Unived makes a lot of products, and the names do not make it obvious which one you need. Gel 100, Elite Gel 180, Drink Mix 160, Drink Mix 320, Recovery Mix. If you are standing in front of the shelf trying to work out what to buy for Sunday's ride, this guide sorts them by when you use them rather than by what they are called.
Everything here is plant-based, which matters to some riders and is irrelevant to others. What matters more is that it is formulated for endurance sport rather than for the gym, and that it is made in India, so you are not paying import duty on sugar.
Contents
- Three jobs, three products
- During the ride: gels and drink mix
- How much you actually need
- The caffeinated versions
- After the ride: recovery and protein
- Salt, and why it matters more here
- Where to start
- Frequently asked questions
Three jobs, three products
Sports nutrition does three things. Almost every product is doing one of them.
| When | Job | What you want |
|---|---|---|
| During | Replace carbohydrate and fluid | Gels, drink mix |
| During, hot conditions | Replace sodium | Salt capsules, drink mix |
| After | Refill glycogen, start repair | Recovery mix, protein |
If you buy one thing, buy something for during the ride. That is where the difference between a good last hour and a bad one is decided.
During the ride: gels and drink mix
| Product | Best for | From |
|---|---|---|
| Gel 100 | Shorter rides, topping up, first time trying gels | ₹100 |
| Elite Gel 180 | Long rides, fewer packets to carry and open | ₹900 for six |
| Elite Drink Mix 160 | Carbohydrate in your bottle rather than your pocket | ₹800 |
| Elite Drink Mix 320 | High carbohydrate intake without more bottles | ₹850 |
The number in each name reflects the energy in a serving, so a 180 carries considerably more than a 100 and a 320 carries roughly twice a 160. The exact carbohydrate figure is on each product page, and it is worth checking, because your intake target is measured in grams per hour rather than in packets.
Gels or drink mix is a practical question, not a nutritional one. Drink mix means you consume carbohydrate automatically every time you drink, which suits riders who forget to eat. Gels give you precise control and do not commit your bottles, which suits riders who want plain water available in the heat. Most experienced riders end up using both: drink mix as the baseline, gels when they need a lift.
A word of caution specific to hot weather. If all your bottles contain drink mix, you have nothing to pour over your head and nothing plain to drink when you feel sick of sweetness at hour four. Carry one bottle of each on long rides.
How much you actually need
The honest answer is that most riders under-fuel, and the fix is arithmetic rather than willpower.
- Under 90 minutes: water is usually enough, unless it is very hot.
- 90 minutes to 3 hours: 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate per hour.
- Over 3 hours: 60 to 90 grams per hour, if your gut is trained for it.
Start eating in the first hour, before you feel like you need to. By the time you feel empty, you are already too far behind to recover during the ride. Our guide to race-day nutrition for Indian conditions works through the calculation properly, and the piece on fuelling a 100km ride covers a worked example.
The other rule that matters more than the product: never try something new on race day. Gut tolerance for high carbohydrate intake is trainable, and it is trained in the weeks before, not on the morning of.
The caffeinated versions
Several products come in caffeinated form, including the Buzzing Naked and Wild Watermelon drink mixes and the Double Espresso gel.
Caffeine genuinely works for endurance performance and it is one of the few supplements with strong evidence behind it. Two practical notes. It is most useful in the second half of a long ride rather than at the start, and taking it on top of your usual morning coffee gives you less than you expect. And if you are riding late in the day, caffeine at hour four will still be affecting your sleep that night.
Try caffeinated products in training first. Some riders get an unsettled stomach from caffeine plus high carbohydrate intake plus heat, and a race is not the time to discover that.
After the ride: recovery and protein
| Product | Best for | From |
|---|---|---|
| Elite Recovery Mix | Straight after a hard or long ride | ₹1,100 |
| Elite Performance Protein | Daily protein target alongside training | ₹4,300 |
| Complete Protein | General daily protein | ₹2,925 |
| BCAA and Hydration Mix | Hydration with amino acids | ₹1,200 |
A recovery drink is most worth using when you are riding again within about 24 hours, or when the ride was genuinely hard. After an easy hour, a normal meal does the same job and costs less. Be honest about which of those you did before reaching for the tub.
Protein powder is a convenience rather than a necessity. If you are hitting your protein target through food, you do not need it. If you are training six days a week and struggling to eat enough, it is the easiest fix available.
Salt, and why it matters more here
This is the part most riders here get wrong, and it is where Indian conditions genuinely change the advice.
Sweat rates in Indian heat and humidity are far higher than the numbers in most international guidance, and sweat carries sodium. Replacing fluid without replacing sodium leaves you drinking plenty and still cramping, still headachy, still flat.
Salt capsules are the simplest way to add sodium without adding more sweetness to your bottles, which matters on a five hour ride when everything already tastes too sweet. Drink mixes contain sodium too, and on a long hot ride you will usually want both.
If you finish rides with white salt marks on your kit and a headache, you are almost certainly under-replacing sodium rather than under-drinking.
Where to start
- New to fuelling, rides under two hours. A box of Gel 100. Cheap enough to experiment with flavours and find what your stomach likes.
- Regular three to four hour rides. Elite Drink Mix 160 in one bottle, plain water in the other, and a couple of gels in your pocket.
- Brevets, centuries and events. Elite Drink Mix 320 for high carbohydrate intake without carrying more bottles, plus Elite Gel 180 and salt capsules.
- Training hard through the week. Add Elite Recovery Mix for the hard days only.
The full range is in Unived, and everything else in nutrition. Availability across the supplement and vitamin range moves around, so check the product page or ask us.
Frequently asked questions
How many gels do I need for a 100km ride?
Work from grams of carbohydrate per hour rather than from packets. A 100km ride takes most riders three and a half to four hours, and at 60 grams per hour that is 210 to 240 grams total. How many gels that becomes depends on which gel, since the larger ones carry substantially more each, and on how much you are taking through drink mix. A common setup is drink mix providing roughly half and gels covering the rest. Check the carbohydrate figure on the product page and divide.
Do I need a recovery drink, or is normal food enough?
Food is enough after most rides. A recovery drink earns its place in two situations: when you are riding hard again within about 24 hours, and when you finish too depleted or too hot to face a meal, which happens often in Indian summer. In both cases getting carbohydrate and protein in quickly matters more than the exact source. After an easy ninety minutes, a proper meal does the same job for less money.
Are caffeinated gels and drink mixes worth using?
Yes, with two caveats. Caffeine has genuine evidence behind it for endurance performance, and it works best taken in the second half of a long effort rather than at the start. The caveats are that regular coffee drinkers get a smaller effect, and that caffeine taken at hour four of an afternoon ride will still be in your system at bedtime. Test caffeinated products in training, because caffeine combined with high carbohydrate intake and heat upsets some stomachs.
Is plant-based sports nutrition as effective as dairy-based?
For fuelling during a ride, the source is irrelevant. Carbohydrate is carbohydrate, and gels and drink mixes are almost never dairy-based regardless of brand. For protein it is a slightly more nuanced question, since plant proteins differ in amino acid profile, which is why well-formulated products blend sources to cover the gaps. In practice, for a cyclist meeting their overall daily protein target, the difference is small enough not to drive the decision.
Why do I still cramp when I drink plenty of water?
Frequently because you are replacing fluid without replacing sodium, and in Indian heat the sodium losses are large. Drinking a great deal of plain water while sweating heavily can actually dilute your sodium further and make things worse. The fix is a drink mix containing sodium, salt capsules, or both on long hot rides. If your kit dries with white marks on it, that is visible evidence of how much salt you are losing. Cramp has other causes too, including going harder than your training supports, so treat sodium as the first thing to rule out rather than the only answer.
Ask before you buy a box
Flavour tolerance is personal and there is no point buying six of something your stomach dislikes. Come to our Kondapur store and pick up single sachets to try, or tell us your ride length and conditions on WhatsApp and we will suggest a starting point.
