This week I have been mostly eating: Veloforte bars. Well, whilst riding, at least.
Veloforte bars are hand made in London by a nutrition-obsessed group of cyclists, and their goal is to make delicious, whole food, unprocessed energy bars that aren’t full of synthetic ingredients.
I am someone who suffers from IBS (spasms of the muscular wall of the intestine), sometimes for eating the wrong thing, sometimes for eating nothing, sometimes for no reason whatsoever. I’ve tried many things over the years (vegetarianism, pescetarianism, dairy free, wheat free, etc) but there doesn’t seem to be a concrete cause, it’s just something to put up with. But what almost always causes gut cramping for me is gels and some overly processed energy bars, so I’ve mainly switched to eating Clif bars (still not great, a bit hard to eat) and Trek or Nakd bars which have been the best so far since they’re literally just a load of dried fruit and nuts smooshed together into a bar shape, with minimal additives.
But then last week Veloforte sent me a pack of their hand-made bars, and now the game has changed. These things taste amazing. One of them, the chocolatey one, literally tastes like Christmas. They’re nicer than most cakes you find at your cafe stop and you can really tell a lot of care has gone into selecting the ingredients. There are subtle spices that work with the fruit, and even a layer of rice paper on the bottom which stops the bar sticking inside the package. These are some seriously boutique ride snacks.
The main selling point is the natural ingredients, the ability to eat clean, unprocessed food and still power your ride. And they work too – a small bar packs a lot of energy. I rode hard for 2 and a half hours on one bar, having not really eaten much at home that morning. For me though the taste is really the best thing.
The packaging is beautiful and gives a hint of how hand made these are, but it’s not super easy to remove while riding, especially if, like me, you’re not great at riding no-hands. Tearing at the foil and brown paper with my teeth on the move, one rather large piece of packaging flew away, and not wanting to litter I spent a minute looking for it to no avail. Somewhat amusingly it fell out of my jersey when I undressed for a shower. But when I buy some more I think I’ll just unwrap them in advance and put them in the little ziploc bag they were delivered in. Perhaps that’s what that was for?
There’s only one drawback; the price. Buying a pack of three for £5.99 doesn’t sound too bad but once you add the shipping on, they’re working out at £3.32 per bar. So obviously you’ll want to buy a good amount to make it worthwhile, and they do have a pretty decent shelf life despite the lack of additives. But you’ll have to buy a lot – the closest you can get to paying £2 per bar is buy buying 3x 15 packs, which comes out at £2.02 each with shipping. It’s something I’m likely to do if I’ve just been paid, but realistically these are more of a treat for if you’ve got a big ride or sportive and you want something that’s going to give tons of energy and not mess with your guts.
Having said that, I’m going to have to get some more anyway, because they are really super-freakin-tasty.
Price is a tad steep but might be worth a try
Great review.
I really like Veloforte bars too. The taste is just so good, and they really provide a good amount of pedal energy. As per your comment, any orders will have to be of a reasonable quantity to manage the price.
You can buy these in Sigma Sport, Hampton Wick who have recently begun stocking them.
@the_bodybuilding_cyclist