4-Hour Fuel

The Fuel that helped us get 5th at Adventure Race World Championships, and so much more!

Florida 200: Four Hours at a Time

Store/Blog/Florida 200: Four Hours at a Time

These words are by our newest ambassador- a badass ultra runner from Mexico -Alex Roudayna, who is known as "Chikorita". We been working with her for a few months and we are thrilled to share her recap and words from Florida 200 - a 200 mile ultra run in Florida where she finished in 81 hours and 32 seconds. Amazing Work!!!

Her words:

Day 1 of any 200 miler is a polite lie. The world still behaves. Time still keeps its shape. You can mix and match fuel, taste things, decide things, even pretend you’re in control. But once you cross that first 24 hour threshold, the shorter legs are gone, and you enter the real race, the part where every stretch between aid stations becomes an 18-to 26-mile crossing. Four to six hours. Darkness to dawn. Sanity to whatever comes after.

At that point, each leg isn’t a “run” anymore. It’s a miniature expedition. A tiny life of its own. And in those little universes where time and space collapse, having something like 4-Hour Fuel, something simple, sippable, consistent, became a game changer.

Because when you’re sleeping on sidewalks and trails, when you’re yo-yoing between scorching sun and that strange Florida cold that sneaks up on you at 3 a.m., the one thing you don’t want is your stomach shutting down. You don’t want fuel to become another battle. There are already enough battles.

Blisters that grow their own personalities. Muscles that feel like they’ve been sculpted out of complaints. Hallucinations that argue with you. Sleep deprivation that turns shadows into creatures. And, of course, the inevitable parade of very strange people in very strange places, spoken by someone running 200 miles across the entire state, which probably makes me one of them.

In a 200 mile race, the body ages centuries in days. For me, 200 miles feels like living 29,379 years in the span of three to five days, an accelerated lifetime compressed into footsteps, heat, doubt, and stubborn forward motion. And fueling becomes the one constant in a universe where nothing else stays still.

That’s why 4-Hour Fuel became more than just calories. It was stability in a place where stability doesn’t exist. It didn’t melt. It didn’t spoil. It didn’t revolt against me. It just kept me steady, hour after hour, leg after leg, so I could focus on solving everything else that threatened to break me.

In the end, that’s the highest compliment I can give any product in a 200-miler:

It fed my suffering.

And it kept me moving long enough to finish.

Secret Formula released!

We debated long and hard about keeping this secret for ourselves as athletes, but the only thing that is more rewarding than being on the podium at an ultra-distance event, is helping others get to their personal podium! Over the past three years, we've had such success with this formula and fueling paradigm. It has been an integral part of the team's success at our wins of the Patagonian Expedition Race, Expedition Canada, Everglades Challenge, WA360 paddle race, and Chesley's Solo 24 national title. The longer the race (or stage), and the higher output we want/need to maintain - the more crucial it has become.

Energy uptake is key for a great performance in sport over 3 hours. After 15 years with long distance endurance sport I have gotten tired of food during races. But energy that you can drink is easy to consume and get you going.

I always divide my food in 3 groups: high density energy, motivational stuff and funfood. This 4-hour Fuel counts as all 3 at the same time.

Lars Bukkehave

European Adventure Racing Champion

24-hour races are all about efficiency if you want to be competitive. In the 2021 USARA nationals, we used 4-hour fuel as 90% of our calories. We never got sick of it and felt powerful on every stage. My team's race plan now includes 4-hour Fuel!

Lebn Lovejoy

USARA Nationals 5th place-Team BlueJay

My name is Mateo and I am an ultra endurance bike pack racer based in Bend, Oregon. I have been using your product now for a few months and cannot praise it enough. With the rigors of training, travel and racing, your product is honestly the best supplemental calories in a mixable form that I have ever found.

Mateo

Competitive bike-packing racer

About Us

Daniel Staudigel

fuel designer

Team Bend Racing's Daniel Staudigel developed the initial iteration of 4-Hour Fuel after after his spectacular bonk was filmed for all to see in Amazon's "World's Toughest Race: Eco Challenge Fiji". He needed a more efficient and easy tasting fueling solution for his expedition racing. Since that inception, Team Bend Racing has used the 4-hour fuel across the globe on their way to podium placements in expedition races, 24 hour solo mountain bike events, FKTs, and ultra distance paddling races. Now it is your turn to try it.

How to mix:

Front Country Option (at home) - fill your bottle of choice 2/3 with water (we use a standard 16 or 20 oz bike bottle). Pour that water into a blender, toss in the entire powder packet and blend. Dump into your bottle, and top it off with water. Shake. Go get after it.

For long races that are not super hot, we pre-mix most bottles this way, and leave them in TA bins for up to 60ish hours and have had no problems.

Backcountry mixing (In the TA) - Fill bottle half full with water, then add half the powder and shake like crazy. Add a bit more water and the rest of the powder and shake again. Top off with water and shake as you leave the TA on the way to greatness.

Mixing notes:

It is fine to mix the 4-hr fuel at less than full strength (we recommend at least 1/2 the pack, and then - Congrats, you just made 2-hour tea!), but if you are mixing just 1/4 serving in a bottle (200 cal) - well there are heaps of products out there that do that same thing and will likely taste better at that dilution. We've mixed this formula at all strengths from 2-6 hours in a single bottle and consensus is that the 4-hour strength is the best taste/nutrition/weight ratio for us. Remember, this is high density caloric fuel! That bottle is supposed to last you for 4 HOURS. So it is not your primary hydration source. Carry a separate bottle or bladder with good old straight water. Yum.

Product Concept - we are firm believers in simplicity and science, and yet our experience in expedition racing has often put us into physical and emotional places that are very under-researched. There is plenty out there on how to fuel for a marathon, or a Ironman....but what about when you have to carry all your food?!? No aid stations. Unfathomable distance. And then we add sleep deprivation which just makes everything (fueling included) so much harder.

For our team - this product solves many problems. It eliminates choice. Having a singular primary and palatable fuel source takes the "choice" aspect away from where we get our calories. We know we are getting a "race proven" mix of easy to digest complex carbs, plant based protein, extra BCAAs, electrolytes, and natural fruit sugars.Liquid food is much easier to digest in many race situations, allowing for endurance racers to maintain a competitive output. Bike bottles are convenient and fast to drink from, making it easy to stay fueled on the legs (bike and paddle) that generally have athletes having to choose between slowing down to eat or digging a deep caloric hole as they try to maintain speed and efficiency.

Have questions? Of course you do. Fire away. You can email us at bendracingor@gmail.com or reach out to Jason Magness or Daniel Staudigel or Bend Racing on FB and we are happy to talk. If you wanna tag us in your adventures - we might as well start using #4hourfuel. Thanks so so much everyone.