“Life’s great pleasures often come in twos…”
Life’s great pleasures often come in twos: tea and biscuits, fish and chips, strawberries and cream. Sadly, none of these favourites have been particularly easy to stuff into a cyclist’s jersey pocket, neither have they a reputation of being exactly performance enhancing. Until now! CalBisc 100 is a new energy food that delivers carbohydrates and protein plus a range of vitamins and minerals in a twin-packed and mighty tasty biscuit.
The missing link?
Getting sufficient energy on a long, tough ride has always been a challenge. Gels are convenient but can be hard on the stomach, bars can be tasty but are not everyone’s cup of tea. For me, the ideal ride food is small, easy to get down your neck, tasty and natural. I don’t want my ride ruined with stomach cramps any more than I want to run out of fuel. So it’s bananas, malt loaf – the usual. How nice it would be to have a little something else, something natural but specifically designed to replace minerals, repair muscle and provide lots of easily accessible energy. Something easy to eat and delicious, too. CalBisc 100 could be the missing link.
What’s in the box?
CalBisc 100, so named because each biscuit delivers 100 calories, come in twos, meaning each small, foil pack gives you 200 calories – about the same as a gel or bar. The difference is that unlike a gel, you also get the protein, vitamins and minerals, and unlike the bar, they’re easy to eat and (depending on your tastes) more delicious. The flavour is buttery, like good shortbread, but you can taste that there’s more going on. These little biscuits pack a lot of ingredients into their small size. Happily, what goes in looks pretty natural and wholesome to me. The texture is soft but not sticky, and I find them easy to eat even when riding reasonably hard. A swig of water from the bidon does the job of a nice cup of tea to wash them down. There’s plenty of sugar on the ingredients list for the quick energy that tired legs need, but also more slow-burning carbohydrates like oatmeal to keep you going.
The good stuff
Baroudeurs tested CalBisc 100 on a 120 miler recently and we were unanimous in giving them a big thumbs up. I’ve just received delivery of a large box to keep the team going over the summer. A word of advice, though. The sell by date on them says August 2014. These are not packed full of preservatives, so if, like me, you’re buying in bulk, make sure you have a team to share them with – 100 calories a biscuit is a lot, and they are dangerously moreish…
:: The review is independent and the club does not have any involvement with Calbisc, nor their makers. We simply like the idea. You can find a range of reviews here ::
