SiS: Energy the Isotonic Way

We’d been riding for about 90minutes when we hit the bottom of the big climb. The skinny guys went to the front and the big guys went out the back. Heart rates went up, breathing got deeper, thresholds were found. ‘I’m okay’, I thought. ‘I can just about hang at this pace.’ The climb would take about 40minutes to complete, but it was then I realized, ‘Damn, I only have half a bottle and I need to eat something.’

peloton

Normally that would spell trouble. Who wants to try and chug down a thick, sticky gel when riding on the limit, then have to wash it down with your last gulps of liquid with 40min left to climb? It was at this moment I truly appreciated the SIS Go Isotonic Energy Gel tucked in my pocket.

For a solution to move easily between cell membranes it needs to be isotonic – have the same concentration of dissolved solutes. This is the reason you need to drink when you eat or take a traditional energy gel. If you don’t mix that gel or food with water, it won’t quickly and efficiently do it’s job. It will need to pull precious water from your system to move from your stomach to your bloodstream. SIS Go Energy Gel is truly isotonic, which means I could eat my gel without having to drink any water, and it still went where it was needed as quickly as possible without robbing my body of any fluid.

The importance of this is huge because it makes getting on bike nutrition much, much easier. Even if you are militant about drinking after taking a traditional gel, are you washing it down with mix or water? If you use mix, the water in the mix is already busy making the mix itself isotonic. Who knows if it can make your gel isotonic too? SIS Go energy Gel removes this worry.

Being isotonic also makes SIS Go Energy Gel much easier to eat. It has the consistency of applesauce making it very easy to swallow and leaving your mouth clean without the need to rinse it out. In fact, ‘eat’ may be the wrong word, it’s much more like drinking your gel. Another bonus? The SIS gels are not as sticky as others, helping your hands and pockets stay cleaner.

Each tube of SIS Go Energy Gel is two fluid ounces or 60ml and contains 90calories and 22grams of carbohydrates coming from maltodextrin. Many other gels squeeze that much into a single ounce, but being that dense means they are not isotonic and the consistency can be akin to peanut butter, which is tough to get down breathing through your eyeballs with heart rate of 160bmp. SIS also uses a maltodextrin of a very specific molecular make-up to ensure the energy is rapidly available.

SIS GO Energy Gel comes in six different flavors – Berry, Citrus, Orange, Lemon-lime, Tropical, Apple – and 75mg of caffeine has been addd to the Berry and Citrus flavors. Have no fear of pallet exhaustion with SIS. While no savory flavors are offered they are not so sweet you will dread eating them four hours into a long ride on a hot day. All the fruit flavors are quite subtle, while the Berry and Citrus with caffeine have a bit of a bitter aftertaste.

$9 – Six Pack of 60ml gels; $12 – Six Pack of 60ml gels with caffeine.
$45 – 30 pack of 60ml gels; $60 – 30 pack of 60ml gels with caffeine

More: scienceinsport.com