Ah, thanks. When y’all were talking about ‘old school’ being 2:1 and then moving to 1:1, I was thinking that you were just continuing in that same direction (adding fructose and reducing glucose). But you’ve actually gone back the other way. Nice thing about the 1:0.8 ratio is that it’s super easy to measure if you use 90g per hour, just 50:40.
1 Like
Nate has hinted on podcasts that they have data geeks looking at their entire workout history to do exactly that. They must have millions of records with user’s info, the evidence is in thier if it can be teased out.
I just finished this episode, and wanted to jump in here on what is hopefully a less contentious topic.
Pop Tarts.
Pop tarts are beyond a doubt my #1 go-to for on-bike nutrition when training. I’ve learned a little bit about them along the way, so here’s my pop tart ranking by brand:
- Trader Joe’s - I don’t know why these are so much better, but they are probably the most durable of all the ones I’ve tried. Five hours in a jersey pocket and ready to eat, intact. The Pumpkin Spice ones are the best, followed by Pomegranate Acai. Strawberry can get bent.
- Pillsbury Toaster Strudel - These are way thicker than any other option on this list, and though they have a thinner crust they are also a bit softer so they get points on structural integrity. They lose some points for having less Calories per pastry though. Apple is the best flavor. I refuse to acknowledge the existence of the Toaster Scrambles.
- Name brand. Pop Tarts - The classic. In bulk from a wholesaler, also the cheapest per Calorie. I’ve tried both the frosted and unfrosted, and find that the frosted ones hold up better structurally, though I prefer eating the unfrosted ones. Frosted Blueberry gets my vote here on flavor.
- Best Choice - These are not the best choice, but they’re always on sale at the corner store so here we are. Flavor is fine, but they turn to dust almost immediately. In your nutrition strategy, these are the ones you eat first.
- Nature’s Path - These really only make the list because of the Cherry Pomegranate flavor. It’s awesome. They are also the lowest Calories per dollar, and have very poor structural integrity.
Choosing your fueling strategy with toaster pastries is often overlooked! Bringing a wide variety of flavors on a ride keeps things exciting, and ordering them in your pockets from most to least durable keeps you from ending up with a sad packet of crumbs after a few hours.
Anyway, uh, yeah. That’s what I got. Keep on keeping on. Unless that means arguing about the validity of the way other people train, in which case knock it off.
15 Likes
- This is so prime for the “Pick a training method and be a d!ck about it…” video that we have seen via MTB (pick wheel size…) and other lampooning vids.
- The whole “This is better than that…” has run well past my own interest level at least, and the near bickering we see around it all is getting comical these days
Re Pop Tarts. It is one of my silly breakfast vices. I have not used them for training, but will have to give it a shot on the trainer. The times I used stroop waffles left my super dry mouthed and dumping water, so not sure what to expect with PT, but I’m game to try. The new “bites” versions could be worth a look too.
7 Likes
Huge pop tart fan and gave them up years ago.
After a trip to TJs my fueling pockets are going to say thank you, thank you, thank you!
2 Likes
TJ’s does have a pretty outstanding bar selection.
1 Like
At least we still get to guess if he is shaved or furry
1 Like
I’m going to report back on how well TJs pop tarts hold up in these new fangled food dispensers!
4 Likes
You don’t need studies to decide if this right. He’s right if there exist people with 8 hrs a week to train who end up benefitting from applying the principles to their training.
I’m not trying to be pedantic but this is really the basis of so many of these forum fights. You don’t have to try to prove POL or pyramidal or whatever is better because that was never the claim and in a vacuum (ie absent context anf specific application), I don’t think it’s possible
It is “Deep Dives” like these that make this forum so awesome. Nice work and thanks for your analysis!
While I have not tried TJ’s version, it’s hard to beat plain strawberry or Blueberry Pop Tarts.
Definitely going to add Pop Tarts into the ride food mix soon. Although, I have 14 lbs of Maltodextrin to get though too…
Thanks again for his valuable break down!!!
3 Likes
Adding to the Bites that I knew about, look at what I see on their site:
Chances are the “crisp” aspect spells disaster for us, but the form factor is decent looking too.
You’re blowing my mind here. First bites, now bars! Looks like I have some, er, research to do…
4 Likes
I’m just happy to know I’m not the only one slummin’ with junk food. I just need to add it to my training and I won’t have to feel as bad 
I do think the Bites will be the hot ticket. Looks like a fig bar sized PT, which sounds PERFECT to me.
2 Likes
Suffering from some serious food burnout on fig bars and need a food challenge! I’m going to do an Apple Fritter in one downleg food dispenser, and post a pic of that (@iamholland forum drama notwithstanding) vs TJ pop tart “will it crumble in the leg pocket?” on the other leg. I’m counting on the fritter to easily mold to the leg, and taking bets 
on the TJ pop tart. While I really enjoy a toaster strudel, that seems messier than the fritter and not as wholesome (apples!).
2 Likes
how do people like to carry food in such a way that it is easy to get at but also doesn’t melt together or get all over the place?
during winter riding i find it difficult to open bars or bags of chews because cold hands become all thumbs. I’ve tried pre-opening them but then they get everywhere, especially when you’re fishing around in a jersey-back pocket with a hugely gloved hand (that can no longer feel things that well).
Any tips or tricks? You can always stop and take a glove off but i like to avoid that as much as possible.
1 Like
I agree in part, but the exercise physiologists doing these studies are very much trying to determine whether POL or pyramidal etc. is better than the other in terms of producing gains for athletes; perhaps they won’t end up finding really durable, statistically-significant differences across many studies but that is definitely what Seiler and others are interested in doing
If you want to really raise the heat, ask about opinions on green bananas vs ripe / overripe bananas. lol.
1 Like
I believe you, but it just seems like such a weird goal, study-design challenges aside. The more appropriate question should be, can we identify the circumstances under which one is more appropriate than the other? I think plenty of people already have a good idea what those are, this would be more like the science confirming and telling us “why.”
i’ll take your word for it about seiler himself but it seems incongruous with his other work. IIRC correctly after a second observational study that showed cyclists spending much of the year in what he thought was the “grey zone,” he acknowledged that it’s more complicated and that there seem to be differences across sports.
2 Likes
I really struggle with this one. I have fairly severe Raynaud’s and so any time it gets cold I’m wearing huge mittens. In those cases I begrudgingly drink my calories, or don’t eat at all and face the disappointment of my coach later.
Lately I’ve been riding a flat bar bike with bar mitts, which means I ca wear thinner gloves. I just stuff the bar mitts with snacks, and because they’re in the way I have some motivation to eat them!
2 Likes