Hydration/Nutrition: Embark "Good Energy" Part 2

 A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I tried this new energy 'food'/drink called Embark which is mainly made from raw maple syrup. I cut it down with water and had it in my bottles during a ride. Well, that was a nice experience, but the taste of the Elderberry flavor was......mmmm...like a dirt. Not really all that pleasant. 

I had one more packet of the stuff and this time the flavor was Salted Maple. I decided to use it straight from the packet this time. The ride I used it on was the recent "Country Views" ride I did which you can see/read about here. 

This was a good test, because like I stated in that linked post, my legs felt pretty toasted by the time I got to the turnaround point. That was when I drank the entire packet of Embark Salted Maple and set out to ride again. 

Now, of course, I didn't feel any effects right away, owing to digestive processes, and I did not expect to feel anything for a half an hour at the earliest. But when I drank down the packet I was amazed. This Salted Maple flavor, in contrast to the Elderberry, was fantastic! It was as if I had a liquefied caramel roll of sorts with maple frosting. It was really tasty! So, from that standpoint I was more than pleased and a bit surprised that there was such a marked difference. But then again, I didn't drink down the Elderberry, I cut it with water, and maybe had I just drank down the packet, it would have tasted better. 

By the time I reached my second rest stop, I was feeling less thrashed than I had been feeling and by the time I got home I was feeling just fine. Was it the Embark? Hard to say with just one go at full strength. But I do know that I did not get that 'gut-bomb', crampy feeling that I have gotten with other energy/nutritional sources. 

So, this bears more looking into for me. I'll be trying to source more of this stuff soon, and when I get my hands on a decent supply, I will have a better handle on how to use this and how it actually measures up in terms of helping me ride. 

So, that's all I have on this new nutritional product for now. Again, I wasn't asked to write this up, and as far as I know, Embark has no idea I'm writing this up. I got the two packets I tried from N.Y. Roll who in turn got them in his entry for the recently run CORE4 event. 

I'll hopefully be back with more on Embark soon.