For shorter rides (and runs), perhaps anything under 90 minutes, I don’t eat anything. If it’s hot, I’ll bring a bottle of water on the bike.
Once I start getting over the 90-120 minute mark, I’ll bring some carb chews. They’re basically the same as gels but not as messy. You can eat half a packet of carb chews (one serving), fold up the packet and put it back into a bento box or a rear jersey pocket. Then you can finish off the 2nd serving later in the ride. You can store the empty wrapper in the bento box/jersey pocket until you come across a garbage can.
Gels are a mess to eat while on the bike, at least for me. There is also the problem of storing the empty gel packets. Gels are a little easier to deal with on the run. But even on the run, I usually bring carb chews instead of gels. If I get tired of carb chews, I’ll try sport beans once in a while. But those have a higher sugar content, so it could bother people who don’t tolerate simple sugars so well. When at rest, my stomach can be sensitive to sugars (unless eaten with fiber and protein). But once I’ve warmed up in a workout or race, I can handle most sports drinks, gels, carb chews and sport beans.
I like to split nutrition and hydration, meaning that I won’t use sports drink for calories. I tried doing that in a cold-weather long race (near-Half Ironman triathlon) and paid for it. Because it was cool (low to mid 50s), I wasn’t drinking much at all, maybe one half or a full bottle for a 56-mile hard bike leg. (Lots of steep hills, one after another.) I wasn’t sweating but I was still burning up a ton of calories. I felt good going into the run. But after just a mile or two, I completely bonked for the first time ever. It wasn’t fatigue. I had completely run out of glycogen because I had barely taken in any calories at all on the bike. Nothing hurt. I just couldn’t pick up my legs. My heart was OK. Nothing wrong there. I massaged my lower legs to see if I could somehow get some glycogen down there, somehow. That actually worked, sort of. Instead of being stationary, I was now able to shuffle along at 20:00 to 22:00 pace (per mile). Runners know that is a painfully slow pace. That’s all I could do for the next half mile or so. I made it to the next aid station. I loaded up on everything I could find, from gels and carb chews to a banana and sports drink. All those quick-absorbing calories did the trick, sort of. Once you bonk, you will never be able to get back to your usual race pace that day. But you can resume a slow and steady pace. I finished the majority of the half marathon run at about 12:00 pace. Still slow, but at least much better than 20:00 pace. I kept eating a lot at every aid station. While I continued to run very slowly, I didn’t have any more problems.
After the race, I loaded up on more food, from sports drink to a burrito… and a beer. (That last item was a mistake.) I felt OK once I started to restore my glycogen supplies. However, I learned that if you bonk, you may not tolerate alcohol so well. Normally one beer isn’t a big deal for me. But after bonking on a near-Half Ironman (70.0 miles), that beer had an exaggerated diuretic effect. Without getting into too many details, I had to go to the portapotties every 10 minutes, even though I didn’t really NEED to. It was the alcohol, and it was just one beer, or maybe half a beer. That has never happened to me. I didn’t feel sick at all. I simply had to… go. Number one only.
Anyway, I use water and drink to thirst. On longer workouts, I bring carb chews. Clif Shots and GU Chomps have a mix of sugars and slower-absorbing carbs along with antioxidants and electrolytes. GU Chomps also have some amino acids, which can help with carb absorption and muscle repair during long rides. I’ve been OK with just carb chews and water.
I will never use Accel gels again. I tried those out my first year. They have a very high protein content. Protein means a powdery and chalky taste, and a thick consistency. Very difficult to eat during a workout or race, at least for me. Some people may like them but I can’t stomach them in mid-ride.
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