diy energy gel
kitchen-made energy gel for cycling — 2:1 maltodextrin/fructose, 120 g carbs per 150 ml soft flask, well under a euro per fueled hour. with a batch calculator.
commercial gels run 10 €+ per fueled hour. this mixes in a kitchen pot for about 0.80 € — same 2:1 glucose/fructose ratio the sports-science crowd recommends, with agar for gel texture and citric acid + extracts so it tastes like lemonade instead of wallpaper paste.
per 150 ml flask
| ingredient | amount | source |
|---|---|---|
| maltodextrin | 80 g | buxtrade |
| fructose | 40 g | amazon |
| water | 80 g | tap |
| electrolytes | 3 g | amazon |
| citric acid | 2 g | buxtrade |
| agar agar | 1.5 g | buxtrade |
| lemon extract | 0.5 g | amazon |
| orange extract | 0.5 g | american heritage |
| raspberry powder | 2 g | amazon |
flasks: 150 ml soft bottles. prices move — expect roughly 1 € of ingredients per flask.
recipe
warm the water in a pot — stay under 50 °c, warm but not scalding. add everything bit by bit; it all dissolves eventually despite how little water there is. fill the flasks, cool them fast in a water bath, then into the fridge. one flask fuels ~1 h 20 min at 90 g carbs/hour. fructose tolerance varies — test on a short ride first. survived two weeks in the freezer without fueling issues, so that’s the unofficial best-before.
batch calculator
| total carbs | |
| ride time | |
| ingredient cost |
prices in the calculator are bulk-pack rates from the table above — recheck before ordering.