It's All About the Food: Taste Test

Anyone that knows me just a little bit, knows that I LOVE food. I really enjoy some good eating, and I savor the flavors, aromas, and textures. You might also know that I generally prefer something savory, maybe crunchy (fried!) and salty or even spicy. Sweet stuff just isn't my thing. It's a terrible disease, some say, but I don't even like chocolate all that much.

Food and nutrition are also a big part of this training and cycling experience. At my size, I'm probably burning about 300 calories per hour of cycling. Recent rides have taken me to about 3 hours of riding, so I really need to be considering my calorie consumption along the way. This will be critical on the 100 miles. So, I've begun to experiment with a variety of drinks, gels, powders, chews, bars, etc. in an attempt to get my calories on each ride. Most of these products are sugar in various forms, but the idea is to get some quick carbs for instant and continuous energy. Most of them are also very sweet (in my opinion) and so far, I haven't found much to please my picky palate.

I've started with some Cytomax, using up a big tub of it that Andy won at Sea Otter this year. I have the lemon-lime flavor. Lemon-lime seems to be a popular flavor among all of these products. I like a little lemon squeezed into my ice water, but I'm not a fan of sweet lemonade. So far, the Cyto seems to be OK. The harder you ride, the less sweet it actually tastes, and when you're thirsty you'll suck down just about anything.

Since I've just been relying on the Cyto so far and supplemented with a few Clif Bloks that have been pretty tasty along the ride. Given the huge variety of products available, I figured I would embark on a taste test to find just the right products that I really like and could imagine eating for 100 miles. It's all about the flavor....and a little about the textures.

Here's what I've got to try:

• Clif Bloks new flavors- Margarita (with extra salt) and Pina Colada. Andy has already tasted the new Cola flavor and ruled it out quickly.
• Clif Shot Electolyte Drink- Cran Raz flavor.
• Gu Energy Gel- "Just Plain" and Strawberry Banana flavors
• Sport Beans- Lemon-Lime flavor. Berry Blue unavailable at the time of testing.

Several long rides are planned for this weekend, with ample opportunity to taste along the way.

I'll report back next week with the winners!