I’m a GU kind of guy, especially for runs - tho will use Hammer on the bike sometimes. For some reason, whenever I’ve used Hammer gels on a long run (especially after 15 or 16 miles or so), I puke. Never bothers me on the bike, tho. For flavors, I like the berry flavors in general; the vanilla/chocolate flavor thing just doesn’t go down well with me.
E-gels from Crank Bros Sports. Have all the electrolytes you need in 'em, so you don’t need to carry around salt pills too. Used these for IM Moo…worked like a champ.
Spot
I used the Accel gel in Chocolate and the Enervitene cola flavor over the year with good success. It depend mostly on what drink I was using at the time because I feel they work best when teamed up with products of the same camp.
Carb-Boom Apple Cinnamon, Powergel the blue and the green labels forgot flavors. Clif Shot raspberry are somewhat tasty sometimes. Anything but coffee flavor gels. WTF were gel makers thinking? I got one at the 70.3 championship and almost puked immediately from that.
Hammer gel. I love it. I add a little water to the flask and it goes down really well. Raspberry or apple cinnamon, I hate all chocolate flavored sports nutrition, it tastes to chemical for me.
I used to use the CarBoom stuff which tastes pretty good as well.
Gu for taste and consistency. It’s also nice to get used to because it tends to be on race courses and tours. Hammer makes me gag, and Cliff Shots make me bloated. Haven’t tried anything else yet, though.
Jodi
Gu (vanilla, espresso, chocolate)
Though I really like the sport beans and those clif block things are OK.
clm
"Just curious what people use now and why? "
I use whatever I get free in race packets or at expos.
E-gels from Crank Bros Sports. Have all the electrolytes…
I always use Gu, but the flavor doesnt really matter to me, I try to swollow them fast enough so i dont have to taste it. Every gel i have ever tried just makes me want to gag. Maybe its the consistency. I do see the benefits though so i use them.
I’ll put in another vote for e-gel from crank bros sports.
Not only do they have everything you need, but they taste good too.
Best ever.
Use GU primarily but Carboom is the best tasting…
I like Hammer Gel, flavors orange, banana, vanilla, apple cinnamon. Fruit punch is funky and not quite what I was expecting, but in moderation it provides your mouth with a change in pace. Hammer tastes good, with none of that funky metallic aftertaste I notice in other gels.
For IMWI06, I used banana, vanilla, and fruit punch gel packets on the bike, one every 20 min (yes, that adds up to a lot of gels). I rotated through flavors to avoid “flavor fatigue”, a phenomenon I ran into when just using one gel flavor from a big jug. In general, find it easier to dose correctly from a pack vs. a jug. One pack equals exactly X calories, no guesswork involved.
mm
I like “Just Plain” Gu. When I’m workin’ out there, especially if it’s hot, the last thing I want is a bold flavour. (I damn near died the one time I tried espresso Hammergel on a hot ride in August, even though it tasted great at home)
I used started trying out Pro4 energy gel lite. So far I prefer it to Gu or Power gel, but there are not as many flavors.
Gu Vanilla Bean with the occasional Banana thrown in for vareity.
E-gel and sport beans.
Wow, just went on Crank Sports website, e-Gel looks to have it all.
Hammer Nutrition’s raspberry or apple cinnamon. The apple tastes just like “grandma’s apple pie.” Also, the gel is very thin in consistency and goes down pretty easy. It seems to have the fastest acting effect for me too.
More than anything…I think which gel to take has a lot to do with how well you can get it down. My suggestion is to try a few different flavors and brands while you’re training and then decide from there.
Same on both counts. Banana Blitz (gu) and Banana (Hammer)