Energy Bars

They're central to every serious triathlete's fuelling strategy but, as we discover, not all bars are equal. James Wills tests 11 of the top energy bars out there...

- By James Witts. Photographs by Steve Sayers

Okay, hands up - that header's a touch misleading. While all of these bars offload a certain amount of energy-delivering carbohydrates, many are actually designed for snacking (healthily, of course) and/or recovery. That's down to reduced levels of carbs and higher levels of protein. In some cases, (good) fat content's pretty high too, which appeals to the ultra-tri crowd.

How many bars should you consume and when? Well, when it comes to bonafide energy bars, they're generally not needed for up to around 75-90mins of training. After that time, your glucose and glycogen (how glucose is stored in the body) will be running low and you'll need a top-up. How much you can tolerate highly individual but, as a benchmark, you're looking at around 60g carbs an hour. Any more and your stomach might start playing (bad) tricks.

As for when you should turn to the bar, we generally keep to the bike. Its weight-bearing nature prevents your stomach from flying up and down, while the chance to freewheel at times lowers intensity. Both make it a calmer environment for your stomach to digest, absorb, and assimilate nutrients. That being said, the endurance runners among us will need to supplement gels with bars to maintain energy reserves. Right, time to serve up a new PB...

CLIF NUT BUTTER BAR