiches (especially on the indoor trainer)
I fuel pretty similar to what Mike said. During my base training this year i started doing PB packets from Justin’s. They are 50 cents each at my local grocery store and have 210 calories each (about 2x as much as a gel). Since they are high in fat, i only use them for long endurance z2 rides. I also do a lot of Lara Bars and pop tarts for these types of rides. Fig bars are another option.
The higher the intensity is in my workout, the more simple and digestable i need my food to be. So for racing, i really like Clif Shot blocks because they are easy to eat, easy to digest, don’t make a mess, and you can fit a ton in your pocket. I also do Gu Roctane drink mix, and have had good luck with that.
The Skratch chews are good. Unlike somebody above who said they prefer the Skratch packaging, i prefer the shot block packaging. I think i can fit more Clif blocks in my pocket than i could fit Skratch chews.
I am a big fan of Honey Stinger Waffles. 150 cal each. you can eat them fast and they taste good. If you watch out for sales, you can get some really good deals. I think they had a black friday or new years special and i picked up 5 boxes.
KIND bars are delicious and widely available. And instead of Blocks, check out Accel Gel. They are one of the few gels that have protein. As we get older, from personal experience, the protein really helps and seems to give a sated feeling.
I +1 on sticking with Clif, I used to use GU and I much prefer the Clif (organic from what I recall) and GU I found to be quite rubbery in comparison. I have used Skratch Labs, which I quite like but they dont have the breadth of options as Clif. In addition, they are hard to find (at least in Europe) and definitely more expensive. I know this isn’t a democracy, but I vote to stay with Clif, just saying. 
I’ve heard many people finding the Clif Blocks to be an ideal racing (70.3 / full) option, especially for people with sensitive stomachs. I know I deal better with gels with a lower ratio of fructose vs. maltodextrin (e.g. powergels vs. GU).
Any views / thoughts on how the Blocks would fare given that the two main ingredients are tapioca sugar and sugar cane resulting in a much higher fructose to malto ratio (if I’m not mistaken over 50% of the carbs in the Bloks are sugar)?
Hi…I don’t know the nutritional details, at least not enough to give you good advice. I have tried the PowerBar isotonic gels which are quite good. I don’t use gels in general because I find them difficult in my stomach…but the isotonic one seems to work for me.
I’ve tried Cliff shots blocks before and liked them because I love fruit snacks.
But these days I don’t race but for longer rides I’ve used fruit leathers or kids fruit snacks (since I’m buying them anyways for the kiddo). It has worked on 2 hour rides or so. I’ve also experimented with pure maple syrup which I bought from Costco and use a refillable gel tube for it. Seems to be fine but for really long rides I’d still want something to chew that felt like real food on top of it though.
I did hear on one Traineroad podcast I actually got around to listening to that the pro riders for nutrition have done Nutella sandwiches…which actually sounds quite delicious actually and I want to try it personally for a longer ride that requires a lot of fueling. Whenever that happens though as I’m still avoiding riding outside still but will eventually get to it.
I’d say it depends on the length and intensity of your ride. The longer and lower intensity, the more I gravitate toward more satiating, longer-digesting food with more complex carbs and even some fats. I much prefer real food and bars to gels/chews aside from high intensity races, as I feel that I once I start gels, I need a constant stream or I will bonk.Here’s some categories of workouts and the corresponding nutrition that I use:
long, low intensity (almost entirely Z2)- cashew/nut clusters or bars (basically nuts + a little honey), small nut butter sandwiches (especially on the indoor trainer)
long, med intensity (for example, sweet spot intervals mixed into a 3+ hour ride)- RX or clif bar, target about 1/hour (~250 calories/hour)
long, high intensity (e.g. long road race or Gran Fondo where you’re racing the whole time)- Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars as Ben said (1/2 package every 20-30’), Kellogg’s Nutri-grain bars (once per 30-40’), couple gels for quick energy toward the end
short (1.5 hours of less) low intensity- starved, maybe an RX kids bar toward the end if I’m hungry
short medium intensity- clif bar mini or RX kids before, maybe add in another of nutri-grain if >1 hour + decent intensity
short high intensity- nature’s bakery fig bar or nutri-grain before and 45-60’ in (if >1.25 hour session, or really hungry)
short races (<1 hour crit, 20-40k TT): caffeine gel about 10’ before, electrolyte + light calories in the bottle (e.g. scratch, SIS hydration). For half marathons, I add in a gel at about 50’ plus a few sips of gatorade at each aid station. Olympic tri’s, I have a gel about 15 miles into the bike + a few calories and electrolytes in a 24 ounce bottle.
This has worked really well for me in training and cycling races (top 10s at highly competitive long rides/races like Assault on Mount Mitchell, Blood Sweat and Gears, Blue Ridge Brutal). Haven’t really gotten the nutrition/hydration right for longer than olympic distance tris- I am a massively heavy sweater and my body struggles to absorb the fluid I need to replenish sweat losses along with taking on calories. May need to go away entirely from solid foods and just to gels + electrolytes + calories
I notice the cashew nut clusters in your post. Are these the ones from Costco? I just used them on a long ride and they’re great. They are now in the rotation…
100mg Clif Gel Expresso — I think these are really good - I go through a lot of them. I race with them too - so train how you race, race how you train right… I don’t find them too expensive.
I found a similar alternative - Hammer 50mg Espresso and find it to be ok and even ordered a jug to try it out as it was cheaper and I thought I could just have a real quick squirt pre workout to save on buying the individual packets, but it is refrigerate after opening - and find the gel to be super thick out of the fridge - and nearly impossible to get the bottom out of that jug. So would stick to the individual packets.
As far as bars, I’d stick with Lara bars. Also, I have found the Kind bar Mango Apple Chia to be a good source of energy. I like the Kind Dark Chocolate almond in high calorie burning mode and can eat 3-4 of those for 600-800 cal if I’m on a long ride or something in the gas station.