I'm going to deviate slightly from my usual training ride review (although yesterday's ride was excellent, switching my chainrings and tires have made a huge difference) and talk a little bit about nutrition.

In 2000, I did a coast-to-coast bike trip over the summer. Each day we grabbed a variety of portable snacks for the 65+ mile rides… however, no fancy bars, gels, or drink mixes were present. Instead, the choices usually ranged from Pop-Tarts, Nutragrain bars, and Quaker granola bars. I think there may have been some other choices… I do remember having an emergency Powerbar live in the bottom of my handlebar bag so long that it became a flattened, indistinguishable mess. I still ate it, though.

Anyway, I've been buying various nutrition bars and stuff for pre/post rides since I've been biking immediately after work and not having a chance to go home and eat. Here's my informal review of what I've had so far:

Powerbar Performance. Probably one of the oldest commercially marketed "energy bars" around. Also probably one of the nastier tasting of the bunch. I remember my dad eating these back when I was a kid, and thought they were akin to flavored cardboard. I ate a chocolate flavored one a few weeks ago, and honestly, they haven't really changed. The "original" ones came in three flavors: banana, chocolate, and peanut butter.

A side note: another summer bike trip I did bought a ton of those 3-pak power bar boxes from Sam's Club. All the kids ate the chocolate and peanut butter ones first, and the leaders told us they wouldn't buy more unless we finished the banana flavored ones. They figured if we were hungry enough, we'd eat them. (That was true. It was that or nothing.)

Powerbar Harvest. Powerbar's take on whole grain soy crisp bars. Tested flavor: Toffee Chocolate Chip. Not very good. Tasted like a grainy Clif bar.

Clif bar. I've only eaten one or two of these (most recently: Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch), and it was decent. Supposedly these are geared toward men, which may make some sense as I know guys will eat almost anything, no matter what it tastes like.

Luna bar. Clif bar targeted for women. Flavors I've tried: Chocolate Raspberry, Peanut Butter Cookie, S'mores, and Chocolate Peppermint Stick. I think Chocolate Peppermint Stick is my favorite, though the Chocolate Raspberry is pretty darn good, too. Back in college, I think I ate the chocolate peppermint ones for about three days straight as they had given a crate of free samples to the women's center.

Odwalla bar. Chocolate Chip Peanut. Best tasting of the bunch. Good, but a little expensive.