SANTA MADRE UNUSUAL BAR 50CHO BOX 16U

Can I eat the Unusual Bar while riding hard?

That is what it is for: Santa Madre says easy chewing and digestion at medium-high intensity was the main problem it set out to solve. It packs 50 g of carbohydrate in 65 g with only 3 g of fat.

Unusual Bar or Sweet Bar?

The Unusual Bar is the race bar: 50 g of carbohydrate at a 1:1 ratio, 3 g of fat, made with puffed rice. The Sweet Bar is a gluten-free oat bar with 36–40 g of carbohydrate and more fat (from butter), made for easy efforts, before or after training, or between meals.

Can I take 90–100 g of carbohydrate per hour straight away?

Santa Madre says no: high-carbohydrate strategies need an adaptation period — training the digestive system to work during exercise. Build up the amount per hour in training before trying it in a race.

What do Santa Madre’s ratios (1:0.5, 1:0.8, 1:1) mean?

They are the proportion of glucose-type carbohydrate to fructose. Glucose and fructose cross the gut through different transporters, so mixing them lets you absorb more per hour. Santa Madre uses 1:0.5 for everyday products (up to 90–100 g/h), 1:0.8 in the 60CHO gel and 1:1 in its UNUSUAL range for 90–100+ g/h strategies.