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What Athletes Actually Want From Their Fuel
One of my favourite parts of building RED-Scue is getting the bars out of the kitchen, out of the packaging and into the hands of people who are actually going to use them.
Because there is a big difference between a sports fuel that looks good on paper and one that you actually want to eat when you're training.
Sports nutrition isn't just about what's in the product.
It's about whether someone can actually eat it.
Whether they enjoy it.
Whether it sits well.
Whether it's practical.
Whether they can imagine reaching for it again when they're tired.
And sometimes the most useful feedback isn't simply:
“This tastes great.”
It's:
“This works really well, but here's what would make me use it even more.”
That's the feedback that helps you build something better.
1. Texture and flavour are part of sports nutrition
The athlete really enjoyed the variety of flavours and found the bars easy to eat.
That might sound obvious, but I don't think texture gets talked about enough when we talk about sports fuel.
We talk about grams of carbohydrate.
Calories.
Protein.
Electrolytes.
Ingredients.
But eventually, someone has to put the food in their mouth.
And texture can make or break that experience.
Too dry.
Too sticky.
Too dense.
Too crumbly.
Too difficult to chew.
Too much going on in your mouth when you're already breathing hard.
All of those things can turn something that looks like the perfect fuel on paper into something you simply don't want to eat.
And that's particularly important during endurance exercise.
You're not sitting at home eating a snack.
You're running.
You're cycling.
You're racing.
You're breathing hard.
You're moving.
You're sweating.
You may be trying to drink at the same time.
You may have been fuelling for hours already.
The food has to work in that environment.
That's why creating something that is smooth, easy to eat and enjoyable isn't a nice extra for us.
It's part of the product.
2. The size-to-carbohydrate ratio really matters
One comment particularly stood out to me:
“The size of the bar for the calories/carb was phenomenal as it wasn’t too dense.”
That is exactly the balance we're trying to achieve with RED-Scue.
I wanted to create something that felt like real food, rather than a tiny piece of sports nutrition that disappears in two bites.
But I also didn't want it to feel like you're carrying around a brick in your pocket.
Our 70g bar is designed to provide a meaningful amount of carbohydrate and energy in a format that feels substantial without being unnecessarily dense.
Because there is a difference between:
“This is a big bar.”
and
“This is a bar that gives me a useful amount of fuel without feeling too heavy.”
That distinction matters when you're exercising.
You want enough energy.
But you also want something you can comfortably get down.
3. The real test: can you eat it while moving?
Another piece of feedback really made me smile:
“It was easy to eat whilst in motion which is a big plus.”
For an endurance product, this is massive.
Because the real test isn't whether something tastes good when you're sitting at your kitchen table.
It's:
Can I eat this when I'm actually doing the thing?
Can I open it?
Can I hold it?
Can I chew it?
Can I swallow it?
Can I keep moving?
Can I do all of that without feeling like I've just eaten something far too heavy?
This is why I care so much about practicality.
The perfect fuelling plan is no use if the food is sitting at home because it's too awkward to carry or eat.
And this is something I've noticed repeatedly when speaking to athletes at events.
People want fuel that fits into their actual lives and their actual sport.
Not another complicated system.
Not something that requires perfect conditions.
Just something they can grab and eat.
4. Energy matters too
The athlete also said:
“I found they also provided excellent energy availability.”
That's their personal experience, and I wouldn't turn one person's experience into a universal performance claim.
But it is still an important part of the feedback.
Because ultimately, that's what we're talking about when we talk about fuelling.
Energy.
Carbohydrate is a major fuel source during exercise, particularly as intensity and duration increase.
And yet carbohydrates have somehow become one of the things athletes are most likely to become afraid of.
We've created this strange situation where someone can be training for hours but still feel like they need to justify eating carbohydrates.
I want RED-Scue to challenge that.
You don't have to earn your carbs.
You don't have to be “good enough” to eat.
And you don't need to wait until you're completely empty before you fuel.
Fuel is there to support the work your body is doing.
5. Then came the feedback I found most interesting
The athlete did have one limitation.
For longer rides, they found the bars too sweet for repeated fuelling over several hours.
And honestly?
I really value that feedback.
Because it doesn't mean the product has failed.
In fact, they still said they would recommend the bars for shorter events and as a pre-race top-up.
They liked the macros.
They liked the format.
They liked how easy they were to eat while moving.
The challenge was specifically around repeated sweetness over a long endurance event.
And that is a very different problem.
Your favourite flavour at home isn't necessarily your favourite flavour four hours into a race
It's about context.
And it's one of the reasons I don't believe there is one perfect sports fuel for everyone.
There isn't one perfect way to fuel
Some athletes love gels.
Some can't stand them.
And some people just want something that tastes like normal food.
That's one of the reasons RED-Scue started with a range of flavours.
Because variety matters.
And because fuel doesn't have to look like one specific thing.
We've deliberately created different flavours because athletes have different preferences.
