If you are supposed to take in between 60-90 grams of carbohydrates per hour of intense rides, then why are all the gels I see in the 20 gram range?
20g gels give the option of either “drip feeding” the calories in over multiple servings, and to supplementing with other carb sources (sports drink, bars, real food etc). I have a hard time choking down 60+g of carbs all at once, especially in gel form. If I am doing a ride requiring more fueling, like 80g/h, i’ll get 20-40 from gels, and 40 from skratch labs. Then I may also have a banana or part of a bar.
You also need to learn the body to absorb 61-90, so unless you do it on training don’t do it in race.
Personally i do
60g/h > 60min Intervals
60g/h > 90Min Endurance
Probably won’t do many races above 3 hours, and maybe non above 4.
The gels generally say 3 per hour. Well I just happened to notice the SIS one I used last week* did anyway - it had a little clock graphic saying on the hour/ 20 past/ 20 to.
Couldn’t ever see me doing 3 per hour for multiple hours though - in general I go for a bottle mix and real food.
*I had my first (well past best before) gel last week as part of my new morning workout fuelling strategy!
What gels?
Mine are 37g. The powder to mix liquid nutrition is right at 60g per bottle.
Which gels are you using that are 37g?
I don’t do gels but when I have a 2+ hour ride I do tailwind and works well for me. Anything under that is typically water and possibly I nibble on a homemade granola bar.
E-gels and e-fuel from cranksports
Anyone popping gels on TR workouts, perhaps longer ones?
I do on 90-120 minute SS and VO2 workouts before the last set. I like the caffeine in the Gu Expresso Love gels.
I’m in SSB1 MV (week 3), and have started this block with a focus on fuelling work (and recovery)…
- “Tuesday” and “Thursday” workouts I have a drive to work, and then train - I’ve started having a carb drink mix on the way in.
- For my “Saturday” workout, which is up and straight on the turbo for over-unders, I’ve started doing a gel on waking, and then the carb mix during warm up.
Too early to tell long term benefits for n=1, but RPE is definitely down on the sweetspot stuff. McAdie was still hard this morning, but I didn’t come close to bailing/ reducing intensity/ ignoring the standing drills, despite the workout text. Tell you after week 5/ McAdie+1 
I’m actually also going more carb focused on the bike outside, for all except 5 hour plus outdoor rides. Previously, I had been trying to take in protein early on, but I’m going to try carbs from the get do. Save the protein intake for the long days/ audax.
Yes, I’m fuelling but prefer liquid fuel or bars. If I don’t have bars I’ll use High5 gels.
This is for sessions 1h45 stretching up to the horror that is Mianzimu