As an endurance cyclist, one of the essential tools to keep riding is fuel, fuel, fuel. Fueling properly and determining what works for you, without overeating can help you bike longer and faster over a more significant distance. In assessing your consumption tactics, it’s always nice to try new things and be open to different foods. When Tailwind Nutrition, a brand that is new to me, reached out, I was enthusiastic to test Tailwind Endurance Fuel and Recovery Fuel.

Unfortunately, having had surgery this past winter, I wasn’t doing many endurance rides. Now that summer has kicked in, and I’m back to cycling longer distances, I experimented with Tailwind during training rides, and I used it during my recent 650-B endurance race. 

In terms of sports/endurance drinks this past year, I’ve been using the Skratch Labs brand. It’s not too intense of a flavor and doesn’t feel overly sugary (Gatorade or Powerade is a bit too much, and it’s kind of yuck with all that coloring). I had a big Skratch Labs bag, so I was stuck with the orange flavor for a long time. It was nice to have the Tailwind packets and finally get to do a flavor mix up!

Tailwind Nutrition provided me with two starter kits both of which includes the Endurance and the Recovery fuel in all of the flavors.

Endurance Fuels

The Kit

The starter kit contain eight endurance fuels; Lemon, Naked Unflavored, Mandarin Orange, Berry, Colorado Cola, Tropical Buzz, Green Tea Buzz, and Raspberry Buzz. The kit also includes three recovery fuels; Chocolate, Coffee, and Vanilla. For those that like to get a caffeine boost during their endurance events, as you might have guessed, the cola, coffee, and anything with the word “buzz” includes caffeine.

Flavors

When I received the starter pack, I was most excited about the Colorado Cola flavor. I haven’t seen another Cola flavored endurance drink before, but I do love Stinger’s cola chews, so I was highly anticipating that flavor. It didn’t let me down. If you are near my age or older, and remember the cola-flavored Bottlecaps candy, this is precisely how the cola flavor tastes! I quite liked it, and when kept nice and cold, that flavor, as I suspected, was my top favorite.

I was most skeptical of the Green Tea Buzz and the Naked flavors. They didn’t sound like they would be that good. After giving them a try, I was surprised that the Green Tea ended up being another favorite of mine, and the Naked is merely sweet and salty – and that’s it! My other preference was the Lemon flavor. It was pleasant, unlike other lemon drinks I’ve had.

Tailwind Claims

There are a few things to note about Tailwind Nutrition that are important to some of us consumers.

Vegan and Natural

All the fuels are all clear when mixed. Thus, you know you aren’t getting artificial ingredients. Tailwind Nutrition claims to be “clean and light with a mouth feel as close to water as you can get while still meeting your nutrition needs.” As Tailwind indicates, the flavors are mild and not overly sweet. I did find them to be light, and I like that they don’t have coloring.

They didn’t leave a heavy, lingering taste in my mouth. Like most endurance fuels, they have that sweet and salty taste – the perfect combination, I think. During my endurance race, I got lazy for a minute and didn’t want to dig more packs of Tailwind out of my rear pack to refuel, so I bought a Powerade instead. I regretted it shortly after and ended up dumping it out and stopping to find my Tailwind packet after all.

No “Gut Bombs”

Given Tailwind’s natural ingredients, they state that one will not experience “gut bombs.” In essence, no yucky tummy problems from artificial ingredients. I did not find myself with any “gut bombs” while using Tailwind. However, I don’t think I’ve personally experienced that with other endurance fuels (other than something like Powerade or junk like that). My tummy felt great the entire time, and I didn’t notice any GI upset.

Your Only Fuel?

Tailwind Nutrition states that you could easily use their fuel the entire time of a race. In a long endurance or multi-day race, I don’t find that this is enough for me. I need substance and real food. Usually, I have regular meals, and I drink a certain amount of endurance fuel/solid fuel per hour. I like to have something to munch on, so I don’t think that I could only do the endurance fuel for an entire race.

Recovery Fuels

Tailwind notes that they don’t add protein to their endurance drink because it’s proven not to improve performance. That aspect does not bother me, as protein was never a feature I sought in my endurance fuels. However, they do make some recovery fuels that one can use after their rides.

I want to preface this section by noting a few things about myself. I don’t regularly enjoy protein-type beverages. I find them a little too chalky, and I mainly eat healthily and don’t focus too much on “recovery” beverages. I do use protein powder at home, and I have only enjoyed a protein powder that I buy at my local coop, which has no artificial ingredients, and I blend it into smoothies. I’ve never liked any protein powder that is mixed only with water or milk. The texture gets me every time. That said, I was still willing to give Tailwind’s recovery drinks a try.

Flavors

The Recovery Fuels have three flavors: chocolate, vanilla, and coffee. I was most excited about the coffee because, if you didn’t notice from my favorite endurance drink above, I’m a coffee/caffeine junky. After a cold training ride where I got stuck in a downpour, I decided to mix the chocolate and coffee, heat almond milk on the stove, and make a recovery mocha to warm myself up.

Taste and Texture

Unfortunately, the taste and texture of the recovery drink was a miss for me. I found it to be a little chalky, but I also was a little surprised that the recovery drinks are also “sweet and salty.” I’m used to protein powders, only being “sweet.” That threw me off a bit. The way I enjoyed the beverage the most was in the mocha I made. I also made smoothies, but I think the salty taste in the recovery fuel got to me. However, as that is a unique trait (as far as I know), some people may find they enjoy that, which would be their reason for using Tailwind. Different strokes!

Unique features

On the Recovery Fuel packets, they have a dividing line where you can place your finger and shake the package to divide it into two different servings. Though it’s not rocket science, and we could do the same with any other type of packet, I hadn’t even thought of it before I saw it on their pack! Credit where credit is due – Tailwind Nutrition taught me something new!

Environmentally Friendliness

I’m always trying to be as environmentally friendly as possible. It can be challenging during bikepacking and endurance racing. I love that Tailwind Nutrition sells assorted eight packs so you can rotate flavors. Frequently I find myself becoming tired of the same taste over and over. On the other hand, they do sell bigger packets of 50 serving-size for those that don’t have that issue. The only downside about the assorted flavor packets is that I feel I’m more wasteful. This isn’t limited to Tailwind Nutrition, and I’m sure it has a lot to do with health codes, etc. However, as part of the endurance athlete community, I hope companies can eventually come up with more environmentally-friendly packaging. I would most certainly invest in those products.

Measuring Up: Tailwind Nutrition vs Skratch Labs

To provide a comparison of Tailwind nutrition versus another brand, I will compare the caloric values to my Skratch Labs fuel I have at home with the Mandarin Orange Tailwind packet with a serving (for a 12-16oz bottle) of Skratch Labs.

Tailwind’s Endurance Fuel

• 1 Serving (27g – a half packet) provides 100 calories, 25g carbohydrate, 25g sugar, 303mg sodium, 26mg calcium, 88mg potassium, and 14mg magnesium.
• Ingredients: Non-GMO Dextrose (Glucose), Non-GMO Sucrose, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Sea Salt, Organic Flavor, Potassium Chloride, Magnesium Citrate, Calcium Carbonate, Organic Caffeine (Caffeinated flavors only) – Gluten-free/vegan/no soy/no dairy/non-GMO

Skratch Labs

• 1 Scoop – (22g) provides 80 calories, 20g carbohydrate, 19g sugar, 380mg sodium, 46.3mg calcium, 38.5mg potassium, 40.1mg magnesium.
• Ingredients: Can Sugar, Dextrose, Sodium Citrate, Citric Acid, Oranges, Magnesium Lactate, Calcium Citrate, Potassium Citrate, Ascorbic Acid. – Gluten/dairy-free/vegan, kosher, non-GMO certified.

Analysis

The ingredients are very similar, with different amounts to each. You get a bit more sodium in Skratch Labs and calcium and magnesium, but less potassium. All of these are good for intracellular function, but I’ve read some, and it appears you don’t lose as much magnesium, calcium, or potassium as you do sodium. So I’m not sure the difference matters. Magnesium lactate and citrate are absorbed quickly by the body, but I did note that lactate (in Skratch Labs) can have some warnings for people with heart or kidney disease.

With regards to calcium carbonate and calcium citrate, it also seems that carbonate (used in Tailwind) is a smaller structure that packs in more calcium than calcium carbonate. It yields about twice the amount of elemental calcium as equal amounts of calcium citrate. As such, perhaps this is why Skratch Labs has a more significant amount. It appears for calcium supplements; carbonate is the way to go.

Interestingly, when I went to look for more about potassium supplements, I found this article stating potassium citrate is a better choice for sports drinks that chloride due to stomach upset. I’m stumped. I am not a scientist, so I cannot speak to this, but I can say I didn’t have stomach upset with either of these drinks. 

How It Started

Tailwind Nutrition’s business had an interesting start. Though not 100% women-owned, it started when Jeff Vierling found himself sick after the Leadville 100 and indicated continually having issues with fuel during rides. It prompted him to research extensively and come up with his own line of endurance beverages. His partner, Jenny, is also part-owner, and I’m guessing she took a significant role in early product testing.

Will I use it again?

I quite enjoyed Tailwind’s Endurance Fuel. It did as it claimed, and I enjoyed the flavors. I think I will be adding them to my repertoire of endurance fuels, if not switching to them completely. I will stick to assorted flavors, and I wonder if Tailwind will add new flavors to their lineup eventually? I hope so. It will keep us all interested and coming back for more.