
Potatos are as effective as carbohydrate gels for prolonged cycling performance - bookofjoe
https://www.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/japplphysiol.00567.2019
======
skookum
I had to laugh a little at "their impact on performance remains unexamined" as
the bicycle touring crowd has used plain boiled potatoes as a common fueling
snack for as long as I can remember. When I did the Seattle-to-Portland ride
15 or so years ago all of the aid stations had tubs of them to hand out. This
study seems to be yet another instance of Taleb's "lecturing birds how to fly"
phenomenon.

~~~
habitue
I mean, they didn't claim to have invented the idea of using potatoes. They're
examining them quantitatively clearly because they're in use.

~~~
thrwn_frthr_awy
There have been similar research around pickle juice and endurance athletes.

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sorenjan
> Those consuming potatoes experienced significantly more gastrointestinal
> bloating, pain and flatulence than the other groups, however. This may be a
> result of the larger volume of potatoes needed to match the glucose provided
> by the gels, Burd said.

[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191018125512.h...](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191018125512.htm)

No thank you.

~~~
pstuart
Perhaps cooling and heating them back up might help? Diet resistant starch
appears to be worthy of exploration.

[https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/cooling-resistant-
starc...](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/cooling-resistant-
starch#section3)

~~~
DuckConference
That would reduce the availability of carbs and make the GI issues even worse.

~~~
pstuart
Fair enough. But it's appealing in a non-workout situation.

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jasonboyd
In 2007 I visited Boulder with a friend and spent a night or two at his
cousin's place. His cousin was a trainer for a cycling team. My memory is a
bit faulty after 12 years but as I recall he had been Floyd Landis's cycling
trainer; if not his personal trainer then involved in his training in a
meaningful way. I have a clear recollection of this because doping accusations
had started surfacing not long before this and we questioned him about the
accusations. Not too long after that he went on to be involved in Lance
Armstrong's training; just before Armstrong's cycling career imploded. The
point I'm trying to get to is that he told us his secret weapon was parmesan
potato wedges in tin foil...

~~~
chongli
Be careful with wrapping potatoes tightly in aluminum foil. Metal foil is
completely impermeable to air. If you’re not careful, anaerobic bacteria such
as _C. botulinum_ can grow on foil-wrapped potatoes and cause botulism [1].
It’s always a good idea to either puncture the foil or keep the foil wrapped
loosely unless the potatoes are still hot (above 140F).

[1]
[https://www.cdc.gov/botulism/prevention.html](https://www.cdc.gov/botulism/prevention.html)

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juskrey
After years of struggling with eating during endurance sports, I have finally
discovered the best approach: No food right before sports, no food during
sports. Ended up proving my point (mostly to myself) by doing half-Ironman on
plain water. Never eating on cycle or run again. Pure, pure evil.

~~~
unethical_ban
I've only done one "endurance" event, a 40 mile bike through hills. I did the
whole "don't eat much" and then skimped on my break and goop in the last ten
miles. I made it, but I crashed hard, metaphorically.

How do you prep beforehand?

~~~
juskrey
At that time I was in deep keto with lots of training on water also. Now I am
on paleo (with eventual natural carbs and not watching my ketone blood levels
anymore) and intermittent fasting - the effect is even better. (After lots of
experiments on myself I have realized that deep keto mode is naturally for
prolonged fasting, so enforcing it with fats intake is a perversion)

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rukuu001
Just wait, one of the sports supplement companies is going to bring a
potatoes-in-a-tube product to market.

~~~
jcims
Maybe slice it into tube shaped morsels and fry them for taste.

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torgian
Yeah I guess the study solely focused on carb regeneration during cycling.

In practice, eating savory carbs is great for the first half of a long ride.
But when you’re riding 100-200km, you get so tired of eating.

I typically eat solids foods for the first 70k or so. But after that, when
you’re eating every 20 to 30 minutes, you just don’t want to eat.

That’s when you turn to gels and things that are small and packed with carbs.

Relying on just solid foods is not feasible for those long distance rides.

However, you can’t just rely only on gels and sugary stuff either.

Yesterday I rode 150km with 3000 meters of climbing. My friend and I had a
small breakfast of local food before hitting the road. Started eating at about
35k in, because we climbed a thousand meters at that point.

During the course of the ride I had two bananas, two sticks of Yokan, and an
SIS energy gel. We also grabbed a quick bite at 7 of a fantuan. But the
majority of the ride was sweeter carbs to keep going.

I wanted to puke after forcing down that last yokan before the final climb. My
friend and I wanted nothing with sugar after that ride.

The point being, there’s a fine balance that has to be made for the long
rides. Food is important, and I’m experimenting with different recipes for the
savory foods throughout the first half of a long ride.

~~~
hinkley
You can’t eat trail mix all day long, but in small quantities it’s a good
change of scenery. Bananas and Gatorade aren’t that bad.

We didn’t have this fancy stuff. And honestly for a couple days of touring?
Autocannibalization isn’t _that_ bad. Post rehydration, I think the worst I
ever lost was three pounds, and I’ll bet half of that was still water weight.
A deficit of 5,000 calories isn’t gonna kill you.

~~~
torgian
No, it's not, but people don't understand that it's not the deficit that
hurts. It's the lack of carbs. It's the _bonk_. Bonking during a ride sucks
hardcore.

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hootbootscoot
Was this ever in doubt? Ditto for candy bars masquerading as energy bars or
whatever. Yeah. energy. Sugar. just go buy a bag of sugar and snort it or
something.

~~~
hootbootscoot
er wait. (why am I skipping my chance to become a trend-setter!? sheesh.) boof
it. boofing sugar up your rear end has been scientifically proven to win all
cycling races ever. You can google it.

------
Mathnerd314
Here's a similar study for raisins and sport chews:
[https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-9...](https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-9-27)

That study was paid for by the California Raisin Marketing Board. I wonder if
this one is paid for by a potato group or they had a more neutral source of
funding.

~~~
RosanaAnaDana
Thats all we need. Heavy handed 'big potato' coming down on us to pressure us
all to be ultra-cyclists.

~~~
usrusr
With enough zinc and copper wires, maybe they'll settle for ultra-ebiker as a
compromise?

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themgt
I decided to do some long-distance (all-day/multi-day) cycling in Europe as a
complete amateur, and quickly became aware of the feeling of running out of
glycogen, so I just loaded up on simple carbs like breads and sweets, and
could instantly feel myself re-energized as I ate them through the day.

Then, I think it was a few days in I'd been just downing pure carbs, was in
the middle of nowhere on the bike and started rapidly feeling deeply unwell:
zero energy, brain fog, heart racing, felt like I was about to vomit and then
die.

Pulled off to the side of the road and somehow the thought came to me "...
electrolytes?"

Luckily I had a small packet of electrolyte powder which I mixed with a tiny
bit of water and downed. Recovered almost immediately.

Just an FYI - relying on carbs alone only lasts for so long.

~~~
rubicon33
Fun fact -

You NEED vitamin C to breakdown complex carbs.

You can actually survive WITHOUT vit C if you eat only meat. If you were
eating a ton of carbs but not also supplementing Vit C you probably drained
yourself of it.

------
deepnotderp
I mean, aren't potatoes basically a carbohydrate gel?

~~~
SomeOldThrow
Mashed potatoes have a ridiculously high glycemic index, so yes. I don’t know
about raw.

~~~
jcims
Chilling them first helps reduce that.

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smolder
It's spelled Potatoes

~~~
jcims
Errybody afraid to do the Quayle

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Havoc
I liked this...right up until

>(VO2PEAK)of 60.7 ± 9.0

No fkin way you're doing a credible comparison with >10% VO2s. And I very much
doubt the sanity of anyone that thinks this is comparable.

~~~
carty76ers
As someone who doesn’t follow physiology, why is this non-credible?

~~~
jdietrich
The riders in this trial aren't particularly fit - they're closer to non-
athletes than elite athletes.

Gels and drinks are used in part because they rapidly deliver glucose, but
also because they're highly digestible when you're a) working at the limit and
b) consuming vast amounts of energy. A rider in the Tour de France will
typically consume over 6,000 kilocalories per day and still lose a substantial
amount of weight over the course of the race; to replace their calorie intake
from energy gels and bars, they'd need to eat several kilos of potatoes.

~~~
carty76ers
Thank you for the clear description!

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drewcoo
I'm dubbing that title a "reverse-Quayle." Instead of adding an e to the
singular potato it removes the e from plural potatoes.

------
wyre
I would like to know more about the potato puree that they fed the cyclists.
We're the potatoes as palatable as the gel? A benefit of gels is they are easy
to eat so you can focus on cycling/running/etc. What was the weight difference
between the potatoes and the gels? It's much easier to pack a few 3 Oz gels
than it is to pack the weight of a few potatoes.

~~~
the-rc
Gels are palatable?!? No matter the flavour, I find them disgusting and,
ultimately, a necessary evil.

Agreed on the ease of packing. You'll still need additional water to wash them
down, though. On the other hand, although potatoes are mostly water, you might
need to drink some more in order to swallow them.

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jl2718
I qualified for Kona on potatoes and cream. But, I also barfed for five
minutes straight at the end of the bike course. YMMV.

~~~
wyxuan
Hey as long as your mileage is a little more than the length of the course
you’re going to be fine.

But in all seriousness, barfing will happen more to certain people; but almost
always after they stress their body out more than it’s used to.

------
xnx
"Potaterade"

~~~
xen2xen1
Excellent, just excellent.

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magwa101
I do ultras at MAF pace 180-age=heart rate. I've dong 50K and 13M mountain
race, each about 6 hours, I'm slow. I ate nothing, I came in about a 1/2
lighter, that's about it.

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tempsy
Lol...so a cyclist is supposed to eat a raw potato while cycling instead of
something easy to eat like a gel? ok.

~~~
grepthisab
Serious/competitive cyclist here, I often use real food. Small two bite
sandwiches, etc wrapped in foil. I've also done this with yams, steam a whole
one and add salt, wrap the whole thing in aluminium foil. Put in jersey
pocket. Super easy to pull out and take a bit or two and put back. Easier than
gels actually.

~~~
jdietrich
Most elite soigneurs include some amount of real food in their musettes, if
only for reasons of palatability and morale. Team Sky's rice cakes have become
a firm favourite throughout the peloton:

[https://thesuchef.com/2014/07/29/team-sky-rice-
cakes/](https://thesuchef.com/2014/07/29/team-sky-rice-cakes/)

