This weekend I am giving a short talk to a cycling and triathlon training group on sports nutrition, on behalf of PowerBar Canada. I have a personal relationship with the brand and the founder Brian Maxwell that goes back to the early days of the company. Before my little talk I did a bit of reflection and research and summed these thoughts up in a blog - http://stevefleck.blogspot.ca/...r-early-history.html
These days, it’s easy to take for granted all the choices we have in sports nutrition. Before Brian Maxwell, founded PowerBar there really was not much - water, Gatorade and bananas . . baked potatoes!!. PowerBar, really launched a whole new product category - one that these days is a world-wide $billion business!
Unfortunately in terms of Brian Maxwell’s own personal story, there is a rather unfortunate ending.
What’s been your experience with PowerBar? Share your stories.
I discovered early on, a situation where PowerBars where not a good option. Cold weather!
Back in the late 80’s there ran for a couple of years a long distance winter triathlon in Ottawa, Ontario that involved speed skating, running and cross country skiing. I can’t recall the exact distances but it was something like 20K Skate/15k run/20k ski.( I am sure the Dev knows the distances) We skated on the famous Rideau Canal. The run was from the canal, on roads across the Ottawa River by bridge and up into Gatineau Park and the the cross-country ski portion was on the awesome trails in Gatineau Park.
I figured that the race would be roughly 3 - 4 hours long - I would need to take in some nutrition. I packed a bum-bag with a couple of PowerBars in T1, and strapped it on for the 15K run. It was cold on race morning somewhere in the -10C area. The skate section went well, and I was in and out of T1 quickly. As I settled into my running rhythm I reached into the bumbag to grab a PowerBar, peeled the wrapper and took a bite. I nearly broke my jaw and several teeth. *The bar was frozen solid. *There were no aide stations, and I had no way of getting calories. Desperate I shoved the frozen PowerBar down my skin suit next to my skin to hopefully warm up. During the run I was able to get one bar thawed out to the point that I could break off pieces in my mouth and suck on them like lozenges! You have to do what you have to do!
A rough estimate is that I have eaten approximately 12,000 PowerBars - my wife says that is a gross under estimate . . . the caveat is that I was racing well before they were invented!
I met Brian in the '80s and tried PowerBars right after they came out and was hooked. No more trying to juggle figs, etc while long course racing. They had 1 product and came in two flavors - chocolate and malt nut…malt nut is still my all time favorite and sure wish they made those.
Agree with the cold weather…next to impossible to bite a piece off.
The original chocolate is still my all time favorite. It fuelled me in training/racing for several years. While I don’t regularly consume them anymore, I still have the odd one from time to time. I was cleaning out a drawer in my garage one day and found one partially eaten. It was easily a year or two old. It still looked the same as it originally did. My friend took it out of my hand and ate it. He said it tasted the same as always and had the same texture too. I was a bit grossed out by that.
In my first and only open marathon in 1997, at mile 22 or so I fought a losing battle to open a powerbar mini wrapper. I yelled out a few choice words, gave up and threw it in frustration.
I found them hard to chew and eat overall. The harvest bars are a little better and I’ll pick up a few and use them on long runs or as a snack bar after a workout.
I find Powerbar Perform isn’t too bad and since Ironman uses it on course, it’s best to use it most of the time during longer workouts, it does go down easier it seems than accelrade and dissolves easy.
Agree with the cold weather…next to impossible to bite a piece off.
The original chocolate is still my all time favorite. It fuelled me in training/racing for several years. While I don’t regularly consume them anymore, I still have the odd one from time to time. I was cleaning out a drawer in my garage one day and found one partially eaten. It was easily a year or two old. It still looked the same as it originally did. My friend took it out of my hand and ate it. He said it tasted the same as always and had the same texture too. I was a bit grossed out by that.
Ha… this is funny. And, yes, probably not a “good” thing! Not that your friend ate it, but that even after being partially eaten and out of wrapper for quite a few months it tasted as good as new. Maybe a new approach for PB? The twinkie for endurance athletes?
As a side note, PowerBar is one of those brands that changed the game from the standpoint that some people call any energy bar a “PowerBar”.
I had a similar experience on a winter ascent of Long’s Peak in the mid 90’s. All we took for the second day summit attempt were a few Malt Nut Powerbars and water. I put my bars and my small water bottle on the inside pocket of my outer shell, thinking that would keep them protected enough. At -25 degrees F, I had enough insulation layers between me and my outer shell that my water and power bars froze solid. I spent the day alternating between sucking on ice chips for water and sucking on a frozen powerbar like a popsicle. My climbing partner wound up pulling a filling out of his tooth trying to bike a chunk off of his.
I’ve tried many bars over the years but always go back to powerbars. Especially after discovering the Fruit Smoothie bar or berry something or whatever it’s called.
These days, it’s easy to take for granted all the choices we have in sports nutrition. Before Brian Maxwell, founded PowerBar there really was not much - water, Gatorade and bananas . . baked potatoes!!. .
Steve,
Long before Powerbars were ever imagined many of us in the Finger Lakes region of NY would carry a whole sleeve of Fig Newtons as a pretty effective carbohydrate source for a long ride, paddle or whatever. In fact many of us cheap skates still do;)
They’re not only cheap but also available at pretty much any mom and pop store anywhere in the US.
As a side note, PowerBar is one of those brands that changed the game from the standpoint that some people call any energy bar a “PowerBar”.
AD,
That’s key in the story. They invented the category and have become so dominant and synonymous with the category that PowerBar = Energy Bar, despite there being all kinds of competition.
yeah, frozen, discovered skiing they were not of much use.
later discovered during riding they were not of much use to me either. I cant get them past my esophagus when working out. Went to gels. Now I need gels sans caffeine that don’t taste like ass.
Isn’t Powerbar also the inspiration for the Powersauce Energy Bars in The Simpsons episode ‘King of The Hill’ (aka: The Murderhorn), season 9 episode 23:
A rough estimate is that I have eaten approximately 12,000 PowerBars - my wife says that is a gross under estimate . . . the caveat is that I was racing well before they were invented!
I met Brian in the '80s and tried PowerBars right after they came out and was hooked. No more trying to juggle figs, etc while long course racing. They had 1 product and came in two flavors - chocolate and malt nut…malt nut is still my all time favorite and sure wish they made those.
she’s right. that is gross.
i appreciate them changing the game but i haven’t eaten a PB pruduct in years.
I have been a subject in most of the experiments leading to the addition of Fructose in Powerbars (and many subsequent products of other companies), but also taking part in the pilots and experiments testing what is the highest amount of gels and bars one can reasonably ingest whilst running or cycling. Interesting! Once I finished a 3h ride heavier than when I started
I had the chance several times to attend the Powerbar conferences where athletes, scientists and practitioners mix around science and sport. Fun and interesting.
A free mini PowerBar from the PowerBar people nearly killed me at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston in 1997. The banana flavor is apparently actually banana-nut, something not indicated on their trial-size packaging. I realized this after one bite, but still got to enjoy an ambulance ride to the ER while experiencing anaphylaxis. In the ER a nurse mentioned to me that they always have multiple instances like mine during the Boston Marathon weekend or other large athletic events where PowerBars are handed out free.
Haven’t touched a PowerBar since.
Food manufacturers: even if you aren’t required to list ingredients on sample-size products, please list allergen information on your packaging!
Isn’t Powerbar also the inspiration for the Powersauce Energy Bars in The Simpsons episode ‘King of The Hill’ (aka: The Murderhorn), season 9 episode 23:
Somewhere around 87-88 I did my first triath-a-lon. My buddy was a Cat-something rider, and they used to cut the powerbars into strips and just stick them on their top tubes. So I employed this same strategy. I didn’t particularly care for the taste or consistency of the product, but seemed like a good way to store calories on the bike.
Oh, it was a sprint. I also took time to put gloves on. I recently found a picture of it. I was awesome.
would carry a whole sleeve of Fig Newtons as a pretty effective carbohydrate source for a long ride, paddle or whatever.
I do this from time to time to mix things up a bit on long rides, especially when stopping to refuel at a convenience store along the way. As to Fleck’s original question, I first tried Power Bars back in '95 when they had them on the course at the Disney marathon. It was late in the race and I was feeling a bit depleted and tried one that they were handing out, found it too chewy to deal with at that point and tossed it aside. I tried them again a few other times after that and found that Clif Bars worked better for me (mainly from a consistency standpoint where they weren’t so chewy, plus better flavor options IMO).
I worked for POWERBAR-Nestle Performance Nutrition-Ironman. It was a very interesting & eye opening experience. We had the original 20 people who had been with the company. I think the quality of the product & manufacturing of the product is superb!! World Class Manufacturing Operation.
I also think that POWERBAR and all other brands, the time is over. I do not see people buying these bars anymore. I know it still is a billion $ industry, but I am not into it.
Yes, Brian’s story is sad, especially the ending. I think 2 yrs ago they tried very hard to re = introduce themselves, but it is a battle among the companies. POWERBAR was the first but is getting killed by CLIFF.
I have stopped using all gels & bars in my races. I have gone mostly with fluids/calories & back to bananas, P&B & COKE. Not the white stuff the drink in the small cans 90 instant calories. Lot easier to digest & work with.
I had the privilege of meeting and interacting with Brian for a little bit during the 2002 winter Olympics. I got the opportunity to carry the placard for one of the nations and found as all the placard-holders got together and practiced that he was carrying the one for Canada. To my surprise and delight he was THE Brian Maxwell, founder of PowerBar, and turned out to be a remarkable human being, considerate, open, kind, humble, genuinely interested in people, all despite his wealth. I never saw him again after the games, and was crushed when he passed away barely two years later.
I’ve used his product since approximately 1994 to great effect, sometimes as many as 7-8 in an epic hike, mountain summit, or double century. I still think they work and taste better than Clif bars, or any other for that matter, and like many, have struggled with them in the cold.
“Is that a powerbar in your shorts or are you just happy to see me?”
I was very fortunate to have met Brian while I was in high school back in 1978. He ran at the Canadian National Cross Country Championships at Stanley Park for the Scarborough Optimist Senior Men’s team that year while I ran on the Junior men’s team. Our Junior team was myself and all of the north Toronto gang, one of which was Ian Clark who two years after that went to UC Berkeley to run for Brian.
Shortly after Brian started PowerBar I had also moved from road racing to triathlons and contacted Brian about sponsorship and he started sending my PowerBars by the case. As someone else already mentioned back then they just had two flavors, chocolate (that tasted like chalk) and Malt Nut that actually tasted a bit like peanut butter if I remember correctly. Then they eventually came out with Strawberry that looked like raw human flesh.
Anyhow, always been a fan of their products and have enjoyed their support off an on now for the past 25 years or so.
Someone else that has some good Brian stories is Dan Empfield. About 8 or 9 years ago when we went up to Tahoe to do the Around the Lake Relay (running), Dan spent half the trip talking about the years that Brian used to do the relay schlepping his team around in an old VW Camper van.
