Lardines..... (sardines and lard mixed into a nice bar shaped snack)...then again I'm fully fat adapted and prioritise metabolic health over diabetes inducing sugar fuelled meaningless Strava times....
Would be good if they made the gel packets with an extra attachment to one side of the 'lid', so that when opening the top bit didnt totally seperate. Would aid with sustainability in that you wouldnt have loads of tiny bits of plastic accidently dropped
Clif gels have the trash chain, it's a good idea, technically there is more packaging so less eco. I just slip the lid back into the gel and the stickiness keeps it in but I don't use gels while riding so it would be difficult to do that while riding
Connor, I would have been interested to know about the recycling of the packaging. Its something we should all be concerned about these days with saving the planet and so on.
@@tihohohoho There's a need then for industry to come up with a method. The onous should really be on the prime users to fund the suitable research into the methods. I wonder why they need the aluminium in the mix, and maybe explains why they are Xraying for Al particles.
In the US, TerraCycle recycles packaging of gels, bars, etc. They have drop off bins at a few stores, such as FleetFeet, and at a few races and events, such as Sea Otter Classic, and you can mail the packaging to them. For a while, San Francisco used to accept them in the recycle bins, but no more. Hope that soon it’ll be as easy as recycling paper.
There is a new EU regulation coming, the PPWR (packaging and packaging waste regulation). Due to this they will have to improve the recyclability otherwise they wont be allowd to sell their products in the EU.
@@seascape Hi, I'll reply to you and Oller together. It looks like progress is being made, hooray. I hope the EU reg will be picked up here in the UK, however I fear the EU haters here might not out of spite, I hope I'm wrong.
Just use straight sugar and water 2:1 ratio sugar+water and bring it to a boil let it cool off and pour it in the water bottle. For example you can have over 1800 calories in 550ml bottle. Don't forget to brush your teeth afterwards.
@@gcntechCould you look at sustainability for different aspects of cycling e.g. tyres, inner tubes, drinks bottles, gel/bar wrappers, bar tape etc....
A three pound tub of SIS protein powder costs over $60 on Amazon. Why? It is just soy protein isolate and maltodextrin and Sucralose. (I assume it is popular for some reason which increases market demand. It does taste good, probably because of the maltodextrin)
The SiS GO gels I bought from The Feed in the US indicate on the packaging that they are made in the UK. Like the gels, not a fan of the packaging (difficult to open while riding, had the bottom blow out on a couple in my jersey pocket).
It would have been good if conner had Olie with him to ask more challenging questions from the chef, regardless... much appreciate the work you guys at GCN do. 👍🏻
I like the SIS gels. I think the tutti Frutti has a great sour patch kids taste. If you want a less sweet taste go for the green apple or lemon Lime. I also use the Beta gels and recently have used Enervit Carbo gels. The Enervit gels have the trash chain which is cool. I like the Lime flavor in these. GU waffles is another item I eat regularly on the bike and before rides. I think they make the best waffles. They're not as dry and brittle as the other brands (Honey Stinger /Untapped etc.)
I use salted peanuts when out on a ride. I don't burn calories fast enough to require a constant intake of sugars. Avoiding sugars also helps keep you blood sugar levels more stable so there's less chance of bonking. Race type efforts do require me to take carbs, but I avoid them when riding at all other times.
That depends on the intensity of your exercise. If you are riding along at a low intensity then you won't need the carb intake. As you increase the intensity you are going to increase your carb usage. You don't want to deplete your glycogen
@@nsjohnston no you didn’t. If you’re doing any sort of riding you’ll need to keep your carb levels up. That doesn’t mean you take in 80g per hour. Salted peanuts are fairly high in fat and salt. Not the greatest for riding.
@@MTBScotland Yes I did, 2nd sentence and last sentence. That was the entire point of my post, I'm sorry you missed that. Effort levels dictate what foods are best to take, race level require carbs, but normal riding it's maybe no the best fuel. I'm not sure what you think I was saying. Fat is a great energy source, it's what our bodies are built to burn. We convert it to glucose via the hormone glucagon. The body regulates the glucose levels in out blood, and releases hormones to raise and lower it. Giving it the the fuel it uses to control blood sugars is always the best for us, spiking sugar isn't it causes insulin spikes, that should be left to efforts that the body can't generate glucose fast enough for.
I make my own 1:08 drink by adapting a high 5 2:1 with fructose. I like the beta fuel chew gel. easy on the stomach but does cause a lot of very stinky farts. The price of the gels are shocking though.
I think one of the biggest differences is that it's a lot easier to consume 60, 80, 100+ grams of carbs per hour in gel form than via bananas! I also am a huge fan of bananas, especially when riding indoors, but couldn't fathom having more than one per hour
@@gcntech I don't take sports gels, but if I did I would look for one with low sugar content. If I do cheat and have something with wheat. I drink plenty of water with vitamin C and quercetin with bromelin. Asper my allergists recommendation. It helps with sinus running and headaches.
This was very interesting but for myself I avoid the expense and packaging by making my own nutritional stuff. GCN has two cookbooks for cyclists that are great, and there are lots of others out there. I buy maltodextrin and whey protein isolate in bulk and use reusable containers. Pros might need more serious products from sponsors but these work for me.
1:1 works better. You can take in 60g an hour of glucose and 60g fructose an hour. Just use sugar and salt or formula 369 and supplement with hard things like bars for long rides to satiate your stomach
Why I gave them up 2 years ago: Look at the #1 and #2 ingredients. I'll gladly take the water but the second one is crap! GO Isotonic Energy Gel Orange Flavour Ingredients: Water, (from maize), natural flavouring, gelling agents (xanthan gum, gellan gum), acidity regulators (citric acid, sodium citrate), preservatives (sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate), sweetener (acesulfame k), sodium chloride, antioxidant (ascorbic acid), colour (beta carotene). Love you GCN but promoting this for cycling?
Single use plastic at its worst. Even a single use water bottle has more than one mouthful in it. 90% of cyclists don’t need these but have bought into the hype. Eat proper food. Bananas, nuts etc.
Absolute rip-off! Mix 3 kg of organic brown sugar with 2.25 l of water (1.33 parts sugar, 1 part water). Boil it and fill this mixture in a flat plastic bottle like Heinz or agave nectar that fits your jersey. There your go. 75 g of carbs per 100 ml of syrup. Add a bit of salt or lemon juice if you like. Been doing this for years. Thank me later.
Seriously who buys this stuff. Have a banana unless you’re in the World Tour. Can you imagine spending 10 bucks every ride. Put some sugar in your bottle. Sorry GCN.
The amount of refined carbohydrates, including sugar that is healthy to eat depends entirely on how physically active you are. Sugar is not poison. Anti sugar fanatics are morons.
What about the environmental aspect, the gels especially? Seen the rubbish from these and other products every day. Non-recyclable. The powders are better.
But why the last time I ordered on Amazon they tasted like total plastic urethane or something. Also i can't even get the flavors i like. Maybe if they stopped giving them away to so many people they could focus more on their flavors and distribution
To me, these hyper-processed foods feel so incompatible with the nature-connected spirit of the sport. I get that it's needed on the pro(ish)-level, but as a pure hobbyist, I take the hit in convenience and carry/ buy real food on my rides.
What’s your favourite cycling snack? 🤤
Angry rabbits (cross buns)!
I like eating a large salad while im riding
Lardines..... (sardines and lard mixed into a nice bar shaped snack)...then again I'm fully fat adapted and prioritise metabolic health over diabetes inducing sugar fuelled meaningless Strava times....
MON Power Carb. That‘s the rocket fuel for me. 150g/h with zero problems. (sorry for bombing your Ad partnership 🙃).
Pampe
Would be good if they made the gel packets with an extra attachment to one side of the 'lid', so that when opening the top bit didnt totally seperate. Would aid with sustainability in that you wouldnt have loads of tiny bits of plastic accidently dropped
Totally agree. It's definitely a prerequisite for me now when choosing my gels.
PowerBar gels have this "Trash Chain" so you dont accidentally litter. They also really good and my go to brand.
100%.
Removable tops should be banned.
Upvote this!
Clif gels have the trash chain, it's a good idea, technically there is more packaging so less eco. I just slip the lid back into the gel and the stickiness keeps it in but I don't use gels while riding so it would be difficult to do that while riding
Connor, I would have been interested to know about the recycling of the packaging. Its something we should all be concerned about these days with saving the planet and so on.
As it is a multi layer construction of plastics and aluminium I guess it is not recyclable.
@@tihohohoho There's a need then for industry to come up with a method. The onous should really be on the prime users to fund the suitable research into the methods. I wonder why they need the aluminium in the mix, and maybe explains why they are Xraying for Al particles.
In the US, TerraCycle recycles packaging of gels, bars, etc. They have drop off bins at a few stores, such as FleetFeet, and at a few races and events, such as Sea Otter Classic, and you can mail the packaging to them. For a while, San Francisco used to accept them in the recycle bins, but no more. Hope that soon it’ll be as easy as recycling paper.
There is a new EU regulation coming, the PPWR (packaging and packaging waste regulation). Due to this they will have to improve the recyclability otherwise they wont be allowd to sell their products in the EU.
@@seascape Hi, I'll reply to you and Oller together. It looks like progress is being made, hooray. I hope the EU reg will be picked up here in the UK, however I fear the EU haters here might not out of spite, I hope I'm wrong.
It would have been interesting to hear SIS’ quality control of their products and how the science behind their products, ie how they know they work.
They analyse the 'learnings'.
Just use straight sugar and water 2:1 ratio sugar+water and bring it to a boil let it cool off and pour it in the water bottle.
For example you can have over 1800 calories in 550ml bottle.
Don't forget to brush your teeth afterwards.
Would be great if they could convert the individual packaging into eatable packaging, without it being messy and do away with that packaging 100%.
Oooo very interesting idea! 👀
@@gcntechCould you look at sustainability for different aspects of cycling e.g. tyres, inner tubes, drinks bottles, gel/bar wrappers, bar tape etc....
Use normal sugar in the bottles. Saves a fortune.
A three pound tub of SIS protein powder costs over $60 on Amazon. Why? It is just soy protein isolate and maltodextrin and Sucralose. (I assume it is popular for some reason which increases market demand. It does taste good, probably because of the maltodextrin)
2 Main ingredients: maltodextrin and crazy markup.
Can you do Maurten? Really interested in differences.
I’d like to know if all sis gels are made there in the UK, or if I buy one here in America, do they make them somewhere in North America?
The SiS GO gels I bought from The Feed in the US indicate on the packaging that they are made in the UK. Like the gels, not a fan of the packaging (difficult to open while riding, had the bottom blow out on a couple in my jersey pocket).
It would have been good if conner had Olie with him to ask more challenging questions from the chef, regardless... much appreciate the work you guys at GCN do. 👍🏻
Are you saying that Conor is a big softy? 👀
Would be really interesting to see around other factories like High5 or Clif
We'll see what we can do 🙌 What brand of fuelling do you jump to?
@@gcntech I use high 5 products when fueling on a long ride
I use their gels and gels and love them...what a very cool video.
I like the SIS gels. I think the tutti Frutti has a great sour patch kids taste. If you want a less sweet taste go for the green apple or lemon Lime. I also use the Beta gels and recently have used Enervit Carbo gels. The Enervit gels have the trash chain which is cool. I like the Lime flavor in these. GU waffles is another item I eat regularly on the bike and before rides. I think they make the best waffles. They're not as dry and brittle as the other brands (Honey Stinger /Untapped etc.)
Great to hear that you are enjoying the SIS gels 🙌 If you could only choose one gel from their collection what would it be?
Strawberry lime hands down
I use salted peanuts when out on a ride. I don't burn calories fast enough to require a constant intake of sugars. Avoiding sugars also helps keep you blood sugar levels more stable so there's less chance of bonking. Race type efforts do require me to take carbs, but I avoid them when riding at all other times.
That depends on the intensity of your exercise. If you are riding along at a low intensity then you won't need the carb intake. As you increase the intensity you are going to increase your carb usage. You don't want to deplete your glycogen
@@MTBScotlandI'm pretty sure I covered that in my post.
@@nsjohnston no you didn’t. If you’re doing any sort of riding you’ll need to keep your carb levels up. That doesn’t mean you take in 80g per hour. Salted peanuts are fairly high in fat and salt. Not the greatest for riding.
@@MTBScotland Yes I did, 2nd sentence and last sentence. That was the entire point of my post, I'm sorry you missed that. Effort levels dictate what foods are best to take, race level require carbs, but normal riding it's maybe no the best fuel. I'm not sure what you think I was saying. Fat is a great energy source, it's what our bodies are built to burn. We convert it to glucose via the hormone glucagon. The body regulates the glucose levels in out blood, and releases hormones to raise and lower it. Giving it the the fuel it uses to control blood sugars is always the best for us, spiking sugar isn't it causes insulin spikes, that should be left to efforts that the body can't generate glucose fast enough for.
@@nsjohnston dude stop trying to teach an actual scientist how glucose is regulated in the body.
Thank you for the insight on a topic that most people overlook. Well done.
Would you like to see more factory tours? We loved getting the Behind the scenes look 👀
I make my own 1:08 drink by adapting a high 5 2:1 with fructose. I like the beta fuel chew gel. easy on the stomach but does cause a lot of very stinky farts. The price of the gels are shocking though.
Despite the cool packaging I didn't notice any difference over a banana.
I think one of the biggest differences is that it's a lot easier to consume 60, 80, 100+ grams of carbs per hour in gel form than via bananas!
I also am a huge fan of bananas, especially when riding indoors, but couldn't fathom having more than one per hour
Great video, would be good to see more behind the scenes videos for other suppliers
The product itself is great, they could only work on the durability of the packaging. Sometimes they spill out in your pocket
I agree. They develop small tiny holes
Duh, cause its aluminum 😂
I like bananas, Lara bars, sometimes power bars, macarons. I have wheat allergy and try stay away to sweet foods. Enjoyed the video, interesting.
How do you find sports gels with your allergy?
@@gcntech I don't take sports gels, but if I did I would look for one with low sugar content. If I do cheat and have something with wheat. I drink plenty of water with vitamin C and quercetin with bromelin. Asper my allergists recommendation. It helps with sinus running and headaches.
This was very interesting but for myself I avoid the expense and packaging by making my own nutritional stuff. GCN has two cookbooks for cyclists that are great, and there are lots of others out there. I buy maltodextrin and whey protein isolate in bulk and use reusable containers. Pros might need more serious products from sponsors but these work for me.
SiS paired with Gold Nutrition are the 2 better brands i ever try ! Love it
What is it about SIS that you like so much? 👀
I cannot find a SIS energy bar anywhere. All I can find are those Beta Fuel gummy things.
Why does SIS add an artificial sweetener (acesulfame k)? It dries the mouth up.
great, now i'm really hungry for some gels
1:1 works better. You can take in 60g an hour of glucose and 60g fructose an hour. Just use sugar and salt or formula 369 and supplement with hard things like bars for long rides to satiate your stomach
You should have asked when SIS will bring back vanilla! It was my favorite, but they haven’t had it for a long time.
Good riddance 😂 jk, to each their own, and the more variety the better
Lots of love for the vanilla 👀
I wonder why they don't sell their gels in larger, bulk-type bottles as Hammer does. Does away with a lot of the throwaway packaging.
❤ the apple tast
That French "Ineos Grenadières" pronunciation 30 seconds in 😂
OTE and Veloforte for me but interesting vid 😊 🚴🏻 pete
SIS are great, shame the vanilla gel is a limited edition.
Here's your platform... Fight for Vanilla 🙌
Love the product ..a secret no more
Worst kept secret ever 👀
Why I gave them up 2 years ago: Look at the #1 and #2 ingredients. I'll gladly take the water but the second one is crap!
GO Isotonic Energy Gel Orange Flavour
Ingredients:
Water, (from maize), natural flavouring, gelling agents (xanthan gum, gellan gum), acidity regulators (citric acid, sodium citrate), preservatives (sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate), sweetener (acesulfame k), sodium chloride, antioxidant (ascorbic acid), colour (beta carotene). Love you GCN but promoting this for cycling?
They’re a sponsor…
So pro cycling teams don't get the standard product & ingredients we get...? Why....?
i guess since they burn more calories since they put out way more power
I guess it!!! And gel od course
Awesome :)
Is this Connors audition for inside the factory?
More companies need to come out with the PH "Flowgel" style packaging. This is just so much waste
SIS need to put electrolytes (back) in the Beta Fuel.
Single use plastic at its worst. Even a single use water bottle has more than one mouthful in it. 90% of cyclists don’t need these but have bought into the hype. Eat proper food. Bananas, nuts etc.
Next video: how many of the 200k can Conor eat in a week.
Oooo now that sounds like a challenge! 👀
I really like the SiS products but their packaging is horrible.
The amount of waste from this product and other gels is staggering, that packaging just shouldn't exist
Well that helped reaffirm why I don't buy any of this mass produced ultra processed energy stuff. Just eat real food.
So they produce 200k per day, but it is almost impossible to buy them... So weird..
How do you mean?
No way this is their own manufacturing facility. They would pay this facility to make it for them, so they would only make it as needed.
@@Formula369 how little you know
@@Formula369 You are completely wrong. The factory is their own facility in Lancashire and only makes SiS products.
Absolute rip-off! Mix 3 kg of organic brown sugar with 2.25 l of water (1.33 parts sugar, 1 part water). Boil it and fill this mixture in a flat plastic bottle like Heinz or agave nectar that fits your jersey. There your go. 75 g of carbs per 100 ml of syrup. Add a bit of salt or lemon juice if you like. Been doing this for years. Thank me later.
Going to give this a try!
Seriously who buys this stuff. Have a banana unless you’re in the World Tour. Can you imagine spending 10 bucks every ride. Put some sugar in your bottle. Sorry GCN.
I can’t be bothered to watch this one. But I hope they somehow develop a biodegradable packaging one day
How to make people unhealthy with gels? That should been the title
The amount of refined carbohydrates, including sugar that is healthy to eat depends entirely on how physically active you are. Sugar is not poison. Anti sugar fanatics are morons.
What about the environmental aspect, the gels especially? Seen the rubbish from these and other products every day. Non-recyclable. The powders are better.
talk about processed Frankenstein food💩
But why the last time I ordered on Amazon they tasted like total plastic urethane or something. Also i can't even get the flavors i like. Maybe if they stopped giving them away to so many people they could focus more on their flavors and distribution
What?! X ray machine to detect the crap in their aluminum packaged gels? 😂 who needs that?! No wonder they taste like butt
Give them away to who?
I'm French and this it what you guys call "food" ? a mix of different "magic" powders is food ? that's shitty sugar 😅
To me, these hyper-processed foods feel so incompatible with the nature-connected spirit of the sport. I get that it's needed on the pro(ish)-level, but as a pure hobbyist, I take the hit in convenience and carry/ buy real food on my rides.
creating waste
How many tons of garbage do they produce per day?
Waste of money
How about sugar water, rich guys? This is just advertising.
I’ve tried beta fuel because of the hype and it tastes bad. I didn’t finish the thing. Overpriced