High5 Energy Gel and Energy Gel Plus - 20 x 38g

High5 Energy Gels are smaller than the gels available from some other brands, but they taste good and slip down easily - and certainly deliver the energy you need on a long hard bike ride.

Each sachet contains 38g of gel. According to the packaging, the main ingredients are maltodextrin (which the body breaks down into glucose), water and simple glucose. There's also some salt and flavouring. This mixture provides 20g of carbohydrate and 80 kcal of energy.

Unlike some other products from High5 (such as the 2:1 Energy Source drink mix /content/review/57304-high5-21-energy-source-drink-mix), and similar stuff from other brands, these gels contain glucose only. There is no fructose.

Do they work? Yes, absolutely. I have used High5 Energy Gels on several long rides, and they definitely provided sufficient energy to keep me bowling along nicely. Most sports scientists agree that athletes can absorb a maximum of around 60g of glucose per hour (give or take a bit, depending on body mass and other factors), and that's illustrated well with these gels: on long sportives, after the first two hours, I find that one High5 Energy Gel, plus some carb-based drink, keeps me fuelled up for half an hour of fairly hard riding.

That 60g-per-hour figure is presumably the reason behind the little message on each sachet that recommends three gels per hour during activity. While this intake might be theoretically possible, I'd hazard a guess that most cyclists (including me) would not rely on these gels alone in a long race, sportive or training ride, but would combine them with other sources of energy such as bars, drinks and 'normal' food.

To be fair, in the 'Racing Faster' booklet that comes with most High5 products, cyclists are recommend to take three sachets per hour only if not taking any other form of carb. If you're drinking a carb-based energy drink, then the number of gels required is reduced. And just in case you're tempted, another little message on each sachet directs against taking more than 40 High5 Energy Gels per day!

The structure and texture of these High5 Energy Gels is light and thin, more like a juice than a gel, and noticeably different from some of the thicker gels available from other brands. This is good because the High5 gel is very easy to swallow, but can be a nuisance when you open a sachet on the go with one hand and your teeth, as the stuff can easily escape from the sachet and spill all over your chin, hands and top-tube.

I've been testing banana flavour, which is pretty tasty; also available is apple, orange, citrus and summer fruits.

These High5 Energy Gels are also available in a 'Plus' version. The main ingredients are the same, with the anonymous 'flavouring' swapped out for 'fruit juice' and the addition of 30mg of caffeine. According to High5, this can "substantially increase the absorption of carbohydrate and fluids. Caffeine also stimulates the body's nervous system, reducing fatigue, making you more alert, increasing your concentration and reducing the effort during sport."

This may sounds too good to be true, but in my experience a little bit of caffeine does wonders at strategic points during a hilly 100-mile sportive, and studies by proper sport scientists have found the same effect. It might be imagination, but the boost from these 'Plus' gels seems to be almost instantaneous as well, such that I can see a big hill half a mile down the road, grab a sachet from my jersey back pocket, neck it, then have the legs to attack like a Schleck when the gradient starts to steepen. Okay, a lot of that increased performance is definitely my imagination but at least part seems thanks to the caffeine-enhanced gel.

The different sport nutrition manufacturers disagree on the most effective amounts of caffeine to take on board when you're cycling. So, as with any energy product, it's good to test various brands during training and see which one works best for you.

The recommended retail price on the High5 website for Energy Gel and Energy Gel Plus is £19.80 for a box of 20, plus £5.75 for postage, working out at around £1.30 per sachet. You can pay a similar price or less at your local bike shop and get cheaper deals at the various on-line stores.

On a crude carbs-per-quid basis there are cheaper options out there from other brands, but the relatively small sachet size and the light texture of High5 Energy Gels might be preferred by riders who find the gels from some other manufacturers too big and thick to take all at once.

Verdict

Nice-tasting energy gel, easy to consume, delivered in a small sachet and providing good performance benefits.