Ideas for making your own Gel 'servings/ sachets'

[Misplaced]

So, you can now buy Endura gel in 500ml bottles, great! its cheaper in bulk.

But..unless I'm doing a 1000km race, I wont be hauling 500ml of gel with me anytime soon.

so, reaching out for ideas from XC racers on ways to divide down to usable portions and suggested containers. How do people do this currently?

Any ideas?

 

[WolfCreekPsycho]

Condoms. Just make sure you dont get the ones that have spermicide etc.

Pretty sure this is what a lot of the marathon runners use.

Load them up and tie them off, then when you need you can just bite into it and suck out all the white gooey goodness.

 

[Misplaced]

seems so wrong...

 

[ebuk]

Don't use the condoms, heroine smugglers may need em .

http://www.performancebike.com/product_images/500/00-7458-CLR-FRONT.jpg

Each brand tend to have there own version. 5 gel bottle. You can find em in some $2 / asian shops as well.

 

[bazza]

less rubish as well! save the environment/cut back on trash on race tracks/courses! i hate seeing gel packets all along the track its crappy. worst thing ever when your trying to stuff them up your knicks/put them in your back pocket and it falls out and you have to go back . those bottles look super easy to get out and use as well.

 

[schmackster]

I have used those bottles and they are great as I put a standard sachet of gu in there and fill the rest with water and it makes it much more palatable. My stomach was never very happy when I it got a lump of super sweet gu chucked into it and always made me suffer for it.

As for making your own gu there are a recipes out there you just have to google them and maybe do a Farkin search as I seem to remember a similar thread a few years ago. Will have a look and get back to you.

Try here - http://www.active.com/mountainbiking/Articles/Make_Your_Own_Homemade_Energy_Gel.htm
(I found it by googling 'energy gel recipes')

 

[akashra]

I dunno man, 500ml is only ~15-16 gels, or 1550kcal. You'll burn a lot more than that in a 6 hour enduro - in a 6 hour I'd go through 15 gels if I only used them not other foods and still end up with a 3000kcal defecit

 

[Valentino_Rossi]

Buy some small plastic bags of about the size of a gel packet (maybe at a wholesale canteen/catering supply place), fill it and then seal it with a bag sealer (try ebay or the place you by the bags from).

Haven't tried it, but it is what I was considering doing if I bothered with gels.

 

[QZ13]

I dunno man, 500ml is only ~15-16 gels, or 1550kcal. You'll burn a lot more than that in a 6 hour enduro - in a 6 hour I'd go through 15 gels if I only used them not other foods and still end up with a 3000kcal defecit

Dude

"...Now that you know what kind of carbohydrate to use, the next question is, "How much?" With some allowances provided for very large athletes the human body can only return (from the liver to muscle tissue) about 4.1-4.6 carbohydrate calories per minute, or about 250-280 calories per hour. When an athlete consumes more than 280 calories per hour from carbohydrates during an event, the excess remains undigested in the stomach, or passes unused into the bowel, where, in the unmincing words of Dr. Bill Misner, "they accumulate in gastric or intestinal channels in 100-degree temperatures and putrefy in time."

Yes, you may be burning up to 800 calories per hour, but your body cannot replace that amount during exercise. Trying to replenish calories at the same rate as depletion only causes problems. Instead of having more energy available, you'll have a bloated stomach, and perhaps even nausea and vomiting. You've seen it happen, but it's not a necessary aspect of intense competition; more likely it's the result of improper caloric intake...."

taken from http://www.ride424.com/

Have a read. It might be the reason you cant shit for a week after a marathon too?

 

[akashra]

Huh? Dude.

1 Gel = 32g, 25g of which is carbs, = ~101kcal.
I work on 1 gel every 25 minutes for enduros, or, more accurately, 100kcal every 25 minutes. That means a gel, meuseli bar, banana, whatever, once every 25 mins - ~240kcal/hr.

At VO2, that puts my defecit at around 1000kcal/hr. Obviously a race isn't done at VO2, but you get the idea. Enduro pace that'd be around a 600kcal/hr defecit.

Did you think I was suggesting trying to take in 3000kcal per hour or something?

 

[QZ13]

"deficit" is such a negative word.

 

[thelankyman]

I go with a Gel bottle. I used one on a 100 mile and it worked well....until i lost it during the race. Speaking of, I actually need to get another one.

I wouldnt recommend doing more than a gel an hour. All that processed sugar cant be good for you. Recommend Bananas or a bar to suppliment the gels.

 

[jeffandal]

Hi5 have gel bottles with the pop top. They hold equivalent of 4 satchets.
They are easier to use than gel packets, not opening of the packet, and trying to squeeze out every drop without crashing.
a cheap alternative is the kids juice bottles, though even the 150ml ones are a bit big.
I found the endura one a bit thick for use with the flask, so I dilute it down with a bit of water, easy fixed.

 

[ozzybmx]

I dunno man, 500ml is only ~15-16 gels, or 1550kcal. You'll burn a lot more than that in a 6 hour enduro - in a 6 hour I'd go through 15 gels if I only used them not other foods and still end up with a 3000kcal defecit

Thats a LOT ! im sure it costs you a shit load on gels and dental bills !!!!!

With that amount of sugar constant around your teeth for a 6 hour race , you'll soon be able to take out you dentures to save weight

 

[Pay it Forward]

Expiry dates??

Does anyone have an idea if the expiry date on gels is very important? Ha, i know this'l get a few smiles, but im serious as i have a few that are about 6months over, are they any good at all still u think? There cliff shots brand.

 

[RichJS]

All that processed sugar cant be good for you. Recommend Bananas or a bar to suppliment the gels.

.. what is "processed sugar"? Perhaps you mean Sucrose? (I think that it's a phrase left over from the 70s with mothers complaining about "highly processed food" that doesn't technically mean anything!)

That link to "Make your own energy gel" which suggested using honey has been annoying me for a while - it seemed like a bad idea, it's all simple sugars (except for the optional Molasses for salts.)

http://ezinearticles.com/?Sugar-is-Sugar;-Honey-is-Not-More-Healthful&id=128445 says:

Honey contains two simple sugars called glucose and fructose. Table sugar has the same two sugars, only they are bound together to form a double sugar called sucrose. In your body, they end up in exactly the same way. Once sucrose, the double sugar, reaches your intestine, it is broken down into the single sugars glucose and fructose.

If you want lots of simple sugars .. why not just eat Jelly Beans?
Well apparently, simple sugars are bad endurance food. Ever noticed most of the commercial Gels are made with Maltodextrin? They didn't pick it at random. Complex sugars are much better race food, and this article seems to spell it all out:
http://www.hammernutrition.com/za/HNT?PAGE=ARTICLE&ARTICLE.ID=1275

Does anyone have an idea if the expiry date on gels is very important? Ha, i know this'l get a few smiles, but im serious as i have a few that are about 6months over, are they any good at all still u think? There cliff shots brand.

If it's been kept cool in a cupboard for the whole time, there's not much to worry about.

 

[SouthYarraSage]

.. Ever noticed most of the commercial Gels are made with Maltodextrin? They didn't pick it at random. Complex sugars are much better race food, and this article seems to spell it all out:
http://www.hammernutrition.com/za/HNT?PAGE=ARTICLE&ARTICLE.ID=1275

Yup, maltodextrin is the go. You can buy it for about $7 per kg (last I checked) from www.myopure.com.au. Work it out - it's just about 100% carbohydrate, which makes it much, much, much cheaper than any packaged product you can buy. And if you're doing long events, you will be using A LOT - the formula I've used is 1g per kg of body weight per hour.

Be warned, not everybody can cope with having a lot of this stuff in their guts. A little 'real food' every now and then makes life a whole lot more fun

You can mix it up reeeealllly concentrated if you make it with boiling water - like, you can get 400g to go into two 'fuelbelt' bottles, which makes it quite easy to carry, although my preference is to have a 500ml bottle of concentrate, flavoured with a little vita-fresh, in my bottle cage and water only in my camelback (saves on cleaning...)

When I was racing ironman (the triathlon, not the beach one with the silly hats) and training 20+ hours a week I got through an absolute crapload of this stuff. I managed to talk a food ingredients wholesaler into selling me 2 x 25kg sacks, which made it around $2 per kg. That lasted me the best part of 2 years - my missus got pretty pissed off with having the open sacks around

 

[CD24]

Just found this page. I think I might give this home made gel thing a go.