Rawvelo will start development of its protein products in the coming weeks and will likely use a blend of vegan sources, ideally pea and hemp Evans said, the latter of which contains all the essential amino acids. Anecodatal as it is (so take it with a pinch of salt…) I tend to sweat a lot and I can actually see all the salt on my helmet straps after a ride. I used to get pretty bad headaches just drinking water or squash (even in large quantities), but have found that hydration mixes with some salt in them help to mitigate that. Don't worry, it doesn't taste like seawater. In fact, it actually tastes like nothing, which is probably a good thing given the offensive taste some gels have. The rip-off tab is slightly awkward in that it's just a serrated corner, rather than the defined tab shape used by others. It does make it pretty easy to rip it half-off though, reducing the chance of litter. Importantly, all of Rawvelo's NPD will continue to be organic and vegan, Evans said – two trends that are becoming increasingly important in the market.

Unless you're riding across a desert or racing for 4 hours in the Vuelta d'Espana at 35°C in August you're likely to be losing far less salt/sodium during a ride than you've been led to believe. If you're eating foods that contain salt then it's really not at all necessary to add it to energy drinks. The Rawvelo Organic Hydration Mix is made with all-natural ingredients, tastes great, and is easy to drink all-day long. It's no slouch in the nutritional department either, provided you're looking for a drink that's designed to hydrate you, rather than offer loads of ride fuel. It's not too expensive per serving, but there are slightly cheaper options out there. It's widely accepted that the body can process 60g of glucose per hour into glycogen. Up until a few years ago, it was also accepted that the body could concurrently process 30g of fructose. This is where the advised 2:1 ratio was born. The hydration drink mix is available in either lemon or raspberry flavour and comes in a powder that you mix with water. It contains an A-list of organic ingredients, including raw cane sugar, glucose, coconut water powder, pink Himalayan sea salt and natural flavourings.Finishing second in just your first attempt at the TCR is pretty impressive! What were the main learnings you took from that experience? Ha, yes - at the time I was actually getting pretty annoyed that so many people were hassling me when all I wanted to do was have a shower and go to bed! It’s an easy one to remember - I was in the Juvenile category at the Eastern MTB Series. I false started then finished last. Then in my second race, having switched to SPDs for the first time, I fell over on the start line and then came last, again. Where I believe the Rawvelo to be the better option here is in the taste, and it's easy to overlook this when you're just focusing on the numbers. Whether you go for the lemon or raspberry flavours, you're getting a great-tasting drink, a lot of which is down to the all-natural ingredient list.

For many of the best energy gels, the brand recommends that you chase it down with water to help speed up the digestion process. Meanwhile, other gels are made specifically with low viscosity or isotonic osmolality so this isn't needed. Ultimately, the answer to this comes down to preference. You don't need to consume water with any energy gels, but since they are of varying consistencies, you might find it helps. What are the negatives of energy gels? My habitual (diabetic) carb-counting adjustment bars from Aldi ("Benefit") also in several flavours which have 10g of carb each in them (helps with the hour by hour constant mental maths), cost 80p for 5 bars, and 2-2.5 bars (ie 40p) are pretty much in the same ballpark as one of the above reviewed bars for energy, so 4-5x less expensive per energy quantity. As a young rider I always seemed to do better at the slightly longer events. I won the Junior 3 Peaks CX which was pretty much as long and tough a race as you could do at that age. As things progressed I got a place on a team called Extreme Endurance who focussed on the 12 and 24h race scene, so being around those races it was a natural development for me to take part in them and gradually increase the distances of my races. All those formative years racing around muddy fields for 24-hours taught me a lot of the basic skills that I was later to call upon in the ultra endurance world.We're quite firm believers in hemp being a very, very good source of vegan protein but undoubtably it will be a blend. Pea protein is also one we think works well. ...With pea protein and even more so hemp protein, it's about getting the balance and masking right because they do have quite strong flavours.”​ Vegan, organic boom​ This 16th October will see the inaugural Tanfield Tour of Yorkshire take to the roads of the county, created by the highly talented Tanfield brothers, both professional riders as well as former national and world champions in their own rights. The sportive sees 150 riders take on either 47, 115, or 147 km routes, each with Rawvelo feed stations to keep everyone energised and hydrated throughout the day.