TRIPLE WHAMMY: ENERGY GELS

• Thursday, 6 November 2008
• Cycling Weekly
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SIS Smart 1 is an unconcentrated gel, so it’s easy to get down your neck on the bike, coming in a 60ml sachet. Available in berry flavour the taste is palatable and along with the excellent SIS gel ingredients contains a useful 50mg of caffeine per gel to give it that extra kick.

PowerBar’s gel, with extra sodium and natrium, provides the essential electrolytes to compensate for sweat loss. The new C2MAX carb mixture of glucose and fructose gives long-lasting energy and can increase the amount of carbohydrate that the body can absorb. Being slightly thicker than the SIS makes it harder to swallow, and PowerBar recommends that you drink 500ml of water per sachet.

Maxim’s offering comes in the largest sachet, but it does have three servings inside and a resealable cap. This makes it ideal for sportives and longer rides, but a single-serving version is less of a hassle for racing. Getting the correct serving amount is obviously a bit hit-and-miss and the gel lacks the real kick of a caffeine gel, but it does have a noticeable effect over a longer duration of time.

For a real kick the SIS has to be the winner, along with the PowerBar that has an equally effective result. The Maxim is a great option for longer events.

Maxim energy gel £1.59
100g, Citrus fruits, strawberry, orange


PowerBar gel with extra sodium £1.25
41g, Vanilla, tropical fruit, lemon lime, strawberry banana, caffeinated green apple and caffeinated blackcurrant.


SIS Smart 1 £1.66
60ml, Caffeinated berry flavour