As we strive to become better athletes, physical training is only part of the equation to optimal performance. If you’ve bought one of my plans and read through my nutrition guide, you know that how you fuel your body for workouts and everyday life is an important part of taking care of ourselves. Nutrition and fueling strategies are highly personal, but I believe it’s important to share race winning strategies (yes, literally) in hopes it can help you find what works best for you.

One of the companies I’m grateful to work with is Enduro Bites, a sports nutrition company based out of Colorado Springs, not far from the Enduro MTB Training World Headquarters. I caught up with Brian Maslach, the creator of Enduro Bites, to talk about Enduro Bites, both the company and the bars, and how you can incorporate them into training.

HOW IT STARTED

In college, Brian started making his own ride food based loosely on some recipes he found in cycling magazines at the time. After chasing his dream of moving to Colorado, he started working in product development for an exercise supplement company and he started to experiment with his ride food recipes on his own time. He started sharing his ride food with friends in his hometown of Colorado Springs, many of whom make up a who’s who of pro cycling across all disciplines, and using their feedback to fine tune flavors.

After trading stories and samples with a fresh group of test subjects at a group ride, Brian decided it was time to turn his personal ride food into a more widely accessible product. Enter Enduro Bites.

“I kept thinking, ‘Why should I develop something new when I can sell what I’m using myself and getting positive feedback from other athletes?’”

FRESH. SIMPLE. DELICIOUS.

Enduro Bites are fig based bars handmade in small batches daily by Brian and his team to provide you with the freshest product possible. I find them to be soft and easy to chew and help maintain stable blood sugar levels throughout a ride, workout or race. My favorite flavor is the original flavor, Fig and Dark Chocolate but the Enduro Bites Cherry Brownie is a close second. Brian has a great post on his Fresh. Simple. Delicious. Philosophy that’s worth reading, too.

In addition to the bars, Enduro Bites also offers Beta Red, a drink mix formulated as a pre-workout drink to harness the power of beets and promote increased aerobic efficiency, muscular endurance and delay fatigue. Most pre-workout drinks are a crazy concoction of sugars and caffeine, but getting your heart racing before heading out for intervals or strength training isn’t going to be as helpful as anticipated.

Enduro Bites’ newest products are a line of Nano CBD drops and softgels. Utilizing nanotechnology to increase the absorption rate of the CBD, Brian points to the personal benefits he saw when he started using other CBD products, including improved sleep and increased cognitive function, which helped with long days in the office and on the bike. What he struggled with was the inconsistency of the brands he had tried and took on the task of making it himself. Just as he said when he started selling his Enduro Bites, “I couldn’t find anyone to make what I wanted to, SO… I decided to make it myself.”

HOW I FUEL WITH ENDURO BITES

Personally, I carry Enduro Bites with me on any ride longer than an hour and will eat them as I get hungry and sometimes as a pre-ride snack about 45 minutes before ride time or heading to the gym. For races, I’ll eat 2-4 bars (1 or 2 packs), throughout the day, depending on the number of stages and whether it’s lift access or not. Lift rides are not just good for talking; be smart and use them as a chance to fuel up for the upcoming stages.

I also like to use Beta-Red as part of my race day hydration, starting with a serving alongside breakfast. I’ll use it before rides, too, as I’ve found it really helps to buffer what I call the “Front Range Burn,” as it seems every ride here on the Front Range of Colorado starts out with a stiff climb before the fun stuff begins. It really helps the legs settle in and not feel dead.

Both products are so clean they NEVER bothers my system, plus I do well with fig based energy foods. I’m really fortunate to be able to work with Enduro Bites and love being able to share the story about his company.

Interested in giving Enduro Bites a try? There’s a first time customer offer of 4 Bars for $4 on the Enduro Bites webstore or use the code deetidwell for 20% off your first purchase.