Frequently asked questions
Everything about our gels, carbohydrates, caffeine, fueling, shipping and RocketFuel.
Products
What do TRAIN, RACE and RACE+ stand for?
The names describe the kind of effort each gel was built for. They are not a rule about when you are allowed to use them.
TRAIN is built for lower to moderate carbohydrate targets. RACE is built for higher carbohydrate targets. RACE+ has the exact same formulation as RACE and adds 100 mg of caffeine, 100 mg of L-theanine and 500 mg of taurine for moments when alertness and focus matter too.
The idea is to make your fueling more intuitive, matching your energy intake to the effort in front of you without doing the maths every time. You reach for the gel that fits the session: more carbohydrate for hard and long efforts, less for easy ones. Our products are built around that, so the decision is made before you leave the house.
Which means TRAIN can work perfectly well in a race, and RACE makes just as much sense in a hard training session or any time you are deliberately fueling high. What matters is intensity, duration and your planned carbohydrate intake.
Why several gels instead of one for everything?
Not every session has the same demands.
An easy endurance session does not need the same carbohydrate intake as a long, demanding one, hard intervals or a race. And plenty of athletes want caffeine at specific moments rather than in every gel.
TRAIN supports fueling strategies of around 60 to 90 g of carbohydrates per hour. RACE and RACE+ make 90 to 120 g per hour and above practical. All three can be combined with a drink mix or other carbohydrate sources.
The range came out of a survey of 6,457 endurance athletes across different sports and performance levels. 89.1% told us they fuel hard efforts differently from everyday training.1 That answer shaped everything that followed: instead of building one gel to cover every situation, we built several and matched each one to a different kind of effort.
1 RocketFuel Athlete Survey, May to October 2025, n=6,457. 89.1% said they fuel differently on hard efforts than in everyday training [65.2% “Yes, absolutely”, 23.9% “Somewhat”].
Which gel should I choose?
TRAIN is designed for easy to moderate sessions, steady endurance work and lower to moderate carbohydrate targets. It also works as a quick top-up before a shorter session, for example when your carbohydrate stores are not full, when you feel a bit flat, or when you are training on an empty stomach. It is not a substitute for a meal, but you will not be starting on empty.
RACE is designed for hard training, long demanding sessions, races and higher carbohydrate targets.
RACE+ has the same formulation as RACE with 100 mg of caffeine plus L-theanine and taurine, for moments when alertness and concentration also matter.
If you want to try all three before deciding, the Mix Box gives you the full range in one box.
Can I use TRAIN during a race?
TRAIN is not limited to everyday training.
It works well in races where your carbohydrate target is moderate: shorter events, lower-intensity events, or when part of your intake already comes from drinks or other sources.
For longer or more demanding races where you are targeting around 90 g per hour or more, RACE or RACE+ are usually more practical. Each gel gives you 40 g, so you need fewer of them to get there.
Can I use RACE in training?
RACE is not just for race day, and in many cases you should deliberately be using it in training.
It is built for higher carbohydrate targets, which makes it just as relevant during hard sessions, long demanding efforts, or any time you want more carbohydrate per hour.
In the run-up to an important race it is exactly the right approach. Your ability to absorb and tolerate high carbohydrate intake during exercise is trainable, in the same way your body adapts to training load. That adaptation happens over weeks, not days.2 Practising with the same intake and the same fuel you plan to use on the day is one of the simplest ways to prepare.
2 Cox GR et al., Daily training with high carbohydrate availability increases exogenous carbohydrate oxidation during endurance cycling. J Appl Physiol 2010.
Can I combine TRAIN, RACE and RACE+?
Combining them is very much intended, and a lot of athletes do exactly that.
You might use TRAIN through the easier part of a long session and switch to RACE as the intensity or carbohydrate target climbs. You can also combine any of them with a drink mix, sports drinks, bars or other carbohydrate sources.
Just keep in mind that switching products also changes how much carbohydrate, sodium, electrolytes and, with RACE+, caffeine you are taking in. What counts is the total across the whole session.
Should I train with the same gel I race with?
If you plan to race with RACE or RACE+, use them regularly in training under realistic conditions, especially in the weeks before an important event. That is your chance to practise the amounts, the timing and the formulation you intend to use on race day, and to find out what works for you before it matters.
TRAIN serves a different purpose. It is the practical option for sessions where you deliberately target a lower carbohydrate intake. And if you already fuel most of your training at 90 g per hour or more, there is nothing stopping you from using RACE across the board.
Why does TRAIN have 25 g and RACE 40 g of carbohydrates?
The different serving sizes make different carbohydrate targets easier to hit.
TRAIN gives you 25 g per gel. That is a more flexible building block at moderate intake rates, and it slots naturally alongside a drink mix or other sources in a plan of around 60 to 90 g per hour. It is also the less sweet of the two. Fructose is the sweetest of the carbohydrates we use, and TRAIN's 2:1 ratio means proportionally less of it than RACE carries. That makes it easy to keep taking, whether you are new to fueling or have a well-trained gut and simply do not need 40 g on an easy day.
RACE and RACE+ give you 40 g per gel. At high targets that means fewer gels to carry, open and get down for the same hourly total.
The formulations differ too, not just the size. TRAIN adds isomaltulose to the maltodextrin and fructose base. You still get the fast energy from the maltodextrin, and the isomaltulose digests more slowly on top of that, making the energy delivery more sustained. That suits longer, steadier sessions.
RACE and RACE+ use highly branched cyclic dextrin as their third source instead. It is a very large carbohydrate molecule, so gram for gram it dissolves into far fewer particles than simple sugars, and fewer than maltodextrin. That matters because the more particles a gel contains, the more water your body draws into your gut to dilute it. That is what makes a gel sit heavy, and it is what slows your stomach down. Fewer particles means less of that. It counts most exactly where RACE is meant to be used: high carbohydrate intake, high intensity, and a gut already under load.
Fueling
How many grams of carbohydrate should I take per hour?
That depends on how long you are out, how hard you are going and how used to high carbohydrate intake you already are.
During exercise your body runs largely on stored carbohydrate, roughly 400 to 600 g of glycogen in your muscles and around 100 g in your liver. That tank is limited. Once it runs low you cannot hold the same intensity: your legs go heavy, the pace that felt fine a moment ago suddenly costs everything, and your concentration drops. It is commonly known as hitting the wall or bonking. Taking carbohydrate in during the session keeps your blood glucose up and slows how fast you burn through what you have stored.
Under 60 to 75 minutes: You do not strictly need carbohydrate during the session if you went in with reasonably full stores. It can still be worth taking something.
One to two hours: Around 30 to 60 g per hour.
Two hours and beyond: Around 60 to 90 g per hour.
Long or hard events: 90 to 120 g per hour. Some athletes go higher, but that end of the range needs a well-trained gut and a lot of practice.
60 g per hour used to be considered a hard ceiling, and for glucose alone it is. Glucose is absorbed through SGLT1, which saturates at roughly that rate. Fructose uses a different transporter, GLUT5. Combining the two opens a second lane and made around 90 g per hour realistic.3 Shifting the glucose-type to fructose ratio closer to 1:0.8 pushed it further again.4
The ceiling is individual. Build up gradually rather than jumping to a high number.
Where our gels fit: one to two TRAIN per hour covers 25 to 50 g, which combined with a drink mix or other sources lands you in the 60 to 90 g range. Two to three RACE or RACE+ per hour gives you 80 to 120 g from gels alone.
3 Jeukendrup AE, Sports Med 2014. 4 Podlogar T et al., Eur J Appl Physiol 2022.
How many gels should I take per hour?
That depends on your carbohydrate target and what else you are taking in.
One to two TRAIN gels give you 25 to 50 g. Combined with a drink mix or other sources, that fits a plan of around 60 to 90 g per hour, which suits most moderate sessions of two hours or more.
Two to three RACE or RACE+ gels give you 80 to 120 g from gels alone, the range you want for long, hard efforts and races.
These are starting points, not rules. Your total should reflect the duration and intensity of the session, everything else you are consuming, and what your gut is used to.
When should I take my first gel?
For sessions shorter than roughly 60 to 75 minutes, you often do not need carbohydrate during the session at all, provided you went in with reasonably full stores. A gel can still earn its place on a shorter effort. It adds sodium and electrolytes before you sweat them out, builds the habit for longer events, and going in with energy available usually means a better quality session. Taken shortly before you start, it works well as a quick top-up.
For longer sessions, start fueling early rather than waiting until you feel empty. A common approach is the first gel around 30 to 45 minutes in, then spreading the rest evenly. A gel right before the start is also worth considering, particularly on race day. Which approach works best is individual, so it is best tested in training.
With RACE+ there is caffeine timing to think about as well. Some athletes save it for later, when alertness and concentration start to matter. Others use it right at the start when they are tired and need something to get going.
Do I need to take the gels with water?
Water is not strictly necessary, but it does help.
The slightly runny consistency is there so the gels go down easily even when water is not immediately available. That is genuinely useful when you are not carrying a bottle or you have run out. You can still get the gel down comfortably without it sticking in your mouth.
Drinking a few sips right after is still worth doing, especially with several gels or a high carbohydrate target. The water helps move the carbohydrate along and keeps the concentration in your gut lower, which supports tolerance.
I have never used energy gels before. Which one should I start with?
Start with our TRAIN gel. At 25 g of carbohydrates per gel it is a manageable amount while your gut gets used to fueling during exercise.
Try one during a longer session, ideally with a few sips of water, and see how it feels. Give yourself a few sessions at that level before adding more.
From there, build up progressively rather than jumping to a high hourly target. Your gut adapts through repeated exposure, and a gradual build produces much better tolerance than a sudden one.
What is gut training?
Gut training means progressively practising higher carbohydrate intake during exercise so your digestive system gets used to the amounts you actually want to use.
The mechanism is real. A sustained higher carbohydrate intake increases the density and activity of the SGLT1 transporters in your intestine, and a 28-day study measured a genuine rise in how much ingested carbohydrate athletes could oxidise.2 Structured exposure has also been associated with fewer gastrointestinal symptoms at high intake rates.5
The important part is progression. Build over time and practise under conditions similar to your event, including intensity.
We have optimised every ingredient in our gels for tolerance, from the carbohydrate sources and ratios to the electrolyte forms, consistency and sweetness level. But no formulation removes the need to try things out first.
As a rule: never use a new product for the first time in competition, and never jump to a carbohydrate intake there that you have not tested beforehand.
2 Cox GR et al., J Appl Physiol 2010. 5 The effect of gut-training and feeding-challenge on markers of gastrointestinal status in response to endurance exercise: a systematic review. Sports Med 2023.
Which sports are the gels suitable for?
Our gels are built for endurance training and intense efforts where carbohydrate intake supports performance. In practice that means sessions long enough or hard enough to draw down your glycogen stores, typically beyond 60 to 75 minutes, or shorter work at higher intensity.
That covers running, road cycling, gravel, mountain biking, triathlon, duathlon, trail running, ultrarunning, cross-country skiing and plenty of other endurance sports. They also work in mixed-intensity formats such as HYROX, in CrossFit, and in longer or high-volume gym sessions.
For shorter or easier sessions you often do not need carbohydrate during the session at all. A gel beforehand can still be worth it. A lot of athletes find they simply get more out of a session with energy available and no dip to work through.
Can I combine the gels with a drink mix?
Gels and a drink mix work well together, and for many athletes that combination is the most practical way to fuel.
A drink mix is a powder you add to your bottle, usually carbohydrates plus electrolytes, so your fluid does two jobs at once. Instead of drinking plain water and getting all your carbohydrate from gels, part of your intake comes from what you are already drinking, along with the sodium you lose through sweat.
It works in both directions. The drink mix spreads the load and gives your stomach a steadier drip of carbohydrate between gels. The gels, in turn, make it far easier to reach a high hourly total, because there is a limit to how concentrated you can make a bottle before it stops going down comfortably.
The sodium does not all have to come from your bottle either. TRAIN carries 200 mg per gel, RACE and RACE+ 250 mg.
Count the carbohydrates, sodium, fluid and caffeine from all your sources together rather than per product, and test the combination in training before you rely on it at an important event.
Our own Drink Mix is in development, planned to launch in late summer 2026. It is designed from the start to work alongside the gels.
Science
Why do you combine different carbohydrate sources?
Your gut has more than one door, and using only one limits how much you can absorb.
Glucose and glucose-type carbohydrates are absorbed mainly through SGLT1, which saturates at roughly 60 g per hour. Fructose uses a completely separate transporter called GLUT5. Combining both opens two lanes at once instead of queuing at one.
Research on multiple transportable carbohydrates consistently shows this increases how much carbohydrate can be absorbed and burned during prolonged exercise, and the effect holds whether the carbohydrate comes from a drink, gel or bar.3 It is the standard foundation in endurance nutrition and the base of every RocketFuel gel.
Where we go further is the third source. We add a third carbohydrate to each gel, chosen for what that gel is meant to do: isomaltulose in TRAIN for a more sustained energy profile on steadier sessions, and highly branched cyclic dextrin in RACE and RACE+ for its very low osmolality at high intake rates.
3 Jeukendrup AE, Sports Med 2014.
Why does TRAIN use a 2:1 carb ratio and RACE 1:0.8?
The carb ratio describes how a gel's carbohydrate splits between glucose-type sources and fructose. A 2:1 gel delivers two parts glucose-type carbohydrate for every one part fructose. A 1:0.8 gel is much closer to an even split, which in practice means proportionally more fructose.
TRAIN sits at 2:1. There is real fructose in there, because even at 60 to 90 g per hour the glucose pathway is working hard and you want the second lane open. Weighting toward glucose-type carbohydrate keeps delivery quick at those intake rates, while keeping fructose per serving lower and the gel less sweet.
RACE and RACE+ sit at 1:0.8. Once you are pushing 90 g per hour and beyond, the glucose pathway becomes the bottleneck, so a higher relative fructose share makes much fuller use of GLUT5 alongside SGLT1. Research at high intake rates supports this ratio specifically.4 Ratios in this range have also been associated with less gut discomfort than more glucose-dominant ones.6
4 Podlogar T et al., Eur J Appl Physiol 2022. 6 O'Brien WJ, Rowlands DS, Am J Physiol 2011.
What do you mean by glucose-type carbohydrates?
We use the term for any carbohydrate source that ultimately delivers glucose for absorption, regardless of what form it starts in.
In our gels that covers three ingredients. Maltodextrin is a chain of glucose units and the main base in all three. Highly branched cyclic dextrin, in RACE and RACE+, is a much larger glucose-based molecule made from starch. And isomaltulose, in TRAIN, is a disaccharide built from one glucose and one fructose molecule bonded together, so it contributes to both sides of the equation.
That is why we always quote the ratio of the finished gel rather than the raw ingredients. We calculate the total across every carbohydrate source in the finished formulation: 2:1 for TRAIN, 1:0.8 for RACE and RACE+.
What is isomaltulose and why do you use it in TRAIN?
Isomaltulose is a disaccharide made of glucose and fructose, found naturally in small amounts in honey and sugarcane. The two molecules are bonded differently from the way they are in table sugar, and that bond takes longer to break, so isomaltulose digests more slowly.
In TRAIN it makes up around 20% of total carbohydrates, roughly 5 g per gel.
That does not make TRAIN a slow-release gel. The majority of the carbohydrate is still maltodextrin and fructose. The isomaltulose adds a slower-releasing portion alongside it, which makes the overall delivery more sustained.
Isomaltulose is also noticeably less sweet than sucrose and contributes to the overall 2:1 ratio through its glucose and fructose content.
On the evidence: isomaltulose's slower digestion is well established, and exercise studies have measured smaller blood glucose fluctuations7 and better-maintained blood glucose later in prolonged efforts8 compared with maltodextrin. We therefore describe it as designed to support steadier energy, not as a guaranteed result for every athlete.
7 Notbohm HL et al., J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2021. 8 Stevenson EJ et al., Eur J Appl Physiol 2017.
What is highly branched cyclic dextrin and why is it in RACE and RACE+?
Highly branched cyclic dextrin, or HBCD, is a high molecular weight carbohydrate made from starch. HBCD comes in at several hundred thousand Daltons, against roughly 2,000 for typical maltodextrin. HBCD is therefore a very large molecule.
That size is the point. What determines how much water a gel pulls into your gut is the number of dissolved particles, not the number of grams. Because HBCD packs so many glucose units into one molecule, the same amount of carbohydrate dissolves into far fewer particles. Less water pulled into the gut means the gel sits lighter, and it has been linked to faster stomach emptying.9
RACE and RACE+ contain around 4 g per gel, roughly 10% of total carbohydrates. We narrowed in on that proportion step by step during development. At 10%, low osmolality, a pleasant consistency and long-term stability came together.
HBCD is one part of the formulation rather than the whole story. Most of the carbohydrate is still maltodextrin and fructose.
9 Takii H et al., Int J Sports Med 2005.
Is your concept scientifically superior?
No, we would not claim that. A single-gel system works extremely well for a lot of athletes, including at the very top of the sport, and if what you use now works for you, keep using it.
What we can say is this. We developed RocketFuel with 6,457 endurance athletes, built around how they actually fuel rather than around an assumption. Almost 90% told us they fuel hard efforts differently from everyday training.1 So we shaped the range to fuel you more appropriately across different situations rather than building one gel for everything.
Along the way we tested more than 50 gels from other manufacturers, and that is where a lot of our decisions came from: the sweetness level, consistency, volume, attached tear tab and carbohydrate sources.
The approach rests on established sports nutrition principles, multiple transportable carbohydrates and different carbohydrate targets for different demands. What we added is the practical part: day to day, it should be simpler. Reach for the gel that fits the effort, no calculation required.
1 RocketFuel Athlete Survey, May to October 2025, n=6,457.
Ingredients and nutrition
What are the full ingredient lists?
TRAIN, 50 ml: Water, Maltodextrin, Fructose, Isomaltulose*, Acidity Regulator (Citric Acid), Sodium Citrate, Sodium Chloride, Thickener (Xanthan Gum), Preservative (Potassium Sorbate), Natural Flavouring (Red Fruits). *Isomaltulose is a source of glucose and fructose.
RACE, 70 ml: Water, Fructose, Maltodextrin, Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrin, Acidity Regulator (Citric Acid), Sodium Citrate, Sodium Chloride, Calcium Chloride, Magnesium Citrate, Potassium Citrate, Natural Flavouring (Lemon), Thickener (Xanthan Gum), Preservative (Potassium Sorbate), Vitamins (Niacin, Vitamin B6).
RACE+, 70 ml: Water, Fructose, Maltodextrin, Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrin, Acidity Regulator (Citric Acid), Sodium Citrate, Taurine, Sodium Chloride, Calcium Chloride, Magnesium Citrate, Caffeine, L-Theanine, Potassium Citrate, Natural Flavouring (Lemon), Thickener (Xanthan Gum), Preservatives (Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate), Vitamins (Niacin, Vitamin B6).
Always check the pouch for the ingredient list and batch information that applies to your specific product.
What carbohydrate sources do you use?
All three of our gels are built on the same base of maltodextrin and fructose, which between them use both the SGLT1 and GLUT5 transport pathways. Each gel then adds a third source chosen for what that gel is for.
TRAIN adds isomaltulose at around 20% of total carbohydrates, roughly 5 g per gel. Overall glucose-type to fructose ratio: 2:1.
RACE and RACE+ add highly branched cyclic dextrin at around 10% of total carbohydrates, roughly 4 g per gel. Overall glucose-type to fructose ratio: 1:0.8.
Are the gels vegan?
Yes. None of our gels contain animal-derived ingredients.
Are the gels gluten free?
Yes. All RocketFuel gels meet EU requirements for gluten-free foods and contain less than 20 ppm gluten in dry substance, in line with Commission Regulation (EU) No 828/2014 and Codex Standard 118-1979.
Are the gels lactose free?
Yes. All of our gels contain less than 0.01 mg/kg lactose.
The term lactose-free is not uniformly regulated for general foods under EU legislation, but the measured content is negligible.
Are the gels halal?
None of the ingredients in our gels are of animal origin, and most carry their own halal certification. The gels themselves are not halal certified.
Do the gels contain allergens?
According to our current recipes and supplier specifications, none of the 14 major allergens requiring declaration under EU Regulation 1169/2011 are intentionally used in RocketFuel gels.
Cross-contact from the manufacturing environment cannot be completely excluded. If you have a serious allergy, always check the ingredient information on the pouch for your specific batch and seek medical advice where appropriate.
Can I use RocketFuel energy gels if I have diabetes?
People with diabetes can often include energy gels as part of an exercise fueling strategy. Our gels do contain carbohydrates that affect blood glucose, though, and how that plays out for you depends on your type of diabetes, your medication or insulin use, your glucose level going into the session, and the type, intensity and duration of your exercise.
If you have diabetes, talk to your doctor or diabetes healthcare team about how energy gels and carbohydrate intake fit into your exercise routine, follow your individual diabetes management plan, and monitor your glucose as recommended by your healthcare team.
You can find the carbohydrate content and full nutritional information for TRAIN, RACE and RACE+ on each product page.
Do the gels contain artificial colours, flavourings or sweeteners?
There are no artificial colours, no artificial flavourings and no sweeteners of any kind in our gels.
The sweetness comes mostly from the fructose, and the flavour from natural flavourings: red fruits in TRAIN and lemon in RACE and RACE+. We do not use dextrose or sucrose as glucose sources, and maltodextrin, isomaltulose and highly branched cyclic dextrin all taste far less sweet than those.
Do the gels contain preservatives?
Yes. TRAIN and RACE contain potassium sorbate. RACE+ contains potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate. Both are standard food preservatives, used well within the legally permitted limits.
They keep the gels microbiologically stable across their full shelf life. A gel is a water-based product and is exposed to changing temperatures during storage and use. The preservatives help the gels maintain their quality throughout their intended shelf life without requiring refrigeration.
What is the shelf life?
Our gels keep for 18 months from production, with the best before date printed on each pouch.
In practice you can expect roughly 6 to 12 months of remaining shelf life when your order arrives. We will never knowingly ship gels with less than 6 months remaining unless it is clearly stated on the product page.
Worth knowing: a best before date is a quality date, not a safety date. What we can vouch for is taste, texture and full quality up to the date printed on the pouch.
Caffeine
Can I take several RACE+ gels?
You can, as long as you keep an eye on your total caffeine intake from everything, not just the gels.
The labelled maximum is 4 RACE+ gels per day, which is 400 mg from the gels alone, before any coffee, tea, cola, energy drinks or pre-workout. EFSA considers a total daily intake of up to 400 mg generally safe for healthy adults, and single doses of up to 200 mg generally not a safety concern.
Those are population-level guidelines rather than a personal limit. Tolerance varies a lot with body weight, habitual intake and individual sensitivity.
For most athletes RACE+ makes more sense used strategically at the moments that matter rather than as the only gel across a long session. If you are caffeine-sensitive, already getting caffeine elsewhere, or training late in the day, scale it back accordingly.
Who should not use RACE+?
RACE+ is not recommended for children, pregnant women or breastfeeding women, in every case because of the caffeine content.
It is also not the right choice for anyone who needs or prefers to avoid caffeine, including people with medical conditions or on medication where caffeine may be contraindicated. If you are unsure, speak to a healthcare professional before use.
If you want the same carbohydrate and electrolyte formulation without caffeine, RACE is identical to RACE+ apart from the caffeine, L-theanine and taurine. TRAIN is caffeine-free as well.
Why is L-theanine included in RACE+?
It changes how the caffeine feels.
L-theanine is an amino acid found naturally in tea and very commonly paired with caffeine. The combination is generally described as smoother: the alertness and focus you want, with less of the restlessness that can come with it.
RACE+ contains 100 mg alongside 100 mg of caffeine, a commonly used 1:1 pairing.
What does taurine do in RACE+?
Taurine is an amino acid that occurs naturally in the body, with high concentrations in muscle tissue. It is one of the most common ingredients in energy and performance products, and it is involved in muscle function, calcium handling and cellular hydration.
RACE+ contains 500 mg as part of the overall formulation, alongside the caffeine and L-theanine.
The research on taurine and endurance performance is interesting rather than settled. There are studies pointing to a small benefit, and the doses used vary considerably.10 We include it as part of a caffeine-based performance blend rather than as the ingredient that makes RACE+ work.
10 Waldron M et al., Sports Med 2018.
Taste and texture
What do the gels taste like?
TRAIN has a fruity berry flavour with a pleasant natural acidity that balances the sweetness. It comes across as fresh rather than sugary.
RACE and RACE+ have a subtle lemon flavour, kept clean rather than intense or candy-like. RACE+ has a light bitter note underneath from the caffeine.
Across all three, the flavour comes from natural flavourings. No sweeteners, no artificial flavourings, no artificial colours. They are still sweet, and that is by design: fructose is one of the two carbohydrates that make high intake rates possible, and fructose is naturally sweet. But the gels are not overly sweet.
What is the consistency like?
The gels are slightly runny with a smooth, pleasant texture, and that is exactly what we were going for.
Think of it as a thick liquid rather than a gel in the traditional sense. Not a paste, not a pudding, nothing to chew on. It goes down easily with minimal interruption to your breathing and does not leave the thick, sticky coating in your mouth that so many other gels do.
Slightly runny does not mean watery, and these are not isotonic gels. They are still concentrated, easy to handle in a pocket, and you can take them without water when you need to.
How sweet are the gels?
They are sweet, but not overly sweet, and there is a reason for the balance.
Sweetness becomes tiring during long efforts, particularly gel after gel. So we kept the flavour subtle.
The sweetness comes mostly from the fructose. What we left out on purpose is dextrose and sucrose as glucose sources. Maltodextrin, isomaltulose and highly branched cyclic dextrin all taste substantially less sweet, so the gels can carry a high carbohydrate load without tasting like sugar syrup.
TRAIN pairs that with the natural acidity of its berry profile, RACE and RACE+ with a subtle lemon. No sweeteners in any of them.
TRAIN tastes quite sour to me. Is that normal?
That is completely normal, and there is a reason for it.
TRAIN sits on the sweet-and-sour side by design. The acidity comes from the natural red fruits flavouring, built around a genuinely fruity berry character rather than a sweet candy one, and it is there to balance the sweetness rather than hide it.
The goal was a gel that stays refreshing, something you still want on the fifth one instead of pushing more sweetness at you every time you open a pouch.
If you prefer something more neutral, RACE is a much more subtle lemon and worth trying instead.
Why does RACE+ taste slightly different from RACE?
RACE+ contains 100 mg of caffeine, and caffeine is naturally bitter. At that dose it cannot be completely hidden behind flavouring. L-theanine and taurine also have a mild influence.
The difference is slight. Same lemon flavour, same consistency, with a light bitter note underneath. Most people notice it in a side-by-side comparison and barely at all mid-session.
If you are particularly sensitive to bitterness, caffeine-free RACE is the cleaner-tasting of the two.
Why do RACE and RACE+ come in 70 ml rather than 50 ml like TRAIN?
RACE and RACE+ carry 40 g of carbohydrates instead of 25 g, and that needs more room.
Putting that much carbohydrate into substantially less liquid makes the gel far more concentrated, thicker and stickier. At 70 ml the consistency stays light enough to take quickly even at high intensity.
The extra water does more than protect the texture. A less concentrated gel is generally easier to tolerate, and you take a little fluid on board with every one. That matters most when your other fluid intake is limited or whenever you cannot take a drink right after the gel.
The pouches are not resealable and are designed to be taken in one go. If you want a smaller serving on easier sessions, TRAIN gives you 25 g of carbohydrates in 50 ml.
Why do your gels taste different from the brand I use now?
Every brand works with different carbohydrate sources, concentrations, flavour systems and textures, and those choices show up directly in the taste.
Ours are built around natural flavourings with no sweeteners at all. We also do not use dextrose or sucrose as glucose sources. Maltodextrin, isomaltulose and cyclic dextrin are all much less sweet, so our gels can carry a lot of carbohydrate without the syrupy hit. Add a smoother, slightly runnier consistency and they will feel different if you are used to something thicker and sweeter.
Taste is personal, so there are two easy ways to find out where you land. The Trial Pack is four gels, 2 × TRAIN and 2 × RACE, at a reduced price for new customers, limited to one per person. The Mix Box gives you all three gels in one box.
What if I don’t like the taste?
Most people do, and we put a lot of work into that during development.
The flavours are based on feedback from thousands of endurance athletes about what they actually enjoy taking mid-session. So we built ours around natural flavourings with no sweeteners and no artificial colours: a fruity berry with real acidity in TRAIN, a clean subtle lemon in RACE and RACE+.
If you are new to RocketFuel, the Trial Pack is the smallest way in: four gels, 2 × TRAIN and 2 × RACE, at a reduced price, one per customer. The Mix Box gives you all three to compare.
TRAIN and RACE taste very different from each other, so disliking one says almost nothing about the other.
If a gel genuinely does not work for you, get in touch. Opened gels cannot be taken back for hygiene reasons.
If a pouch ever smells fermented or alcoholic, tastes metallic, is noticeably different from previous pouches of the same product, or looks swollen or is leaking, do not use it. Send us a photo of the front and back of the pouch so we have the batch details and we will look into it.
Storage and safety
How should I store the gels?
Store the gels in a cool, dry place between 5 and 22 °C, out of direct sunlight. Avoid prolonged exposure to high temperatures and heavy pressure on the pouches.
Can the gels burst in a hot car?
A pouch does not simply burst open.
What sustained heat can affect is the product quality and the integrity of the seal, and a leaking pouch in your footwell is not what you want either. So do not leave them in a hot car for long periods, and keep them out of direct sunlight and away from prolonged heat generally.
Why does the tear tab stay attached?
A small piece of plastic on the road, the trail or a race course is litter, and it is one of the easiest things in the sport to fix.
The tab is designed to stay attached when you open the pouch with normal force, whether with your hand or your teeth. The whole package stays together until you can dispose of it properly.
The second reason: it makes the pouch easier to handle one-handed while you are moving.
Are the gel pouches recyclable?
The pouches are made from flexible plastic film.
Whether that type of packaging can be recycled depends on your local waste collection system, and it varies considerably by country and even by municipality. Check your local guidance for flexible plastic packaging.
A gel leaked, or the pouches are sticky on the outside. What should I do?
Get in touch and we will figure out what happened. Send us your order number and a photo, ideally including the back of the pouch so we have the batch code and best before date.
Sticky pouches usually mean one leaked and coated the others. Check each one around the seams, nozzle area and body for leaks, swelling, pin-holes or other damage.
Any pouch that is completely intact and sealed can be rinsed with clean water, dried and used normally. Do not use one that is visibly damaged, swollen or leaking.
Have the products been tested for doping substances?
All RocketFuel products are listed on the Cologne List® and have been tested for selected doping substances without objection.
The Cologne List® programme combines product testing with manufacturer disclosures to reduce the risk of contamination with selected substances prohibited in sport. It is an additional layer on top of the production standards and matters most if you compete at a level where you are subject to testing.
Being clear about the limits: a Cologne List® entry is not a guarantee that a product is free from every prohibited substance under every possible testing condition. Under strict liability, athletes remain responsible for everything they consume.
Is there a maximum number of gels per day?
The labelling gives a maximum of 20 TRAIN or RACE gels per day, and 4 RACE+ gels per day. The lower figure for RACE+ is purely about the caffeine.
Those are regulatory maximums from the label, not fueling recommendations, and not the number you should be planning around. What you actually take should come from the demands of your session, your training status, how well your gut handles carbohydrate, and everything else you are eating and drinking that day.
With RACE+ the relevant limit is usually the caffeine rather than the carbohydrate, and that means counting every source, not just the gels.
Shipping and orders
Which countries do you ship to?
We currently ship to 33 destinations.
Within the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
Elsewhere in Europe: Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Internationally: Israel, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
If your country is not on the list, get in touch and we will check whether we can add it.
How long does shipping take?
Orders placed before 14:30 German local time on business days are usually dispatched the same day.
Germany, around 2 to 3 business days. Elsewhere in Europe, 3 to 8. Island destinations, allow roughly 2 to 3 additional business days. Outside Europe can take longer.
Delivery time also depends on the carrier and the shipping service you pick. When you select a shipping method at checkout, the estimated delivery window for that option is shown alongside it.
These are estimates, not guaranteed delivery times. Weekends, public holidays, carrier delays and customs clearance all affect delivery. You get a tracking link by email as soon as your order ships.
If your parcel is already moving, going straight to the carrier with your tracking number is normally the fastest route, particularly for delivery-date changes or redirects.
How much does shipping cost?
Shipping is free from €50 within Germany, €70 within the EU and €100 to Switzerland, Norway and the United Kingdom.
Below those thresholds the cost depends on your destination, the weight of the order and the carrier. The exact figure for your address is shown at checkout before you pay.
For some destinations there is more than one carrier available. Free shipping applies to one of them, and if you have had better experiences with another you can pick it for a small surcharge. Which options exist varies by country.
My tracking hasn’t updated. What should I do?
Tracking updates get delayed sometimes, particularly on international shipments, and a quiet tracking page usually does not mean anything is actually wrong.
It is most common on island and overseas destinations, where a parcel can sit waiting for space on a flight. Strikes, weather and other disruptions have the same effect.
Get in touch if your shipment has not moved for 3 business days beyond the estimated delivery time within Germany, 5 within the EU, or 7 internationally. Send us your order number and we will take a look.
My order arrived damaged or incomplete. What should I do?
Send us photos and your order number. We will figure out what happened and find a solution together.
Damage in transit is rare, but with parcels moving through a dozen handovers it does occasionally happen.
Before using any gels from a damaged shipment, check every pouch. Fully intact and sealed pouches can be rinsed with clean water and dried before use. Do not use anything damaged or leaking.
I received the wrong product. What should I do?
Send us your order number and a photo of what arrived. We will figure out what went wrong and find a solution together.
Can I return my order?
You can request a return within 14 days of receiving your order.
Products need to be unopened and in their original packaging with any safety seal intact. Opened gels cannot be taken back for health and hygiene reasons. Customers in the EU also have the statutory 14-day right of withdrawal, subject to the applicable conditions.
Please contact us before sending anything back. Do not send anything to our registered address in Cyprus. Returns go to our warehouse in Germany, and we will give you the address when you get in touch.
Return shipping is paid by the customer, except where the product is defective, damaged or incorrect.
Can I change my shipping address after ordering?
Get in touch as fast as you can.
If the order has not shipped yet we can usually still update it. Orders are picked and collected quickly, though, so that window is short.
Once you have the shipping confirmation and tracking link in your inbox, that window has closed on our side. At that point go straight to the carrier.
Most carriers let the recipient redirect a parcel, change the delivery date, or send it to a pickup point using the tracking number. A redirect typically adds at least one business day, and some services or destinations do not support it at all.
RocketFuel
Where is RocketFuel based?
We are a small international team based in Cyprus.
Our products are made in the EU and shipped from our warehouse in Germany.
Are your products available in stores?
Not yet. RocketFuel is currently available exclusively through our own online store.
That is not permanent, and we are not ruling out retail in future. If there is a shop, online or local, where you would like to see RocketFuel on the shelf, tell us. We do look at where the demand is.
If you are a retailer or distributor interested in stocking RocketFuel, leave your details and we will take a look.
What is the RocketFuel Drink Mix?
The Drink Mix is a carbohydrate and electrolyte drink mix currently in development, planned to launch in late summer 2026.
It is designed to complement the gels rather than replace them, giving you another way to build your carbohydrate, electrolyte and fluid strategy and to reach higher hourly targets without taking everything in gel form.
As with the gels, athlete feedback goes directly into the development.
Can I become a RocketFuel athlete or collaborate with you?
Everything starts with the same form, whether you are interested in content, an affiliate setup or a longer-term partnership.
We review every application individually and there is no fixed follower minimum. Fit with RocketFuel, authenticity, your sport and how relevant your audience is all count for more than a number. Collaborations work when both sides get something out of them.
Formal collaboration agreements are currently limited to applicants aged 18 and over. Free products are not automatic at the start either.
What is the Creator Team?
The Athlete Creator Team is for cyclists, runners and triathletes who make content.
If you are selected, you receive a free RocketFuel Mix Pack with 12 energy gels. In return you create two short, authentic videos showing RocketFuel in your training, race preparation or fueling routine. You do not need to post anything on your own channels, we use the content for RocketFuel marketing.
If your content is a strong fit, you may be invited to join the team long term and receive regular product supply in exchange for new content.
The application takes around 3 minutes. Applying does not guarantee selection.
What is the difference between the Creator Team, the affiliate programme and sponsorship?
The Creator Team is about content. You produce agreed video content and receive product in return. Nothing is tied to sales. It has its own application form.
The affiliate programme is about recommendation. It is for athletes who already use RocketFuel and genuinely want to recommend it, and it earns commission on the sales that come through your code or link.
Traditional sponsorship is not our main focus at the moment. Most collaborations start by finding out whether RocketFuel is actually a fit, and what that looks like depends on your profile.
Everything other than the Creator Team runs through the collaboration form.
How does the affiliate programme work?
Affiliates get their own code and tracking link. Anyone who orders through it gets 10% off, and you earn 10% commission on net sales, meaning the product value of the order. VAT and shipping are not part of the commission base.
The programme runs by application rather than open sign-up. Get in touch through the collaboration form and let us know you are interested in the affiliate side. We look at each application individually and come back to you if we think it is a good fit.
It is a small programme and we would rather keep it that way, because a recommendation only carries weight if it is genuine.
I am a retailer or distributor. How can I get in touch?
We are not actively expanding our wholesale and retail network right now, but we are always interested in hearing from businesses that could be a good fit in the future.
Leave a few details about your business and your sales channel and we will review the enquiry and get in touch if an opportunity comes up.
How can I leave a review or share feedback?
If you have tried RocketFuel, we would really like to hear how the gels worked for you. There are two ways to do it and they do different jobs.
A public product review helps other athletes. An honest review from someone who used the gel in a real session tells them far more than any product page can.
Detailed product feedback helps us. Taste, texture, digestion, energy, packaging, how you used the gels in training and competition. We read all of it, and it feeds directly into how we develop the range.
Can I apply for a job at RocketFuel?
We don't currently have any open positions, but you're welcome to send us an unsolicited application if you think you could be a good fit for RocketFuel.
Tell us a bit about yourself, what you're good at, and how you'd like to contribute. If an opportunity comes up that matches your profile, we may get in touch.
How do I unsubscribe from your emails?
Use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any marketing email from RocketFuel.
Transactional emails about your orders may still be sent, since they are needed to process your purchase and keep you updated on it.
If the link does not work or you are still receiving emails you did not expect, get in touch and we will sort it out.
The information on this page is general guidance and does not replace individual medical or nutritional advice. We update it regularly, but content may change or become outdated over time. The information printed on the packaging of your specific product always takes precedence.
Still have questions?
Get in touch. We usually reply within one business day and are happy to help with anything about the gels, your fueling or your order.
Or email us directly at info@rocketfuelendurance.com.