Roctane on the IM Bike Courses

Coach Rich

Hi, my name is Rich and it's been 4 yrs since I last raced a WTC Ironman and...forever...since I had a plan to take gels of the course 

IMWI Athlete's Guide says they will have both normal and "Roctane" GU's on the bike course. I've been training with Rocatane because it contains sodium and caffeine, and caffeine is pretty awesome...so I want that on race day, please. However, are the volunteers identifying themselves as "Get your Roctane here!", or do I just need to roll buy a person holding a gel and hope they hand me what I need. 

Your answer will save me approximately 7-11oz on race day...and I'm counting every one of those so I appreciate the help. Thanks!

donymo

Hey Coach, they had both on the bike course at IMLP and I don't remember people yelling out "Roctane" vs "Gu". YMMV
I used two gel flasks for my PowerGels.

MattAaronson

What flavors on course? I plan to take down 5 Cherry Lime Roctane Gu among other chemically-engineered "sport food" I plan to eat but give me the Pomegranate sh*t and I might barf on the volunteer who gives it to me..............

jaleslie

I have only done 5 WTC races, but I have never seen or heard anyone clarifying exactly what gel they are holding.  My aid station anxiety would definitely preclude me from being able to successfully get Gatorade AND the correct gel at a single aid station....but I'm not that coordinated!  

Not that Coach R needs any advice from me, but I'd carry my gels!...either flasks or packets in Bento/pockets.  

novaavant

I've never seen them make a distinction I doubt most of the volunteers pay that much attention, they are just holding up some stuff. My vote is for the gel flasks, they work great. I also take a black sharpie and outline the little lines on the flask that show the volume so it's easier to see while moving. With the flasks it's less worry, you get the flavors you want and less goopie slimmy trash in your jersey pockets FTW!

tim cronk

Not knowing what they have and where they will have it is exactly why I bring my own nutrition for the bike and the run....I suppose you could do what Dave Tallo does and grab 2 when you see what you want as a back up.... Few years ago at IMLOU I had planned to alternate caffeinated with non-caffeinated gels on the run , they always had the exact opposite gel I DID NOT WANT....Found it to be time consuming and frustrating looking around for what I wanted.... Went to a flask for the run after that, and never looked back.... I tried a flask on the bike and didn't care for it , but I absolutely hate using gel packets on the bike , always turns into a sticky , littering, bike handling mess.... Love my pre-wrapped bars , blocks , on the bike , I do suffer through taking one self supplied gel at 4-4.5hrs on the bike (cliff espresso 100mg caffeine :-) has a litter leash, enough caffeine I'm good with only getting 1/2-3/4 of the product , but very low on the sodium scale...

Nate Parady

i'm not sure the reward of being 7-11 oz lighter on race day is worth the Risk of messing up your nutrition because you were depending upon the 14 year old kid volunteer to yell out "Roctane"...

What I noticed at Challenge Williamsburg was some of the aid stations were yelling out the specifics of the Gels offered while some were not. It seemed inconsistent and I also thought the hand off was "questionable" in terms of safety. Seemed way easier to hand someone a bottle of fluids versus handing someone a small gel packet.

How about splitting the difference. carry a few with you and be looking for a few while on the course. If its an easy grab take it, if not, maybe it would be at the next aid station.

Or you could just tape like 12 GUs to your down tube and be super cool...

Jenn Edwards

Hey Rich, 

Just adding my $0.02 here as someone who has wrassled with the caffeine/calories/H20 concoction on race day many times.  

- Trying to grab the "right" gel at an aid station IMO is a total CF.  You've got a 10 YO who isn't paying attention, trying to figure out where the gels are at *this* aid station, I'm not hungry right now, blah blah blah...

- If you want caffeine (yes, you should!) I'd consider packing it in (extremely light!) pill form.  That way you aren't looking for the right gel and if, by chance you aren't feeling like eating you can at least get the caffeine in.  Sometimes no matter how much you plan to/want to eat on race day it just isn't happening.  

Good luck!

Coach Rich

All: thanks for the notes!

Looks like a gel flask(s) + Vivarin (Jenn, was planning to do this at about mile 85) is the way to go, though I have a fundamental problem with carrying or attaching gel flasks to my bike: one year a Wildflower a knucklehead in my tri club had like, I shit you not, 12 gel flasks attached to his bike in all manner of places. I can't unsee that and have been scarred ever since...

MattAaronson

As an aside, I just received from Amazon my first box of Gu Roctane Sea Salt Chocolate. I had one before my 75' bike ride on the trainer this morning. The aftertaste is questionable but with 180mg of sodium and 35mg of caffeine I guess that isn't surprising. I still prefer the Cherry Lime but expect to mix in some of the Sea Salt Chocolate instead of the non-Roctane Chocolate Outrage or Salted Caramel that I typically consume.

Dawn Cass

As a side note, do we know what flavour of gels they will be handing out on race day?

Coach Rich

Dawn, if they have specified flavors, it would be in the athletes guide

Rich Stanbaugh

Posted By Coach Rich on 12 Aug 2015 01:48 PM

All: thanks for the notes!

Looks like a gel flask(s) + Vivarin (Jenn, was planning to do this at about mile 85) is the way to go, though I have a fundamental problem with carrying or attaching gel flasks to my bike: one year a Wildflower a knucklehead in my tri club had like, I shit you not, 12 gel flasks attached to his bike in all manner of places. I can't unsee that and have been scarred ever since...

I use a Hydrapak 250. It fits in the Fuelcell of my shiv, so no need to attach anything. I love that there is nothing to open to get the gel - it has a bite valve and you just squeeze the soft flask. I mix flavor and/or dilute with water, depending on which gel I am using.

Hydrapak 250