If you haven’t heard of Colombian bocadillo, you’ve been missing out on one of the best tasting, most all-natural ways to stay fueled on the bike – pretty much just guava + sugar. But at the same time, maybe it’s best to not know about something when they’ve been relatively hard to come by if you don’t either a) live in a Colombia, or b) live somewhere in Spain where Colombian cyclists call home base for their European road campaigns. Well, that is starting to change with a new company called Lucho Dillitos, who are looking to bring the sweet-tasting guava paste blocks to cyclists around the world as a natural energy source, cheaper than most gels, and in a totally biodegradable packaging. The first bocadillos came to market in Hong Kong, then the UK, with more markets coming very soon…
Essentially these are just a more palatable natural fruit and sugar substitute to the overly engineered bars and gels that have begun to dominate the current sports nutrition segment. While many of the better on-the-bike-fuel companies have worked painstakingly to include more natural ingredients in their modern offerings, Lucho Dillitos is going back to the more simple with an international distribution of Colombia’s original energy bar. Still made in Colombia, the Lucho Dillitos bocadillo are solid blocks of guava paste (made of just two 100% natural ingredients: 85% Guava & 15% Sugar) that are dry to the touch, but just dissolve in your mouth.
The taste is sweet, but not overpowering, and they pack a good bit of naturally occurring vitamins, minerals, and carbs from the guava. The bocadillos come wrapped in a biodegradable leaf wrapping which means there is no plastic wrapper to keep track of on the bike. Just pull it out of your pocket, eat, and toss the leaf away.
They come in flat packs of 10, or in a box of 12 (or in bigger quantities if you are a shop who wants to retail them) and cost about £1.50 (<2€) per piece (depending on quantity) and have a 1 year shelf life with no added preservatives. They’re available direct for customers in Hong Kong or the UK now with reasonable shipping rates (anywhere else really too, if you want to pay postage.) But the big news is that they are coming to the EU and US via new distribution very soon as well. European sales and a new e-commerce website are expected around February 2017, with US sales expected next summer.
