In this solo vlog, endurance coach Chris Newport documents his hands‑on experimentation with a variety of energy gels as he refines his fueling plan for the upcoming XTERRA World Championships. He samples multiple brands (Goo, Chrono, Precision Fuel, Morton, Striker, UCAN Live Steady, etc.), describing each product’s flavor, texture, ingredient profile, and ease of consumption on the bike. Chris highlights practical challenges such as ripping open gels while riding, taping them to the top tube, and managing drips, and he proposes a personal rating system (taste, consistency, usability). He also introduces two decision‑support tools he created for his Fueling & Hydration Bootcamp: a decision tree that maps timing and quantity of intake before, during, and after rides, and a tasting chart that logs consistency, flavor, temperature suitability, and repeat‑use likelihood. Throughout, he reflects on broader fueling philosophy, noting the role of electrolytes, carbohydrate types (maltodextrin, fructose, allulose), and additives (BCAAs, L‑citrulline, L‑arginine) for performance, as well as the impact of blood‑sugar stability for athletes with PCOS or type‑2 diabetes. Near the end, Chris demonstrates a shift to real‑food options (applesauce, beef jerky) and emphasizes that engineered gels are not the only viable fuel. The video blends instructional tips, personal trial‑and‑error, and motivational commentary aimed at helping other endurance athletes design a race‑day fueling strategy.
Chapters
Alright, so I figured I would take you guys on my fueling journey for switching up my fueling hydration plan for an upcoming race, World Championships XTERRA. Woo! So it's gonna be a little bit longer, and I figured I would give gels another chance. And what better people to follow along my journey while you guys witness my taste test here. So, uh, Goo Liquid Energy. Don't have any affiliation with these guys, but it's like— can you hear that? It's like, uh, thinner, and it's about time. Am I right? Uh, so I went with lemonade. That's what I'm doing. You guys get to witness firsthand, uh, what it tastes like. Um, alright, mm-hmm. I don't think I ripped it off very well. I think I need to— so note to self here, so I'll be taping this on my top tube. Uh, I like didn't rip it off all the way. That's annoying. Bless. Oh goodness. Okay, too much all at once. Whoa, okay, but it's all right. I don't like really strongly flavored things, so, uh, and first ingredient, water, maltodextrin, fructose, some branched-chain amino acids. So, uh, it's not bad. I think I want another couple of flavors though. And also I think this is enough for me at this moment. But I'm very motivated to drink water, and when I was adding electrolytes and sugar to my beverage, it doesn't— for long periods of time, it doesn't do it for me. So I figured I would give these a try. So I think this could work, but again, uh, apparently I need more skill in ripping the dang thing off so I can actually get it off so I'm not like shooting it into the back of my throat. So I'm not gonna litter, putting this back in my bag, putting this upright, and we'll see if I'm successful at not letting it drip and having a little bit, a little bit later. So there you go, taste test done. Welcome to Coach Chris Newport's kitchen. It's time to fuel. Figured I would take you guys on my ride and see What's on the menu today? So honestly, I could go for some pickles and a cookies and cream ice cream sandwich. However, that is not available. So, uh, I don't have any connection with any of these brands. I'm just trying them. Um, but I think today I'm gonna go with, um, this one. So you guys get to see me Uh, try it out. Let's see. Aromas of cherries and oak. Just kidding. Alright. Okay. Little tangy. Ingredients: water, maltodextrin, sucrose, sugar, fructose, acidity regulators, and some sodium chloride. It's not as thick as like a Goo brand, not as thick as the one that I had last time, which was the thin gel. Mm, I ripped it off better this time. Success! It's alright. I mean, I'm not icing any cakes with it, but I could probably get it down on race day. Yeah, I need to develop a rating system in Code Chris's Kitchen. What should I do, like 1 to 5? Taste is probably like a 3.5. 5 being absolutely delicious, ice my cake with it. Um, consistency, 4. Um, I don't know, it worked for the moment, so on to the next one. Welcome back to Coach Chris's kitchen. It's time to feed. It's freaking hot though, it's so this is probably going to be faster than I ordinarily would do. Uh, I think I'm going with this one. I otherwise would love real food, but what I'm experimenting with, if you haven't seen the last couple of videos, is, um, I am not going to be taking my hands off the handlebars a whole lot on race day, so I'm Practicing my raisin feeling. Uh, this one is Chrono Energy Gel. Don't have any affiliation with them, but it's maple and raspberry, so we're giving it a shot. Oh my gosh, I'm eating it all. I'm doing it. I'm gonna eat a pancake. Or a waffle. It's like straight— it's literally straight maple syrup. Maple syrup, raspberry purée, and sea salt. Oh my God, I feel like my son who loves maple syrup and he's like, you know, might have a waffle with his maple syrup. I need a waffle. Mhm. I don't know if I can finish it, but then it's going to be all over my bag. So, all right, 3, 2, 1. Too sweet, too sweet. Okay, now I need to like go sprint. Holy smokes. I think I would have rather had candy. Okay, until next time. Welcome back to Coach Chris's kitchen. Uh, after taking a shot of maple syrup, which I did not prefer, uh, we're going a little bit more neutral. This is Precision Fuel again. No association with these. Just working on having gels that I can tape to my top tube and get to quickly and easily for race day, even though I would prefer to probably eat a pickle right now and maybe a sandwich, possibly a latte, you know, loaded on. Uh, all right, so let's see how this one goes down. Mm-hmm. There I go again. Y'all, I am not skilled at opening these things. What the heck? All right, I have to go with the teeth. I hope my dentist isn't watching. Okay, it's a very, um, I'm not loving this texture. I feel like maybe I'm eating toothpaste. Very neutral though. Oh yeah, so sodium— no sodium. So this is just like straight carbs if you're somebody who does— who just needs straight carbs, neutral flavor, not overly like strong, and then you do your electrolytes separately. But, uh, Mm, yeah, yeah, I'm get— I'm getting through it. Okay, I did it. Mm, not loving the tooth today. I just got toothpaste in my head. Yep, it's okay, it's okay. Mhm. We good, we good. Okay, yeah, those were not my favorites. So narrowing down, that's how you find out, right? Okay, welcome back to Coach Chris's kitchen. It's wet out today, so I can't get on the trails. More importantly, my bike is in the shop. So that's a good thing, but you know, necessary thing. So in the meantime, I get to take a gel in motion and see how it goes. So, um, this is my first soirée into testing Morton. And no, they don't sponsor this, but I'm looking for a neutral flavor gel that I can take quickly. ¡Felicidades! So, see how it goes. Oh, I ripped it easy. So, y'all have witnessed me open these things. It is comical. Okay, here we go. It's like Jell-O. Little sweet. I'm chewing it. Oh, here's my coworker Jax. I don't know if you can hear him or not. Oh, look at it, it's like literally— Rodrello! Honestly, I was really nervous about this, but I'm not mad about it. I will say what I'm mad about— this thing's freaking expensive. Anyway, I did get our friends over at Bull City Running, who hooked us up. I did a fueling and hydration talk over there and they gave a nice deal, so bonus. But I'm getting it down. I want to say the last one I tried— ah, now I don't remember what it was called, but I'm about to hit a big hill— it left like a medicinal taste in my mouth. Afterwards, and I forgot to tell you guys that. So anyway, that in the very last bit of it, I threw my Camelbak in my car for some stick in the seat, and they're not leather seats, and that last little bit dripped out, and I— it looks like, I don't know, it's like hardened So that's what I get. Get to go clean my car now. Anyhow, these are good. Very neutral, light flavor, and it's done. There you go. It's time once again for Coach Chris's kitchen. Although to be honest, I'm like having a minute right now, so bear with me. I'm like sweating into my glasses, so I think those are coming off, and my hands are so slippery on the bars. Ah, so I gotta put my gloves on. Anyway, don't mind me. This is on the menu. We've got goo lemon lime. Oh, it matches my jersey. And a striker gel. It says plasmatec, which makes me a little nervous for the texture. So because I just said that, I'm gonna have to eat it for all y'all's entertainment. Um, it's got a little L-citrulline and L-arginine for those of you who need the nitric oxide boost. Anyway, we're gonna attempt this. Forgot my headphones. Let's see how I rip it off this time. I'm going with my teeth. Let's do this. Uh-huh, got it, got it. Okay, making less trash. Let's see what it says. It says the strength to go further, carbohydrate-rich tool Oh my God, I'm getting to that age where I need my glasses. Uh, with a natural red berry flavoring. It's kind of like— wouldn't call it red berry. I would call it like, um, You know when you eat like cherry candy and it's that flavoring that you're like, "Are you really a cherry? Really?" It's kind of like that. So, a little tart. Mmm. Smoother texture, like a little thinner than icing. I'd go for some icing right now. Uh, however, not loving the flavor, but the texture is fine. I could get it down pretty fast. Not right now, clearly. This is a terrible example. Anyway, uh, made in the UK. How about that? So let's see if it gives me the strength to go further. Off I go. Welcome back to Coach Chris's Kitchen. I'm on another gel tasting extravaganza. This is what we're going with today, and I have not started my ride, so this is coming in before I start riding, which— a quick note is that I've created a decision tree to help you fuel and hydrate in our Fueling and Hydration Bootcamp. That way you can figure out. So let me give you an example. I had lunch about 3 hours ago, and then I had a, um, this is in essence like my pre-ride snack, right? So helping you decide at what timeframe should you try to eat and how much both before, during, and after. So a little decision tree that will help you do that process. So anyway, here I am. I'm gonna go because one hand is holding the camera, beep boop, and the other one's— so I am historically not very good at this, so let's see how it goes. Uh-huh, uh-huh, okay. Hopefully my dentist is not watching. Oh, I gotta pick that up. I just littered. Okay, let's see. Here we go. Oh, Before I do this, I also wanted to let you know that I created a, um, tasting chart. So there are different products that you're doing, just like I'm doing with these different gels, of like which ones, what was the consistency like, what was the flavor like, and would you do it again. Could you do— could you eat it like, you know, when it's hot out? Could you eat it when it's cold out? Could you eat it with green eggs and ham? Kind of thing. Anyway, okay, here we go. Drum roll. Um, okay, so just to give you an idea, and this is actually kind of a popular product that I like for my folks who— well, they're not mine, but folks who work with me who have, um, bigger challenges with blood sugar fluctuations. With large blood sugar fluctuations. So oftentimes UCAN products will help them have a steadier, uh, rather than a steadier response rather than spikes and drops, especially for folks with like PCOS or type 2 diabetes who still wanna exercise and ride. Um, it's interesting, but just to give you a sense, it is water and then their Live Steady, which is their trademark product, non-GMO cornstarch. They basically like cook cornstarch. Um, and then it's got allulose, which is a different type of carbohydrate, glycerin, natural flavor, which I don't really taste any, but, uh, cellulose gum as a thickener, same thing with xanthan gum, ascorbic acid, which is vitamin C, lactic acid, fumaric acid, and potassium sorbate. So 70 calories, 19 grams of carbs, no fiber, no fat, no protein, um, 90 milligrams of vitamin C, So anyway, probably not one I'm gonna do on race day, but, um, not like the one that had maple syrup in it where I felt like I, uh, needed a pancake with it. Thickness is fine. It's a little tangy, like you can taste the vitamin— well, I could taste the vitamins glossy. So it's not chunky like, uh, like, um, oh dang, Morton. Oh, that was interesting. Anyway, that was plenty of time of a gel tasting. Learn more about our Fueling and Hydration Boot Camp. Yeah, The Endurance says shalom. Okay, bye. It's back in the kitchen, y'all, and today instead of a gel, I just did this applesauce just because I'm kind of done with gels until another couple of weeks when I have to take them on race day, and I'm kind of hungry, so I'm going with a little beef jerky. So now I got my fluid, and I'll be back on the bike here in a moment. I figured I would share that you don't necessarily have to have engineered food. You can absolutely do real food instead. So give it a shot. Coach Chris's kitchen. I'm not in the mood for gel today. So look what I got. This is the equivalent of a gel, and it tastes a whole lot better. So just know you have options when it comes to fueling.
