Epic Ride Challenge: Energy Gels Vs Sandwiches Vs Coca-Cola?

Have you ever experimented with nutrition choices on a long ride or even a race? James, Mark and Heather set off on a 140km trip around Lanzarote, but here's the catch. The must have only one fuel. Can they make it round on energy gels, sandwiches or Coca-Cola? They were in for a tough day out!
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[@kimbrink8257]

Love it when the trio do stuff together! Would be interesting to see how they all felt the next day based on what they had to eat on the ride

[@jason200912]

Wait till you see them in bed

[@jobanski]

I like how Heather turned full “Gollum” when Mark asked for her sandwich. 😂 You guys are great!

[@carolwilson7309]

Would love to see what info they got from the blood glucose monitors and if the ‘hangry’ moments James had corresponded with a drop in blood sugar.

[@3WalkingPoles]

I was hoping for that, too.

[@mcbuzzvideo]

Me as well. It was mentioned in the intro, but sadly was not included in the final cut. Or did I miss it?

[@trbeyond]

@@mcbuzzvideo nope. Silly they mentioned it in the beginning and then nothing else was said.

[@danieltdp]

I was kind of annoyed about this, because it would have been an objective information about the three options 😕

[@AnvilAirsoftTV]

I suspect it showed that the sandwiches resulted in the most consistent blood glucose levels so they didn’t show it as there was quite clearly an agenda to push gels on the viewers.

[@btmzi55]

Priceless! I enjoy these longer videos with group experiments, especially with all the banter. Thanks for sharing your long ride out there. And Lanzarote, wow, I had no idea the rides are so gorgeous there.

[@Arrow352]

That was priceless, Heather discussing her sandwich ideas in front of the guys

[@robincaers9486]

I spotted (and recognized) you guys up in the northern tip of the island! Was doing a "little" tour of 91km myself, and I managed to bonk despite having a gel, a bar and a large bottle of energy drink ='). Great stuff, keep it up!

[@forlmao9591]

Just noticed heathers lack of shoes at 20:10

[@user-fk8rb8ue5h]

Marmalade sandwiches take some beating. On long rides peanut butter and jam are good

[@workingguy6666]

A beautiful episode for the scenery, music and riders. Thank you GTN

[@reieli87]

3:34 "cant wait... welcome to GTN" 😂😂 LetZ GO! 🤙 great content as always

[@jamiefuhrman403]

Was waiting anxiously for this video after seeing the Strava route, awesome! What a crazy fun challenge. Love the video

[@gtn]

Thanks!

[@swaggermcyoloftw6663]

01:52 that calf looks freaky^^

[@oliverleibbrandt8067]

The new kit 🔥

[@uscfroadie]

Loved this video and am envious of the beautiful road surface. That looks so just so smoooooooth!

[@paulmcknight4137]

LOL, thanks for the entertainment! There's nothing like a Coca Cola Classic near the end of the ride when you're on the verge of bonking. Pure heaven. The Polish coach, Eddy B, recommended ham sandwich squares made with whole grain bread, ham, cream cheese and jelly. 4 hours into the ride, the contents warmed up nicely in the jersey pocket is also a heavenly symphony of flavors. The energy kick is always very gratifying, enhanced stimulating the taste buds and digestive juices. It has everything the depleted body craves. Wash it down with plain water, not these sticky, sweetened energy drinks. Our favorite emergency strategy is Snickers candy bars. High octane fuel. It'll outlast a Coke.

[@kyletwonine]

I really enjoyed this video. The scenery looks amazing!

[@gtn]

Thank you very much!

[@nikhoward]

A brilliantly entertaining vid, thank you.

[@focusandbloom]

love this video! Great background music too!

[@peterjervis4358]

Some beautiful shots there and the new kit looks great!

[@gtn]

Thanks a lot!

[@heikekhofungkangmalmros6426]

Very good videomaking. You really caught the beauty of the island. Biking on Lanzarote is so meditative.

[@alanshrimpton6787]

Looked like fun. Lovely scenery shots

[@ldburn]

12:20, crisp sandwich! Love it! Now I really want a crisp sandwich :p Really do love the new kit, looks beaut.

[@peanutbutter604]

Beautiful shots 🤩👌

[@cyrusmusgrove6668]

I like the long ride video!!!

[@3WalkingPoles]

Watching this in the house affected by storm Arwen (no heating among many) and it makes me feel just a bit warmer. It was great episode. I envy you - traveling to cool destination, cycling and eating junk food. 😜

[@McStoolio]

Sands…..👍 Missed out the Femes climb…. That’s a tough one.

[@swoophawk1]

I want this job. Looks like so much fun

[@logandaniels5]

Those roads look amazing

[@rebeccametcalf4448]

Not a race or anything, but I do some backpacking during the summer. On my way back to the trailhead after an overnight, about 10km down the mountain with a full pack during a heatwave, 32 Celsius. There was a guy I bumped into on the trail waiting at his car with a cooler full of cold coca-colas he was handing out. Seriously nothing has ever felt that good 👍

[@codymusser6649]

James has been an excellent addition to the team

[@robertbachmann1573]

For next experiment with food, try 'rice cake' vs. 'Nutty diet' vs 'banana'.

[@garywebber3228]

sandwiches ! thinner bread and more jam filling ? duuuuhhh obviously y a promotion of gells !? lol duuuuuurhh lol

[@joemalone1836]

You could've let Heather go at the front for one take 🙂Great video. Great work James and all.

[@Alex-kr7zr]

The 2.4l of coke accounts to ~240mg of caffeine, that's roughly 4 espressos, not as bad I have thought. Coke might indeed be a good backup plan to refill the iso/sports drink bottle during a long ride.

[@jerylyep4837]

Could we get a how to cycling sandwich video please? Haha that would be great!!

[@mygoodiescoza]

Good to see I'm not the only one that suffers from the effects of hanger 🤣

[@ngdawgs1]

Lucky James to get the Coke 🤣😂. I’m mainly a trail runner/weight lifter, and this year I focused on triathlons. I use ramen noodles 🍜 as my fuel source along with tailwind for hydration. Yes.. I do ride with my running vest 🤣. I’m so used to carrying all my nutrition, and it’s helping with Covid precautions since I don’t use any aid stations. Some gels/stroop waffles from time to time to mix things up.

[@Cookefan59]

Ahh Heather ❤! you didn’t let nobody down! Especially Samiches 🥪

[@kevinvantroyen]

Can we talk about how Nice these canyons look

[@Techii96]

Energy Gels can be very cheap if you make them yourself, wich is also pretty easy.

[@22640cal]

Do you have any recipes?

[@123moof]

Real food any day. I managed to find a pop-up farmer's market in a tiny town on day 10 of an 11 day ride. Carrots, apples, pears, and plums were an amazing addition to the ham and cheese sandwich from the shop across the street. I at SOOOO much fresh stuff it was hard to get going up the hill out of town, but totally worth it, best lunch of the whole ride.

[@TransAm2k4]

For the sandwiches i would have tried something like flat bread with Nutella!!! For next time maybe try an all in one nutrition such as Gatorade Endurance (or the equivalent from your sponsors)

[@user-kt4oj5eg9g]

New stylish kit

[@helendale7668]

Real food for me ! Camembert sandwiches and homemade gingerbread are the best fuels.

[@justjohnp4873]

4:02 me everytime i get bib shorts on

[@kerrynball2734]

ANZAC Biscuits for me.

[@robdon7422]

"How did your 2021 went?" Me: 21:36

[@joebaker5421]

On Brevets, I take golden Oreos for my solid food. I get quite sensitive to most fuels after 4 hours but Oreos and drink mix works for me.

[@danafoley5710]

Great video, but what are the blood glucose results?! More analysis please.

[@callumthorsen5474]

Should have used the gels as spread on the sandwiches 🥪 😄

[@klaw7705]

Absolutely nobody:..... James: start crashing cans of cokes

[@markfisher7962]

To be fair, they did mention their blood glucose monitoring one time,almost at the end: "dips and peaks"

[@mrbreeze2756]

I enjoyed your video very much , you guys are great! I always have stomach issues with the gels any suggestions?

[@nickw6175]

for those of us of a certain age the best nutrition is a back pocket filled up with iced gems easy to eat and what a kick !!! for younger viewers I think you will need to goggle them

[@turkeysandwich001]

Heather was so quite today, seemed like she was the one who was bonking 🤔

[@charlesmansplaining]

Watching you guys ride those bikes in that front leaning position looked like torture to me, I could never ride 140k and enjoy the ride. If I had a proper bike it wouldn't be a problem.

[@wilsonbenavides4187]

Mat Mac recommended Coca-Cola didn’t he.😂😂😂

[@SBoots29]

What a beautiful place to ride. That alone is fuel to keep going. Nutrition is what drives us and it is different for everyone.

[@SonnyDarvishzadeh]

Endurance rides require avoiding palate fatigue

[@lizwickham2502]

Please can you make the Komoot route available for public 🙏

[@kurtisbraun2347]

I learned the hard way. Find what makes it comfy for my stomach local triathlete uses salami and mustard sandwiches 😂

[@debasishsen9397]

👍

[@truth-Hurts375]

For the guy from South Africa...just add a piece of biltong and droeewors to your coke here and there...and you will run them to the ground !!!🤣🤣🤣

[@runspace]

Never forget where you started....

[@SamuelLudden]

I prefer Reese's and coffee 😎

[@apfelmann74]

super scientific experiment LOL

[@jackhammer40k_]

Enriched uranium, loads of calories

[@antonpeterson1245]

Would have been interesting to know the effects each energy source had on the digestive system. Did anyone need to go toilet more often then they used do or suffer from stomach cramps?

[@Aeronwor]

Always real food for me, banana, sandwiches (normally cheese and tomato) with dried fruit ( mostly raisins or dried berries) in between is my normal fuel for long rides. I have tried relying on sugary drinks and gel, it worked, but I felt like $hit afterwards. However on my last whole day ride I took oatcakes instead and they were great. For shorter rides under 1 hour, I eat when I get back, 1-2,5 hour its rides its sugary lemonade with a pich of salt (and eat a bit before and after).

[@Aeronwor]

@@XX-is7ps most of my hard eforts/workouts are no longer than 2 hours (then its near isotonic lemonade and maybe a banana half way through), if the ride is longer I plan ahead, and eat downhill (once I tried eating going uphill, and had a bad time...), and ty to include a good mix spread out evenly. This is what works for me, without feeling terrible for half a day after. If you are doing group rides at threshold for more than 2 hours without stopping or slowing, you're probably ahead of most viewers and kudos to you and a gel might actually help, but I think for most of us mortals there is no inherent benefit to sports nutition products over actual food (*if done well, **most of the time, ***also convinience and ease of use).

[@jamiefuhrman403]

Heather and Mark couldn't have anything to drink? That would be brutal. Gels might be the easiest of the three then given their somewhat hydrating effect. Otherwise sandwiches offer the most flexibility and best option for pacing for a long day.

[@garywebber3228]

all you needed was added suger to the coke !!!??? duuuuuuhh !

[@evanmacdougall9715]

If I drank that many Cokes it would be a super long ride because I'd be stopping for a break at every gas station with all that caffeine and liquid. Yikes!

[@dri1811ya]

Love the complaining about $3 gels when you're riding $15k bikes.

[@TheUntypicals]

I find apples the best energy food, during September to November you can top them up from apple trees growing on verges... 🍏

[@ElonMuckX]

You think Coke is the fuel for racing, you should try Mountain Dew!

[@asbjrnkristiansen429]

Oh nooo, black socks in white shoes ... =/

[@bikeanddogtrips]

dollars? you mean pounds sterling, right as in £2 bars

[@TheMegaMrMe]

A Snickers bar is just as good

[@TheMegaMrMe]

@@XX-is7ps a Snickers bar has 63 grams of sugar, about the amount your body can consume in an hour. There are 24g of fat on top of that. It makes it way more palatable and it's extra energy. Please don't make it sound like a Snickers is just a bar of butter. Everyone knows that sugar is good for endurance sports (August 15, 1925 SUGAR CONTENT OF THE BLOOD IN RUNNERS FOLLOWING A MARATHON RACE, earliest paper on the subject) But there have been studies that show that your body can adapt to burn fat at higher intensities as well (Phinney’s infamous 1983 paper). That being said it is known that carbs are the way to go as they are easier to ingest by most people with least amount of training. So those 24g of fat in a Snickers bar, on top of the 63 of sugar can be a good thing.

[@TheMegaMrMe]

@@XX-is7ps you are right about the elites. And I didn't question that. Pure sugar is the way to go. But "massive amounts of fat?". Yes it takes longer to process, but you still use it just not it in the same window. Also, I just want to add that I know the study you are referring to with the fat stores. I think the most recent one was in 2003. The one I was mentioning had tested people with a low carb diet (including higher fat percentage). It was indeed about ingestion.

[@wilfdarr]

YES. I buy them by the case. I refuse to pay what the bars cost! Snickers have a couple peanuts, sugar, chocolate (I don't do so well with caffeine, better with chocolate). Not perfect, but quite acceptable.

[@peosforos13]

this experiment needs to be repeated in running using 1. blood sugar monitor and 2. comparing carb gels with coca cola, gels based on fat and normal food like sandwiches, bananas, crackers etc.

[@Professormedical]

Hearing a south african say crisps just feels wrong

[@joshuaglossa2267]

Sorry someone correct me I am wrong but did they ride 20km in under 30 minutes 😅

[@gamma_dablam]

Sounds about right

[@joshuaglossa2267]

@@gamma_dablam is that like normal for most cyclist or just these guys.....

[@jimjamthebananaman1]

@@joshuaglossa2267 the kind of bikes they’re riding, the weather and the terrain has a massive influence on how fast they’re going. Lanzarote is very hilly so you’ll find that they would have slowed down massively when they reach these hills

[@joshuaglossa2267]

@@jimjamthebananaman1 Sorry , I think you may have interpreted my comment wrong. 20km in under 30 minutes seemed ridiculously fast. Are you trying to say these guys are going slow ?😮 if so I have alot more training to do 🤣🤣🤣

[@mo-215]

Mentioned blood monitors were worn but never shared results or discuss results entire video!!!

[@od1koneod171]

Love the video, but you guys looked considerably more miserable than your usual selves. I think variety is the spice of life! Best to eat what works for you.

[@RoScFan]

So in conclusion gels are best? Okay. And between coke and sandwiches? You said at the beginning you had glucose monitors.... where s the data? Surely there must be differences between liquid sugar and whole food with all the fibre and the time it takes to digest and release the energy. 27 minute video very little in terms of conclusion.

[@RainerMirau]

its all sugar in the end.....

[@JIMMYHIBBS1]

Triathletes using low-pro bikes for a long group ride 🤣

[@chrisstrider]

This is GTN

[@wilfdarr]

I own one bike: if that bothers you, I don't need to ride with you. We probably won't get on anyways 😉

[@janosik4984]

CocaCola? Why not bleach?

[@igordragoslav9672]

I'm ate nasi campur... Do you know it guys😆😆😃😃

[@danhasnedl_CZ]

the gells are so aggressive on the stomac. I don't understand how can someone eat so many of them without giving some back the same route.

[@wilfdarr]

Cola doesn't have any more caffeine than the gels. And it has some salt for electrolyte...It's the fact it's straight simple sugar powering you that is painful.

[@Techii96]

@@XX-is7ps It only provides Glucose wich is harder to absorb than Glucose and Fructose combined, wich is a disadvantage.

[@wilfdarr]

@@XX-is7ps I said “some”: you know how many people have straight water on their runs? You know how many times I've been lectured that I'm going to have kidney stones from too much electrolyte? I didn't say it's optimal, but I'd rather have the cola than the straight water! As for the sugar, I meant painful in regards to the crash: a broad mix of carbs like the gels typically have will provide a more stable source of energy, but yes, cola will provide the energy.

[@B1gC4st]

Heather in this video is what's wrong with Ironman triathletes. . .I saw so many sandwiches strapped to top tubes at IMAZ . . .and then people snarfing sandwiches that had sat in the sun in their special needs bags! 🤦‍♂️🤣🤣