GU and other sport gels

I heard recently that you want to consume solid foods or energy bars starting out and then consume the gels later on. The thinking is that the solid foods take longer to digest than the gels over a sustained amount of time. Whereas the gels are absorbed and put to use by the body rather quickly.

I do this on long bike rides. I eat bars starting out for the first few hours then I take a gel at about 15 miles left to go to get me home.

I've never taken gu gels, never had an issue with my body crashing.

Gels are not food...

 

I've done many runs of 1/2 marathon and longer with only solid foods and soda. The last time I relied on gels, I bonked something fierce (my firt Ironman, in 2009). You need maximum calories and salt for long stuff. That being said, I find I don't need food for runs shorter than two hours...

I sometimes use them on long mtb rides, and they seem to help me last longer.