Vegan endurance ride fuel

i take gu gels. mandarin orange. but after 2 hours i just keep eating gels. plan to do xcm races. want some alternate fuel sources. i do eat clif bars when im on big solo rides. never done a 2+ hour race though. not sure if clif bars are a thing for racing or if i should look for quicker fuel. im sure this has been discussed a million times but wanted to specifically ask for vegan fuel. thanks!!

https://theplant-basedpantry.com/2015/08/03/long-ride-fuel-rice-cakes/

Boom.

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I’ve been using coconut date rolls which are a great source of quick sugar and go down easily. I also really like fig bars.

I just eat 2 Medjool dates - spit out the pips. They are equivalent to having a gel but are natural and much nicer, keep in your pocket in a ziplock bag, no troubles!
If I am on a long ride, i will take a banana to mix it up as the dates are quite sweet and you can get sugar burn like you would if you continually have gels all the time.

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I think the problem with that approach is you might over do it on the fructose.

Skratch: https://www.skratchlabs.com/collections/sec-featured-products/products/anytime-energy-bar?variant=42597508613

I eat bananas, Dates and Water. I have done so on long rides (100 miles). As long as you eat often and don’t wait till you are hungry, you should be fine.

I like the idea of rice cakes mentioned above. I can;t stand chocolate (yeah, I am weird that way). I wil think of a recipe and make Rice with bananas and Dates. Perhaps blend bananas and dates together and bake them with rice.

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I learned of a company called Muir that make exclusively plant based products. I ordered a bunch.

Sesame snaps out of a Zip Lock bag.

I’m not vegan but use products from TRIBE (https://wearetribe.co) which are vegan. Their Choc Salt Caramel Infinity bar tastes awesome and is great for endurance rides (25c, 8f, 7p). They do protein shakes and all sorts, highly recommended.

I also use bananas, dates when out on the bike or on the trainer. Maybe some toast and marmalade before a hard session.

dried mango … more than 300kcal x 100gr

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There’s a lot of good vegan endurance fuel products. I liked the Vega gels for a while, but switched to cliff blocks because they’re easier to eat while riding.
Recently I started using Tailwind. Really liking it so far.

If I am just out on a ride I try and go with the natural snack, eg, banana or dates etc but if it is a race it is easier to go with the gel and I found Huck Nutrition to be easy on the stomach to consume when the body is stressed.

What wouldn’t be vegan?
Baked potatoes,bananas, cliffbars, ricecakes, dates, anything you can stuff in your jersey

I used one of these today prior to Kosciuszko +4 this morning…

Cashew Vanilla Mate

It tasted a lot like a Larabar (not surprisingly) but with the consistency of a reeeeeeeeeally thick gel.

I can definitely see taking one of these at the start of an event or at checkpoints throughout. I’m not sure how they would be on the bike yet…TBD.

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Thanks. Will have to look into that.

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Peanut power trek bars are my go to fuel as they aren’t too sugary and sit better in my stomach - I also find they help offset and neutralize too many gels/sweet stuff. And they give me that ā€˜fuller’ feeling that you just don’t get from purely sugary stuff, which I think just helps mentally.

For the Mallorca 312 this year I knew I couldn’t rely on the feed stations (exclusively ham or cheese sandwiches), so my strategy was either one gel or cliff bloks pack per hour along with a trek bar. For the 12 hour ride, it meant carrying 1.5kg from the start in my pockets but I felt great the whole way round and only had to stop for water.

I did a few xcm races this year including bcbr before starting a vegan diet so not totally applicable

My go to was 2 bagels in the morning with margarine and marmalade
Cliff bar two hours before and on the starting line and then always have a cliff block in my mouth during the race when I could. It meant dumping usually two packs into my jersey pocket

I hope this is within this thread topic but I have started to eat solely a vegan diet for the last 4 weeks
Thinking more about protein
Can you suggest or show some of your daily meals? I don’t mind repetition

Thanks all

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For Leadville I did Maurtens 320, some of the vegan Gu gels (about 4-5 total) and 2 cliff bars when I craved something solid. Had zero energy issues for the entire 8 hours. For shorter XCM races I would just do Maurten 320 in 3-4 bottles and have a few gels in my pocket if needed (4 hours or less races).

I recommend these date and peanut bars. I cut them in half. A half bar is about as many calories as a gel, and it is ā€œrealā€ food. Plus they probable cost less than a sports gel.

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