Jeff Ballweg

Many of you may not know that I am a Clif bar aficionado. I eat one nearly every day, and I can rattle off the prices and selection at the most of the convenience stores within biking distance. At Ragnar, our team ran 206 miles in 29 hours, fueled almost exclusively by Clif bars and energy gel. Not surprisingly, most of the team has sworn off Clif products for life. I, however, am undeterred. As such, you can imagine my excitement when on a recent trip to REI, Julie spotted a trio of seasonal flavors.

Now, its important to note that while I’ve tried nearly every Clif flavor, I usually only eat three. Cranberry Apple, Blueberry and, if I’m feeling crazy, Peanut Toffee Buzz. But in this time of economic uncertainty, we all must do our part, and I thought it prudent and patriotic to stimulate the economy by taking home one of each.

I’m sure by this point you’re as excited as I was, so here’s the breakdown on each, as I eat them.

Pear Apple Strudel:

This one was great. As always, I washed it down with coffee. In this case, the crappy coffee we have in the kitchen. The bar itself was really good, think Cranberry Apple, except instead of cranberries, toss in some unleaven Apples n’ Cinnamon Quaker instant oatmeal. There was also a bit of frosting on top that added a season-appropriate cinnamon flavor.

Spiced Pumpkin Pie:

I have to say I was most nervous about this one. I’ve tried many a pumpkin-based beverage, and I can say that while they smell good, and the first few sips are good enough, you’ll certainly regret having more than two pints of the stuff. The pumpkin flavor came through without that overbearing pumpkin pie funk, which was definitely welcome, but there was a lot of strange yogurty frosting on top. Reminded me of Julie’s Luna bars, which everyone knows are for girls.

Iced Gingerbread:

I haven’t eaten this one, so I’ll update tomorrow, but I’m not sure about the packaging. It looks like a pretty strong endorsement for developing otherwise unspoiled backcountry. I am however glad to see that the little climber on the package has chosen to keep his ears warm, but I’m still worried about him, that cold rock and those bare fingers, well… I hope he’s got some solid anchors in.