In search of the best trail food available, Vital MTB unleashed a 'food snob' on an entire trade show of free-sample tables. These are her findings.
Whether you’re heading out for a quick-rip or an all-day epic, giving your body the fuel and hydration it needs is paramount. We’ve all experienced bonking, hanger, and the dehydration hangover to some degree. They can turn a ripping good time into a struggle when your mind won’t work and is focused on food that’s miles away rather than enjoying the ride. Fueling before, during, after, and even throughout the day is one sure way to keep the good times rolling.
While exploring the halls of Interbike in Las Vegas, Nevada, we "took lunch" by pinballing between the nutrition booths to see what they had to offer. Here are some of the goodies we found from easily available brands. Consider throwing them into your pockets and packs for that next ride...
Skratch Labs is focused on using clean ingredients, and you can taste it. No artificial flavors, sweeteners, additives, or binding agents. They have been on our radar and in our shopping carts since Interbike last year after giving their coffee flavored recovery drink a try. Super yummy. They were one of our first stops this year to see what was happening and have some mid-show refreshments.
Two new flavors of their Sport hydration drink mix, Strawberry and Passion Fruit, kept us trolling by for refills. Flavored with real dehydrated fruit and reformulated to have more electrolytes than before, these are not the super-sweet drink flavors that leave you wanting a water chaser. They are clean, delicious flavors you want to drink all day.
Turns out you actually can drink them all day with Skratch Labs’ new Anytime hydration drink mixes. Available in Lemon Lime and Passion Fruit flavors, this mix has fewer calories, less electrolytes, and less sugar than the Sport hydration drink mix. You can can stay hydrated throughout the day with less guilt, and your body will be primed to hit the trail.
Expanding out from their known drink mixes and fruit drops, Skratch Labs has entered the realm of energy bars. Once they worked out a good binding ingredient that adhered to their standards for clean eating, they were ready to start creating. Made with easily digestible and fast absorbing real ingredients including fruits, nuts, and quinoa, they pack enough fuel to power you through your workouts or to use as a quick bite throughout the day. To start, Skratch Labs energy bars will be available in three flavors: Chocolate Chips & Almonds, Cherries & Pistachios, and Ginger and Miso.
Giving it a try, the ginger is definitely the forward flavor followed by the slightly salty umami flavor that is indeed found in that bowl of soup accompanying a meal of sushi. While on trail, we can feel like we can’t stomach another energy bar that tastes like a Snickers. This might not be the burger we fantasize about but is definitely a break from the bars that are debatable whether or not they came from the candy isle.
Keep an eye out for these Skratch made Sport drinks. They're available now. Everyday drinks and bars will be available mid-October.
Shop for Skratch Labs products | www.skratchlabs.com
Like a Vegas buffet, CLIF had a smorgasbord of snacks laid out in rows grouped in categories for before, during, after, and on-the-go. Where to start? Might as well do the buffet routine and have a taste of everything.
One of the first standouts to us were the new CLIF BLOKS energy chew flavors: Ginger Ale, Salted Watermelon, and Spearmint. None were grossly sweet and as they always do, the flavor and a bit of the BLOK sticks to your teeth for a lasting flavor. The Ginger Ale and Salted Watermelon are good additions to the BLOKS flavor collection. The Spearmint, contrary to our initial concerns, was not entirely like eating a squishy dinner mint or swallowing your gum. This is a flavor that could be refreshing on trail. Especially when you get that dirty mouth feel from mouth breathing.
Resuming our browsing of the CLIF buffet... protein bars, trail mix bars, SHOT gels, Nut Butter-filled bars, and astronaut food. Sure, it’s not our first space rodeo. We would pack the Organic Energy Food Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal and Sweet Potato with Sea Salt flavors for a trip to the moon. These are a fast shot of calories and flavor that are as on-the-go as any snack could be. Designed to provide endurance athletes with energy and nutrients from real food ingredients. No wrapper. No crumbs. Babies may give you dirty looks because they think you stole their food, however.
Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal truly tastes like a bowl of oatmeal. Breakfast on the run, in the car, and totally not late for a morning ride meet-up. Then on that long trail ride when we would be longing for a savory meal, the Sweet Potato with Sea Salt would be our go-to. Of course there are nuts and jerky, but some Thanksgiving comfort food in a tube could sure hit the spot. We enjoyed the salty flavor with the sweet potato sweetness. We’ll take a second taster cup with us for our continued exploration of what Interbike has to offer.
These flavors of CLIF BLOKS and Organic Energy Food are available now.
Shop for CLIF Bar products | www.clifbar.com
Everyone knows GU for their ooey-gooey energy gels, but they also have a broad collection of hydration drink mixes, recovery drink mixes, and energy chews. All these products contain complex and simple carbohydrates for energy, as well as essential amino acids for mental and muscular support. GU’s product formulation means your body doesn’t work overtime to digest these components. They are pretty much the equivalent of an adrenaline shot to the heart to pick you up out of the dirt when you are otherwise ready to tap out. There are even Roctane formulas and for those who love hammering for hours with even more sodium (aiding in hydration) and branched-chain amino acids.
That’s all well and good, but what really caught our eye at GU was their Stroopwafels. Inspired by the 18th century Netherlands, we can imagine our little Norwegian grandmother getting all excited about this Dutch-style syrup waffle like she did for lingonberry crepes at IHOP. (Miss you, Grandma.) After our first taste, we could definitely see how these would be a good accompaniment to a cup of coffee – black, no sugar. The texture was like a pizzelle sandwich with a thin GU gel center. There were four flavors out for tasting: Coconut, Gingerade, Campfire S’mores, and Hot Chocolate. Coconut and Gingerade might have been our two favorites. Keeping to their focus on performance, the GU Stroopwafels also contain the electrolytes and amino acids needed to fuel you for exercise. As we munched on one in the Interbike Press Room, we did discover that they can be quite messy. Our advice: you should probably bite through your Stroopwafels. Don’t try breaking them into bite-size pieces.
Stroopwafels are on shelves now.
Shop for GU products | www.guenergy.com
Nuun is a brand we became familiar with in college when their little fizzing electrolyte drink tablets pulled double duty by fueling our rides and nursing our hangovers. Compared to then-popular, artificially colored, bottled electrolyte drinks, Nuun’s light flavor was refreshing on trail and palatable after too mucho margaritas. Now that we are older and wiser (maybe), we thought we would pay them a visit at Interbike and see what was new.
The Nuun Vitamins is the more flavorful of the three drink lines and contains eleven vitamins and minerals plus a balance of electrolytes for everyday activity. The concentration of these per drink is less than taking a multi-vitamin pill. At just 10 calories per drink it allows you to enjoy more cups, which means you'll hydrate more throughout the day.
Since our college days, the Nuun Electrolytes line has been updated for better performance. This includes using non-GMO sourced dextrose and plant-based sweeteners and ingredients. Flavor wise there are thirteen to choose from with less intensity than in the Vitamins drink. Also only 10 calories per drink, this drink is full of electrolytes. Sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium help maintain fluid balance, prevent muscle cramps, relax muscles, and are required for normal muscle functions.
The last of Nuun’s drink lineup is their new Performance drink. The Vitamin line has the most flavor intensity, followed by Electrolytes and finally Performance. Less sweet and available in two flavors, this drink is formulated to meet your body's needs while pushing yourself hard. A precise ratio of electrolytes and carbohydrates to fluid helps your system absorb the combination and put it to work. Ingredients – like dried fruit powder instead of flavoring and fillers – are easily digestible. Additionally, by being in a powder form rather than a tablet, Nuun cut out some of the extra ingredients needed to bind and dissolve a tablet.
With three levels of drinks for vitamins, electrolytes, or mega electrolytes and so many flavors to choose from, there's no way we could try them all. Anyone could probably find a personal favorite among them. These are all made with quality ingredients – even the colors are natural, created from beet juice powder and riboflavin. Seems like a win, win, win.
Shop for Nuun products | www.nuunlife.com
The last stop on our self-guided Taste of Interbike was Honey Stinger. They make honey-based foods including energy bars, protein bars, energy gels, waffles, chews, kid-specific snacks, and even their own organic wildflower honey. Honey is rich in carbohydrates and contains vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Not just a pet-name for your sweetie, honey is also a great source of fuel for your body. We're most familiar with the chews and waffles, and with some new flavors being added to their menu we definitely wanted to give those a try.
“In the morning, I’m making waffles.” Or at least that’s why we started at Honey Stinger. Honey Stinger waffle flavors have been delicious in the past, and the new gluten-free Chocolate Mint and Vanilla Chocolate flavors are on par. These thin waffles sandwich a thin layer of honey infused with flavor. They aren’t overly sweet which we again appreciate in a trail food option. Revisiting other waffle flavors out for sampling, gluten-free cinnamon or gingersnap were probably our favorites.
Honey Stinger Energy Chews are pretty much fruit snacks (or at least it’s hard to not eat them like fruit snacks). We haven’t met a Honey Stinger Energy Chew we didn’t like yet, including the new Strawberry flavor. These chews aren’t too sweet, are a perfect bite size, and don’t stick to your teeth. Sweetened with organic honey and tapioca syrup, they provide a natural and sustainable source of energy before or during exercise.
All of these delicious Honey Stinger Waffle and Energy Chew flavors are available now.
Shop for Honey Stinger products | www.honeystinger.com
What would our ideal trail ride include after taste-testing samples from these five nutrition brands that are easily available?
- Courtney Steen, Vital MTB Women's Editor and Boyfriend-Proclaimed Food Snob
sideshow
9/29/2017 7:03 PM
TheStabbyCyclist
9/29/2017 5:49 PM
mamath7
9/29/2017 4:07 PM
Pedal4life
9/29/2017 7:24 AM
bturman
9/29/2017 1:02 PM
Good advice. Luckily you can with many of these!
Though a bit harder to come by than the items featured in this article, lately I've been a fan of Tailwind Nutrition's drink mixes. It's basically human rocket fuel you can drink.