Typically I fuel with a maltodextrin + water + fizz tab. I also like to throw in solid foods to so I don’t have to take a “break”. I’ve relied on dates to form the solid portion of my fueling.
So, on my longer sessions I find I get palette fatigue and decided I need to add savory to my fueling plan. I came up with roasted baby red potatoes. It works well.
I get some baby reds – cut them up into quarters & dress them olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, sage, and thyme and then I roasted them in the oven at 400° F for about 40 minutes. I had some right away to go with my walleye dinner that night and they were super good.
How do they work on the trainer? Good I alternate with my energy drink mix and the only drawback is they are cold and would be much better if they were good and warm. Oh well. IDK if this would work on the road and I’ll have to work something else out for that use case.
I’ve used baby potatoes before - bit of oil, lots of sea salt and sometimes garlic powder - works great. You can wrap in tin foil and use on the road as well.
I fuel solely off of sugar water plus sodium and that’s at 75-120g an hour training 15-20+ hours a week. The way I’ve found to not get pallet fatigue is to have one fuel bottle and all other bottles plain water (or you could put your sodium in your water bottle). Meaning, in a 1 liter bottle i’ll put all my mix for the entire ride duration. I sip from this fuel bottle every 15-20 mins. i have markers on the bottle every 1/4 to ensure i’m getting my carbs per hour. so instead of constantly drinking sweet drink, i’m only taking small sips of fuel a few time per hour and washing it down with plain water. if i’m extra thirsty/sweating I can drink as much plain water as i want because my fuel is separate. Also, get rid of the fizz tab and just use sodium citrate as it cuts the sweetness and easier on the gut.
I’m lazy, so I just use bagels. Cinnamon raisin for a very light sweetness, everything is nice for no sweetness. Low fat, 50~ grams of carbs, no prep work.
Boiled skin-on new potatoes, chopped into pieces if large enough, rolled in sea salt then wrapped in foil…
Bulky and not that calorie-dense because of all the “built-in” water, but they’re a nice complement to the sugary stuff, acting as a palette refresher between the more calorific sugar loads.
Question about your potato option: Having freshly cooked with your dinner sounds like a winner, but when they cool (i.e. by the time you’re eating them on your bike), haven’t the carbs become more of a ‘resistant starch’ that is slower to digest, and also then act as more of a prebiotic than in-ride carb fuel?
You are correct! Once cooled after cooking, they’ve a lower GI and fewer available calories. I tend to use the potatoes as salty savoury palette cleansers to give me periodic breaks from all the sugary stuff (drinks, bars, jelly babies, liquorice allsorts etc) I’m otherwise consuming.
I did try some of the portable rice cakes from the Allen Lim book, but found them a bit too much hassle for me personally. If I rode long miles outside most days, and I could amortise the preparation effort over multiple rides, it could well be different; in those circumstances I’d soon be absolutely sick of consuming the sugary stuff so would be compelled to find alternatives no matter the effort.
