At the LBS the other day to get some odds and ends, got into a conversation with three other people (one road, one fixie, one mb’er). They all said they use honey packets rather than gels. I’ll eat a pnut butter, honey, banana sandwich before I ride, but just taking it down on the ride? Anyone able to help me out on this one, have I stumbled onto something as great as chocolate milk?
If I remember correctly the packets (like you get at Starbucks) don’t have that many calories so you need to have a bunch of them with you - if you could fill a gel flask you might be good to go.
That’s why some people use “Honey Stingers”…
It’s about 3 calories per gram, so a little over an ounce would yield 100 calories.
I believe the starbucks packets only have 30 calories
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I’ve been using it in a Gel-Bot lately. I mean, it never rots or spoils. The “energy core” cleans easy enough and it’s a lot cheaper than even the big jugs of Hammer.
I have started to make my own training bars and one of the big ingredients in them is honey. Manuka if I have it. Other ‘secret’ ingredients include dried papaya, apricots… No more of I’ll be giving too much away.
Honey is a great source of energy from natural sugars that will give you a good burst of energy but not send the blood sugar levels into orbit.
I like this stuff http://www.honeystinger.com/products.php
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Honey packets are silly. Its like buying water in little plastic bottles. Wait, nevermind.
Anyway buy it in bulk and pour in gel flask. I’ve posted before regarding the nutritional content and cost. In short, it’s 25 cents or less per “gel” and the fructose/sucrose mix is 50/50 about the same as corn syrup. Search my earlier posts for more detail and source links.
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Muchos thankos!
Seems like you’d be missing the Sodium and Potassium the gels/bloks have; although those Honey Stingers look interesting.