Make no doubt about it, I am a candy junky. I think this started when I was a kid and I was forbidden to eat candy. Of course I would splurge and spend 5 cents on the Dubble Bubble gum and Jawbreakers. Halloween was my favorite day, although my mom would confiscate my multiple bags of goodies.
Today, I only stay active so I can eat candy. Mind you my consumption over the last 10 years has decreased sharply but with the advent of Sport Beans I am back in my glutonuous ways. Imagine, eating candy to give you energy so you can train?! What a novel concept! Plus I am a huge addict of Jelly Belly Beans, so I think there is some sort of bias inherently built in!
Sport Beans come in a variety of fruity flavours. Each pack contains 80 mg of sodium, 40 mg of potassium and 25g of carbs (mostly in sugars. Apparently, one bag of Sport Beans is equivalent to one gel and has double the sodium and more potassium than a gel. And get this – Sport Beans have vitamins in them! Imagine that?! Would I rather eat candies or slurp up a gooey gel? With the exception of Gu’s Espresso Love, I would go for candy (but I guess you would know that already!).
Now the downside is going at pace and eating these things. Gels are much easier to handle. While riding in a pack, I left a Hansel and Gretel trail of beans for other riders to follow our route, but that could just be my klutzy self. Also, the ability to chew when you can hardly breathe is another challenge. My workaround is to have a couple of beans stuck in my teeth and suck the energy out of them! The slightly acidic taste may not be for everyone but for me, eating candies on my bike is like going out for Halloween…
John – these things are amazing…Berry Blue is my personal fave…I picked some up a few years ago down in Florida before I saw them here and was addicted to them…add it to the list of my healthy yet sweet cravings (Sharkies, Clif Bloks, Mint Chocolate GU).
I just discovered these as well and I am addicted too! This coming from someone who doesn’t eat candy. I loved the performance benefits! After severe stomach issues at a 78km ultra I took some of these. They were the only things to “stay in” for the rest of the race. I used them in my next ultra on a warm day and benefitted from the sodium. One piece of advice is to open the packages and put the beans in ziplock snack baggies as the packages are difficult to open up and eat from while running. Kalon mixed the flavours up in his baggies and enjoyed a fruit salad effect. Also watch they don’t get wet. A great new product at RF!
I forgot to mention there is caffeine in the candies. In the US they have the super caffeinated beans 50mg of caffeine!!! (the same as a gu espresso love). Jill: I love the “bean salad”. Don’t forget to brush your teeth boys and girls! 😉
i had the chance to meet 2 sport beans sponsored triathletes at the Wildflower triathlon two weekends ago. I have tried these too. Good taste for sure!! but as they agreed, these are not convenient to carry on a bike (even less on a MTB, John), will take 25 packs in a long distance race, mainly because it does not “stuck” in your stomack, and not quite easy to consume while riding. Btw John, as far as nutrition, you should know that eating when your heart beat reaches the roof (i.e. hardly breathe, as you said) is not something to do!!! Along with the 60-70rpm cadence while road biking, this is another thing i don’t get from the north americans!!!
Cheers,
laurent
Laurent – 25 packs??? Even a candy junkie like me could not stomach 25 packs of anything! What I was thinking was mixing a number of textures during a race. As Mike said, a mix of gels, blocks, beans, bars. Now the mix will vary depending on the type of event – O-CUP MTB – no way! Multisport race for sure. As long as it tastes good, I’ll eat it!