Ideas for a banana energy bar for racing

[Herbsman]

I'm not keen on Powerbars, especially because they have almonds in which I am intolerant to. Has anyone made anything similar with bananas? I was thinking of simply mixing bananas with sugar syrup and ground cerial of some sort but I'm not sure what the ideal ratio would be. It's got to be softer than a powerbar though as they are a bit of a toothbreaker.

[Herbsman]

Also should I bake them or leave them raw?

[Alistar]

Plain old dried banana's are actually pretty good and easy to eat . However quite high in fibre so be carefull after 10 or so.
I really like these things we'ver got here called "fruit bars" which are really tasty. Concentrated Sweet real fruit centres covered in a soft biscuit crust(vege oil, sugar and flour), lightly toasted. Bit of fat and protein, but mostly sugar. Actually pretty close to sports bars in terms of composition, but a third the price. Digest great and are a quick energy boost without the lag of a typical oat based homemade muesli bar.
So think you could be onto something with the ground up cereals Just have to make it so its not too sticky somehow. Good luck!

[GY Jon]

+1 for dried bananas, although I tend to go for Jacobs fig rolls (sounds like a fig fruit bar?) a lot these days (2 packets gets me through 200k of hills) and Trek cherry crunch flapjacks are the best pre made actual energy bars for me. I will happily try out any recipes posted here though, as I've some long rides in the next 6 weeks and I might get sick of the above.

[bob_summers]

Hmmm I thought Fred would be here with the recipe, but here it is on his behalf.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=589&p=76285&hilit=rune#p76285

I've not found maltodextrin here so far. As an aside, energikaka would not go down so well in Spain

[Simon E]

I like Tropical Wholefoods bars - particularly banana and honey and the Apricot & Raisin. They are certified Fairtrade and organic, and made by the same people that produce Torq energy bars. IIRC they contain some oats but are mainly fruit Nak'd raw ones are nice too, particularly the Berry Cheeky.

All fruit bars are heavily compressed so unless you have some kind of machine to really squeeze them into a block you'll struggle to produce something that stays together in your pocket.

You could try checking the cereal bars in supermarkets - look for ones with low fat %, not too much sugar/syrup and more fruit. Too much cereal makes for a dry, flaky bar which may be nice with a cuppa but not ideal when riding. Why not just carry a banana and some dried raisins and apricots?

A couple of links I saved earlier for homemade bars:
http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/articl ... ars-11916/
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12683822

[vCLaW]

You can just make flapjack, but using mashed bananas instead of some of the margarine/syrup/sugar.
I don't have an exact recipe, I would just use something like this basic flapjack recipe: http://www.parsleysoup.co.uk/getrecipe. ... t_flapjack
Decrease the amounts of marg/sugar a bit, and add a mashed banana or two, and add enough oats to make it the right consistency.
Probably best with rather ripe/soft bananas.

[ha]

I take organic dates on rides. I eat 4 large ones per hour. Thats around 60g of carbs per hour.

Aim for around 1g of carbs of bodyweight per hour and eat 10g of carbs per kg of bodyweight per day.

You'll recover proper.

I eat bananas before or after. Search 'banana date sugar smoothy' on youtube and thats our staple.

[Herbsman]

I take organic dates on rides. I eat 4 large ones per hour. Thats around 60g of carbs per hour.

Aim for around 1g of carbs of bodyweight per hour and eat 10g of carbs per kg of bodyweight per day.

You'll recover proper.

I eat bananas before or after. Search 'banana date sugar smoothy' on youtube and thats our staple.

Carbohydrate absorption isn't limited by bodyweight though

[ha]

1g per hour works at all bodyweights.