How Does 16.9 Fluid Ounces of GU Energy Gel Fit Into Two 5.1 ounce Flasks?
That bulk package of GU energy gel @AMAZON to the right has had all but a tiny amount of gel squeezed out of it.
Maybe someone over at GU Energy Labs can explain to me how 16.9 fluid ounces of GU Energy Gel (“15 serving pouch”) fits into two 5.1-ounce 5-serving GU HydraPak soft flasks @AMAZON? Fluid ounces is not weight ounces but it appears that GU Energy Labs has badly goofed in labeling the SoftFlask containers in totally different units from the bulk package.
The soft flasks are stated to be 5 servings (“Holds 5 servings of Energy Gel”) and the bulk container @AMAZON states “15 serving pouch”. Last time I checked, 10 ≠ 15.
Since I track calories/food by the gram, this doesn’t trouble me much except that I hadn’t realized this discrepancy before, so my calories-consumed figures are now off for many months. GU Energy Labs ought to fix the mistake is—seems like a marketing error.
Either these flasks hold 8.4 ounces each (7.5 servings each), or GU is supplying less than claimed in the bulk package, which makes little sense and is easily verified. I’m guessing that someone in marketing screwed up between servings and ounces, fluid or otherwise. When I’m home I will weigh the stuff on a gram-accurate scale and find out.
I wish GU Energy labs would sponsor me like TheBeefAuthority.com and OWC / MacSales.com. I use a lot of GU energy gel and swear by it (and swear at it when a softflask bursts, which has happened twice OMG what a mess). See my day’s supply of GU energy gel in my Death Ride writeup.
Measuring it
Using a gram-accurate scale, I measured the bulk GU energy gel at 500 grams (entire package and its contents). I was able to extract 470 grams of gel (container 500g ---> 30g empty) into two of the HydraPak soft flasks, falling just a wee bit short on the second one from full.
With a claim of 480g of gel in the package, that implies leaving 10g of gel behind in the bulk package, a waste of 2% (10 / 480), but there is nothing for it; I’d already used a flat instrument to get all I could out of the package.
The SoftFlask is misleading; it claims “5 servings”, but these servings are fluid ounces, wildly different than the “servings” on the bulk package.
Bulk: 32 grams * 15 servings @ 100 calories/serving = 1500 calories
(~1468 calories extractable)
SoftFlask: 240 grams implies 240/32*100 = 750 calories per flask
Since two of the GU SoftFlasks can together hold 480 grams of Gu energy gel, each SoftFlask actually holds 7.5 servings for a total of 750 calories each—wildly different than the 5 X 100 = 500 calories I had long assumed.
The foregoing matters when planning for nutrition for ultra-endurance! It explains why this year I almost always used only 2 of 3 SoftFlasks, in calorie terms a close match for the calories I thought I should consume (2/3 * 750/500 = 1 = what I had planned on needing).