Homemade rice cakes: a real-food recipe for when gels get old
Our article on fueling a 100 km ride vs. a 300+ km ride notes that after enough hours, the same gel or drink that tasted fine at the start can become hard to stomach — flavor fatigue. Rice cakes are a classic answer to that problem: a dense, compact rice bar popular among long-distance riders and ultra-runners precisely because it tastes nothing like a sweet gel or an isotonic drink.
Recipe, makes 8 bars:
- 200 g sushi rice
- 200 ml coconut milk — the thick, solid part only
- 80 g fresh dates (dried also works)
- 350 ml water for cooking (plus separate water for rinsing the rice)
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 3 pinches of salt
Rinse the rice twice and cook it in about 2.5 times its volume of water for 20 minutes, then stir in the solid coconut milk, dates, sugar, and salt. Shape the mixture on parchment paper into an even rectangular block — cutting boards pressed against the sides help keep the edges straight — and chill it in the fridge or freezer for a few hours until it firms up. Slice into 8 equal pieces and wrap them individually. It keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days, or indefinitely in the freezer.
One piece works out to about 140 kcal, 30 g of carbohydrate, 2 g of protein, and 2 g of fat. At a typical 60-90 g of carbohydrate per hour target, one bar covers roughly half an hour, so it is easy to work out how many pieces a given stretch of your ride needs — the same way you would with any other product entered into a Carb Fueling plan.
The advantage of this format is texture: it holds its shape in a jersey pocket, does not crumble, and will not melt the way a gel can in the heat. The fat from the coconut milk also gives a longer feeling of fullness than sugar alone, which can help during the calmer stretch of a long ride when you no longer just need a quick energy spike.
One caveat: this particular recipe is still sweet — the dates and sugar see to that. If your problem is specifically sweetness fatigue rather than just gel texture, cut back on the sugar or swap the dates for something less sweet. A rice cake only breaks the monotony if its flavor genuinely contrasts with whatever is already in your bottle.