Gear of the Year: Fuel

Each of these bite-size cubes has four grams of sugar and eight grams of carbs. Stuff them into a pocket for long rides to help you evenly pace and track your fueling to avoid the dreaded bonk. Seven of the 10 flavors are made with all organic ingredients, and black cherry, orange, and tropical punch have caffeine for a little extra kick.

While Athletic Greens can’t substitute for real fruits and veggies, think of this smoothie powder as a multi­vitamin in food form. It can help meet the high nutritional demands of athletes when paired with an already-healthy diet (it’s vegan-, paleo-, and keto-friendly). Enzymes and probiotics aid digestion and help keep your belly calm during stomach-churning efforts.

Get the boost you need from these amino acid–packed energy gels, including endurance-extending beta-alanine, to help you avoid flagging over long rides. Most flavors have 35mg of caffeine. But try the cold-brew-coffee option with 70mg if you want more, or pineapple, strawberry kiwi, and lemonade if you want none.

Whole-food ingredients like real fruit, cane sugar, and salt offer enough carbs and calories to power your everyday rides. The mix has a specifically formulated blend of electrolytes to replenish those you sweat out and a science-backed ratio of sodium to glucose for fast hydration and absorption.

Gut rot. Anyone who’s ever sucked down one too many gels in an effort to keep a bonk at bay knows the feeling of a nauseous, flip-flopping, bloated belly. The culprit: trying to fast-track more concentrated carbs into your stomach than it can shuttle into your bloodstream.

Though most companies recommend you chase their gels with water, just a few sips won’t cut it. You need three or four ounces of water for every five grams of carbs. If you figure about 25 grams of carbs per gel, that means you should slug about a bottle per packet. And if you slam two or three gels an hour? Well, your belly had better be bulletproof.

That’s why “stomach-ability” is a big trend in sports nutrition. Science in Sport (SiS) led the charge in the gel market with the world’s first isotonic energy gel, which is a science-y way of saying it gets into your bloodstream without needing to be watered down.

Each gel delivers 22 grams of carbs, 90 calories, and less than a gram of added sugar. They’re vegan and gluten-free. Most important, the consistency and flavor are thinner and blander—a bit like a watery Jell-O shot—than more-concentrated gels. With almost any other food, thin and bland aren’t exactly desirable, but these work as advertised. I slurped down the better part of two six-packs of Pineapple SiS gels during a nine-hour Half Everesting ride and enjoyed an even flow of energy without a smidgen of stomach upset.—Selene Yeager

Palette fatigue is real. That’s why these bars are a staple in our jersey pockets. The salty-sweet flavor delivers when we just can’t bear the thought of another sugary chew. But it’s the crunchy texture that really wins when you’re craving something crisp. This also makes Honey Stinger’s Cracker Bar messy, so prepare to eat it all at once. Though that shouldn’t be a problem—they’re just as delicious as the gas station candy bar, if slightly better for you.