It might be if you start to wobble on your bike
Best before dates on energy gels/energy smoothies?
- Thread starter oreo_muncher
- Start date
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I thought that but didn't want to ask.
Fab Foodie
hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
- Location
- Kirton, Devon.
My curiosity got the better of me....
You’re a sick man.
Jenkins
Legendary Member
- Location
- Felixstowe
As someone has revived this thread - an update
Used the last of the gels on yesterday's ride and still tasted OK (for a gel) and with no adverse effects at all. The box I've just opened has a best before date of the end of March 2021.
- Location
- London
update for info purposes.
Am no great fan of gels as some may have guessed and am no racing snake.
But the other day I downed one in extremis that had a date of 2014 on it - no ill effects and it did its job - allowed me to finish a pretty tough ride - 100 kms up and down up and down moors fully loaded through continuous rain. Stopped in a bus shelter to recover and then did the last 10 miles.
I think they have their uses for such emergency situations - a good idea to pack one or two for a long tough ride - the alternative being an annual subscription to some helicopter recovery service.
I wouldn't worry at all about dates - as I said upthread they are satan's sperm, but satan has his/her uses.
Am no great fan of gels as some may have guessed and am no racing snake.
But the other day I downed one in extremis that had a date of 2014 on it - no ill effects and it did its job - allowed me to finish a pretty tough ride - 100 kms up and down up and down moors fully loaded through continuous rain. Stopped in a bus shelter to recover and then did the last 10 miles.
I think they have their uses for such emergency situations - a good idea to pack one or two for a long tough ride - the alternative being an annual subscription to some helicopter recovery service.
I wouldn't worry at all about dates - as I said upthread they are satan's sperm, but satan has his/her uses.
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
My flat bar group doesn't use gels, hardly surprising since the idea is to ride without knocking yourself out.
However, our experienced leader said the same the same as @Blue Hills - a gel can have its uses in getting you the last few miles if you are really cream crackered.
I was given three or four years ago which will likely now be 'expired' by several years.
I'm grateful to @Blue Hills for being a bad guts test dummy, so might put one in my trunk bag before the next long ride.
On a separate note, a now deceased member got into bother during a hilly tour in Northumberland.
He made himself properly ill by eating several gels in an attempt to complete that day's route.
Seems to me the moral of that story is if one or at most two gels don't do it, find another way.
However, our experienced leader said the same the same as @Blue Hills - a gel can have its uses in getting you the last few miles if you are really cream crackered.
I was given three or four years ago which will likely now be 'expired' by several years.
I'm grateful to @Blue Hills for being a bad guts test dummy, so might put one in my trunk bag before the next long ride.
On a separate note, a now deceased member got into bother during a hilly tour in Northumberland.
He made himself properly ill by eating several gels in an attempt to complete that day's route.
Seems to me the moral of that story is if one or at most two gels don't do it, find another way.
- Location
- London
No way would I use several during a ride - that's how they are marketed though I think as a tech solution to the performance crowd - returning customers willing to pay well over £1 a pop. Some folk must be spending a hell of a lot for their rides.
Proper food for me during the ride - I use a mixture of Lidl breakfast goods and my own home-made cycle snack which has a mixture of stuff which gives slow and fast energy release.
Espresso also has its uses for a mental kick if you can be bothered to carry the gubbins.
From now on I will carry 2 gels on big rides - I have a re-usable zip bag which has the gel/s, zero tabs to stave off cramps, orange glucose tablets as sold at sainsburys.
T.M.H.N.E.T
Rainbows aren't just for world champions
- Location
- Northern Ireland
Terminology that just isn't used enough imo
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
I had a couple that were 2019 dated last week, still here. Good job as I bought two boxes on the cheap with short shelf life and still have 90% of them in the box. I don't use them often.
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Best before date on all gels is 1990
- Location
- London
best keep it to a minimum on here I think - my memory that I had used the word "sperm" in a thread about gels allowed me to find this thread easily for my tech update.
