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Showing posts with the label Energy Bar Comparison

Recipe – Peanut Butter and Banana Baked Oat Bars

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Flapjacks are a staple of the cyclist diet. The fact that my High Energy Flapjack Recipe is one of the most viewed blog posts every month confirms that. How can you create variations of the oat based favourite though—to add greater variety and interest? This recipe is for a different kind of oat bar—held together with banana, eggs, and coconut oil—rather than the traditional flapjack honey/syrup and butter. I am not going to claim that it is healthier or better, but it is a great alternative. The less crumbly nature of the bars also means they are ideal for jersey pockets. Ingredients 2 medium bananas 1 large egg 1 cup rolled oats ½ cup wholemeal flour ¼ cup coconut oil ¼ cup dark brown sugar 1 tbsp peanut butter 1 tsp vanilla essence ½ tsp baking powder ¼ tsp salt 1 cup of your flavouring of choice: choc chips, chopped dates, raisins, etc. Method Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius Grease a 6-inch square baking tin with butter or coconut oil Mash the banana...

#RideFuel Review – KIND Breakfast Bars

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I am always on the lookout for new and interesting cereal bars—that can work as good #RideFuel energy bars for long bike rides and adventures. The new Breakfast Bars from KIND looked to be a super choice when I saw them arrive on the shelves of my local shops—moist, nutritious, and offering some tantalising flavours. I picked a few up to stash in my jersey pocket… Ravenous, on a 200-kilometre gravel ride this week, I pulled out one of each of the three flavours of the KIND Breakfast Bars over the course of the ride (in addition to a local bakery stop). It served as a great taste-panel test of the #RideFuel . The bars are made with five wholegrains: oats, millet, buckwheat, amaranth, and quinoa. Soft-baked, they are moist and flavoursome; as well as packed full of slow release carbohydrates, protein, and fibre. There are three flavours to choose from: KIND Breakfast Peanut Butter, KIND Breakfast Blueberry Almond, and KIND Breakfast Honey Oat. The line-up has a distinct resemblan...

Nutrition Review: MuleBar Energy Bar Comparison

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'Natural Tasty Energy' sounds like a good strap-line for any energy bar. MuleBar have taken the standard cereal based energy bar, and added some unique and tantalising flavours; to encourage you to keep fuelling whilst you train. I've been testing a mixed box of the bars, and thought I'd do a bit of a group-test blog post, to shout about my favourites! MuleBar Hunza Nut - Apricot and Walnut Bar A fruity mix of apricots, with a textured crunch of walnuts. This is easy to eat, high in fibre and the walnuts should help to provide a bit of protein and sustained energy. MuleBar Summer Pudding - Raspberry and Blackcurrant Bar This has fast become one of my favourites. The 'Summer Pudding' really does come through with the mix of raspberries and blackcurrants. It's got that slightly bitter zing to it, from the berries, and it seemed especially appropriate for the 'early summer' training days I had in Mallorca last week .  MuleBar App...

Review: High5 Energy Bar Comparison

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Energy bars are finding their way into my jersey pockets more and more as the racing season comes to a close. Gels and sugary sports drinks are replaced by bars and 4:1 mixes, as the longer endurance rides start again.  Now seems a good time to report back on a few of my favourites then, from the UK based High5 brand . High5  isn't a new brand to the blog; I've previously written on their endurance orientated 4:1 products and their caffeine based range. It's now time to look at what they can provide in terms of solid food in the form of their Sports Bar products and Energy Bars. High5 Sports Bar - Berry Yoghurt The High5 Sports Bars are without doubt one of the tastiest energy bars on the market. This one is a particular favourite of mine in the summer months; it features a fruity berry and cereal centre, with an outer coating of yoghurt. Imagine those yoghurt coated raisins, but with Special K in the middle rather than raisins. Pretty darn tasty, and an ideal pre-r...

Ride Report: Slaying The Dragon Devil

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Sometimes it's good to hurt a little... During interval training my legs hurt from the lactic, during time trials my lungs and throat hurt from the heavy breathing, during really hard efforts I can even make my head hurt from the blood rush. On Sunday though, I think it was the first time that I have hurt everywhere, from my feet to my forehead, I think I experienced some kind of pain in all areas of my anatomy during the 11 hours that I spent in the saddle. The weird thing is... it was one of the best days I've ever had on a bike. I wrote a post on the Wiggle Blog (Link)  a few days ago talking about the numbers from the Wiggle Dragon Ride, but in case you missed it, here are a few of the stats: 303 Km (187 miles) 5,061 meters (16,604 feet) of climbing 28.1Kph (17.46mph) average speed 10hrs 46mins riding time 216 watts average weighted power 7,973 calories It was one long day on the bike, I went through some big highs and some deep lows, but overall the 11 hours ...

Nutrition Review: MaxiFuel Bars, Gels, Drink & Shakes

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Back when I used to row, MaxiMuscle supplements were what I always lusted after; although a bit out of my price range back then, my team-mates whole-heartedly advocated the use of ProGain, ProMax and Viper as a vital part of their training regime. I used to have to settle for MyProtein or Holland & Barrett, which I assure you don't really sit in the same league. MaxiFuel had rather slipped my mind in terms of cycling nutrition though; I'm not sure why, I knew how well the stuff should work, but I have always been swayed by Science In Sport or High5. Last month though, I had the opportunity to try some of the MaxiFuel products, and I have to say I've been very impressed. For the cyclist or triathlete out there, MaxiFuel do four principle products that will help your performance: ViperBoost Energy Bars, RecoverMax Protein Shakes, ViperActive Energy Gels and ViperActive Drink. These were the products that I have been testing over the last month. Below I'...

Nutrition Review: Bounce Natural Energy Protein Balls

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I found Bounce Energy Food's Protein Balls in the supermarket a few weeks back, and have subsequently sampled all four of their flavours and been very impressed... It's an innovative idea, and it really works; these are small 50 gram 'balls', each with a high protein level from whey protein, and a high carbohydrate level from low GI brown rice. They have 100% natural ingredients, and are great for allergy sufferers (of which I have a few in my family) being wheat and gluten free. The most important thing though...they taste fantastic! I would quite happily snack on these throughout the day and on the bike; they don't taste like an energy bar or a protein bar; they taste natural, healthy, with a great texture and flavour. I've written briefly about each of the four flavours below, so you get a bit of an idea; well worth trying these for yourself though. Almond Protein Hit These are a seriously tasty little protein hit; with 12 grams of protein to he...

Nutrition: Energy Bar Comparison Results

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At the start of this year, I was lucky enough to have accumulated a wide variety of energy bars and gels from various competitions and trials. This blog post is a personal comparison of which I think are best: looking at taste, value, palatability (ease of consumption) and the quality of ingredients. I will add to it over time, as I sample new brands, flavours and styles. Home-made Flap-Jack Flavour:  My favourite is banana, fig and raisin Description:  The recipe I use can be found here:  Recipe: High Energy Flapjacks . They are very tasty, cheap, healthy and easy to make. You can actually freeze them quite well, so doing a big batch and the storing them is not a problem. Well worth a try. Taste:  5/5            Value:  5/5 Ingredients:  5/5    Palatability:  4/5 Overall: 19/20 (OK I might be a bit biased!) Mule Bar Apple Strudel Energy Bar Flavour:  Apple Strudel Descrip...