Advice for sustaining energy

Hi I posted this in the RNY forum but was advised I might get some good information here as well.
I have been doing allot of mountain biking / trail running as of late but find my body petering out before I think it should and definitely before I am ready. I do some aggressive riding but still after 45 minutes I am shaking at times like I have low glucose. Right now all I have done to remedy that it pop a Jolly Rancher in for a quick sugar rush to get over the shakes. Obviously not ideal, but it is what needs to happen at that time.
Pre-ride I always do a 30gm protein drink that has 5gm carbs & 1gm sugar. I hesitate to eat anything immediately pre/during my ride as I really need to keep up on my fluids as I am sweating a ton.
I just purchased some Cliff Bloks & some "GU" recovery gel. Does anyone have experience with these products?
What are you using during pre/during/post activity for recovery and just sustaining energy? It's funny how now that I have the will and weight to do allot more physically; my body has other plans. Thanks allot for your advice ahead of time.

Also if anyone is around the Central Coast area of Cali, and want to do some riding let me know, we have great trails here and great back roads for the roadies. :)

My 2 cents...Don't do a lot of endurence type of stuff, but these may help.  Have some banana and oj before your ride.  Things you can have in your pockets (when you're in the middle of nowhere); almonds, walnuts, banana chips, any nut, raisins, B-complex pill (nibble on it).

for gels i use clif shot gels (mocha flavor), it took a lot of trial and error to settle on what worked for me.  i only will typically fuel during exercise if i'm doing something very intense between an hour and a half and two hours or anything over two hours.  how much and when will depend on the activity.  during marathons i would typically take in a gel every 1/2 hour to 45 minutes, on a long bike ride like a century i  would take in a combination of gels and solid food like bananans or granola/cereal bars.  when trying blocs or gels, i would suggest trying them out at home first to make sure you don't have any gastric issues.  good luck and keep us posted.

Hi there and thanks allot for your advice.
I was curious. I have been reading a few blogs from post-op marathon/tri folks and it seems when they are competing  they are eating/drinking (cliff bars/gatorade etc.) while they are doing their activity. How are you able to do this and feel comfortable? Is this just a "far out post-op" thing or just neccissary for the endevour? I was told to wait an hour after eating to drink. Are we loosing nutrients if we drink sooner? Thank you so much for your help!

i didn't start adding nutrition while i was working out until a bit over a year post-op.  the first time i used gels during an event was my first 1/2 marathon.  it will take a lot of trial and error, but i wouldn't suggest eating while you exercise too soon post-op.  as you are most likely still in the rapid weight loss phase, you will have energy issues no matter what you do.

When I was losing, I would mix a bottle of half sports drink and half fruity protein drink (like a Syntrax Nectar or a Healthwise Protein Drink) for the bike and for running. For swimming, I'd have a water bottle and pop a gel half way through if I needed it.

Once I was at goal, I experimented like crazy. This is what I came up with:

Have 100-200 calorie snack about 30  min. before usually something carby like a fruit or some carrots. Then consume about 200 calories an  hour during the workout. (Some workouts are short enough that I just drink water during them.) Then, within 30 min. of the workout, I consume another 100-200 calorie snack that has some protein in it. (I've had the best results with Fluid Recovery Drink.)

For my during workout fueling, I found I prefer solid food on the bike and then I just drink water. I use PowerBar Energy Bites mostly with some Honey Stinger Waffles thrown in for variety and then once an hour I do a Gu Roctane for the amino acids and the caffeine. For the run, I mostly do water but sometimes a sports drink and, if I just do water, I might pop a gel at some point or a Honey Stinger Waffle.

But before I worked this out I tried all all kinds of gels, Clif Shot Bloks, Gu Chomps, PowerBar Energy Bars and pretty much anything that looked remotely appealing. They all work but I didn't find them tasty enough to keep them in my repertoire.