What about a four-hour bike ride? There's four more of them, probably. Yikes. And $1.50 is cheap, really. Clif Shot Bloks are $2 per pack. There are five blocks (ahem, bloks) in a pack. One serving is three bloks. Guess you'll need another package for that second serving, huh?
Anyway, like I said -- a bit of a crock. To combat extra costs, I eat things like Shot Bloks only in races. And it's going to have to be at least a 60-mile race for me to break those things out.
The rest of the time, I go with GU energy gel, since GU is a Team Kaos sponsor. Despite the price, I've learned there are a few things you just can't go without. High-revving energy is one of them. But that still doesn't mean I want to suck down four or five of them at a time.
To supplement the GU, I eat Nature Valley granola bars -- oats and honey. You can get them in giant boxes from Costco for $12, I think. It works out to a quarter per two-bar package. That's way better than the regular retail price, and no contest over a Clif Bar. Plus, it tastes way better.
Buy some stuff: The GamJams store is now operational. Go check it out. Cool stuff abounds.
6 comments:
How much does the middle man get? The retail store? If everyone keeps marking up the price 100% then it adds up. These sports supplements are there only for convenience. What do you think you could use, while working out, that could be made from household foodstuffs to replace these products?
When I was in school, powerbars (the only choice I remember from back then) were well beyond my budget at around $1. I relied on bananas and lil' debbie oatmeal cream pies (about 10 cents each). Even powdered gatorade was considered a splurge. For really long rides, I'd sometime pack a PBJ sandwhich.
Of course, looking back, I should have been eating/drinking twice as much as I was. Nevertheless, these sources of nourishment served me well for very little moola.
Suzi Q's and Mtn Dew for pre race baby - Half a bottle of flat coke and water for the race towards the end of the race.
Rice bubble bars or honey in bread are training foods and cheap...some of the gels are neater and easy in races but here some of the gels are $3-00 each. I use food in training rides, eat something good each hour (or part thereof.....bananas, honey sandwiches or rice bubble bars.....amount depends on distance and intensity of the ride.....hills need more food more energy used etc tec
wow -- lots of different options there.
Marc -- I have thought about making my own stuff. It's a time issue right now. Hopefully when I can ride again, and when the schedule calms down a bit, I can start doing that.
mark -- oatmeal cream pies ... yum. I could eat them all day.
coach -- see, now that's old-school.
buttsy -- big fan of honey and bread here. In the winter I usually had honey toast after a workout.
Yeah. The prices are high for all those energy gels. The secret of the cheap gels is that they contain less, they just made them smaller.
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