Hi Carb and protein flapjack
Do you do long bike rides, walks over the moors in the middle of nowhere where food is scarce and lacking energy is a dangerous thing, you can soon feel weak and not able to carry on, or at least not at the same pace. This is due to your body running out of energy, a bit like the batteries running out in a torch, the light gets weaker!
I remember a bike ride around 3 years ago, I’d not been riding long and my stamina was still improving. I was visiting the parents for the weekend, they were away in their caravan and I knew there was some lovely roads in the area to cycle round. I packed up my bike and all my clothing and set off to the sea side. Those that know the East coast know its either pan flat or monstrous hills, I did Scarborough to Bridlington and back to Scarborough (roughly 45 miles) at around 19mph, at this point I knew I was halfway so needed to refuel. I had a sandwich and coke (coke is great cycling fuel, a lot of the pros drink a can!) and reset on my way.
What I didn't know however was the next 45-50 miles contained about 6000ft of climbing over the North Yorkshire moors in the middle of nowhere, I’d got plenty of fluid on me but no food. At 70 miles I was on the moors, no shops, no houses, just fields and trees and the open outdoors. At this point I was hungry, weak and to be honest a little scared! Luckily at 75 miles it was all downhill and at the end of the darkness I was greeted by a Spar shop and the ever faithful haribos, instant energy!
This incident was an eye opener and ever since I’ve always got food on me when I cycle, even my commute to work I carry an emergency gel just in case! This led me to think about carrying proper fuel for longer rides. What carries longer lasting energy? Carbohydrates and quicker energy? Sugar, so what if you mix both together? If you go to most cycling shops you will see an array of gels, energy bars and food to carry on a ride but have you seen the prices?! £1 for a bar and if you were doing a few rides or like me 100 mile rides un assisted this could get expensive! So why not make your own?!
Ask cyclists what they eat before a ride and most will say Porridge, toast or cereal. What do these have in common? Carborhydrates. So using Oats for longer lasting carbs, treacle and sultanas as a mixture of carbs and proteins as a base you can create a tasty bar that can be cut into sizes to suit your appetite and a full tray can be made for probably the same price as just one commercial bar!
The video below shows how easy these are to make and what nutritional values the finished product has, the ingredients are as follows
6 oz oats
2oz caster sugar
2oz brown sugar
3 oz block butter
2 tablespoons treacle
3.5oz sultanas
16g Casilan 90 or your favourite 30g of whey protein
Recipe gives the following nutrition 35g protein 348 g carbs(239 sugar, 109 non) 83g fat 47g being saturated 2334 calories
If you are worried about fat or are trying to strip it from your diet you could substitute the butter for Oil like rapeseed oil, each oil will need to be substituted in different quantities so see what oil you want to use and a quick Google should advise quantity needed.
I remember a bike ride around 3 years ago, I’d not been riding long and my stamina was still improving. I was visiting the parents for the weekend, they were away in their caravan and I knew there was some lovely roads in the area to cycle round. I packed up my bike and all my clothing and set off to the sea side. Those that know the East coast know its either pan flat or monstrous hills, I did Scarborough to Bridlington and back to Scarborough (roughly 45 miles) at around 19mph, at this point I knew I was halfway so needed to refuel. I had a sandwich and coke (coke is great cycling fuel, a lot of the pros drink a can!) and reset on my way.
What I didn't know however was the next 45-50 miles contained about 6000ft of climbing over the North Yorkshire moors in the middle of nowhere, I’d got plenty of fluid on me but no food. At 70 miles I was on the moors, no shops, no houses, just fields and trees and the open outdoors. At this point I was hungry, weak and to be honest a little scared! Luckily at 75 miles it was all downhill and at the end of the darkness I was greeted by a Spar shop and the ever faithful haribos, instant energy!
This incident was an eye opener and ever since I’ve always got food on me when I cycle, even my commute to work I carry an emergency gel just in case! This led me to think about carrying proper fuel for longer rides. What carries longer lasting energy? Carbohydrates and quicker energy? Sugar, so what if you mix both together? If you go to most cycling shops you will see an array of gels, energy bars and food to carry on a ride but have you seen the prices?! £1 for a bar and if you were doing a few rides or like me 100 mile rides un assisted this could get expensive! So why not make your own?!
Ask cyclists what they eat before a ride and most will say Porridge, toast or cereal. What do these have in common? Carborhydrates. So using Oats for longer lasting carbs, treacle and sultanas as a mixture of carbs and proteins as a base you can create a tasty bar that can be cut into sizes to suit your appetite and a full tray can be made for probably the same price as just one commercial bar!
The video below shows how easy these are to make and what nutritional values the finished product has, the ingredients are as follows
6 oz oats
2oz caster sugar
2oz brown sugar
3 oz block butter
2 tablespoons treacle
3.5oz sultanas
16g Casilan 90 or your favourite 30g of whey protein
Recipe gives the following nutrition 35g protein 348 g carbs(239 sugar, 109 non) 83g fat 47g being saturated 2334 calories
If you are worried about fat or are trying to strip it from your diet you could substitute the butter for Oil like rapeseed oil, each oil will need to be substituted in different quantities so see what oil you want to use and a quick Google should advise quantity needed.