a riding food experiment

For mountain bike races I've been training myself to go with just energy drink. However for long mtb rides and long road rides, solid food is going to be a necessity.

The packaged 'athletic food' like Cliff bars add up in cost and just don't go down too well for me lately. They seem to require a lot of chewing energy and water.. Though I still like Peanut butter powerbars.

I read on a forum somewhere that Team Slipstream has been using boiled potatoes as riding food. The post said something about semi-boiled potatoes. Does anyone know what 'semi-boiling' is? Cause I can't find a good cooking definition.

Regardless what I did was peel some small potatoes and boil them for 20mins-30mins. To where I can poke then with a fork. Then put them in a baggie and salted them.

I quite like it. They are easy to chew, and digest. The taste is not overly sugary and the salt is mmm good when into a ride.

Nutritionally they are on par with most energy bars in terms of carbs.

My wife's work is involved with this Nutrional Database it is probably one of the most extensive food databases in the world. A search of potatoes reveals over 50 choices.

I picked Potatoes, boiled, cooked in skin, flesh, with salt.
About 27g carbs.

The only 'pain' is the peeling and the cooking. I always seem to forget about them boiling on the stove. I think I'll do a bunch at a time and just put them in the fridge.
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Refuse: 9% (Skins and eyes)
Scientific Name:
NDB No: 11831 (Nutrient values and weights are for edible portion)

Nutrient Units 1.00 X 1 potato (2-1/2" dia, sphere)
-------
136g
Proximates
Water g 104.69
Energy kcal 118
Energy kj 496
Protein g 2.54
Total lipid (fat) g 0.14
Ash g 1.25
Carbohydrate, by difference g 27.38
Fiber, total dietary g 2.7
Sugars, total g 1.18
Minerals
Calcium, Ca mg 7
Iron, Fe mg 0.42
Magnesium, Mg mg 30
Phosphorus, P mg 60
Potassium, K mg 515
Sodium, Na mg 326
Zinc, Zn mg 0.41
Copper, Cu mg 0.256
Manganese, Mn mg 0.188
Fluoride, F mcg 67.2
Selenium, Se mcg 0.4
Vitamins
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid mg 17.7
Thiamin mg 0.144
Riboflavin mg 0.027
Niacin mg 1.957
Pantothenic acid mg 0.707
Vitamin B-6 mg 0.407
Folate, total mcg 14
Folic acid mcg 0
Folate, food mcg 14
Folate, DFE mcg_DFE 14
Vitamin B-12 mcg 0.00
Vitamin B-12, added mcg 0.00
Vitamin A, IU IU 4
Vitamin A, RAE mcg_RAE 0
Retinol mcg 0
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) mg 0.07
Vitamin E, added mg 0.00
Vitamin K (phylloquinone) mcg 2.9
Lipids
Fatty acids, total saturated g 0.035
4:0 g 0.000
6:0 g 0.000
8:0 g 0.000
10:0 g 0.001
12:0 g 0.004
14:0 g 0.001
16:0 g 0.022
18:0 g 0.005
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated g 0.003
16:1 undifferentiated g 0.001
18:1 undifferentiated g 0.001
20:1 g 0.000
22:1 undifferentiated g 0.000
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated g 0.058
18:2 undifferentiated g 0.044
18:3 undifferentiated g 0.014
18:4 g 0.000
20:4 undifferentiated g 0.000
20:5 n-3 g 0.000
22:5 n-3 g 0.000
22:6 n-3 g 0.000
Cholesterol mg 0
Amino acids
Tryptophan g 0.039
Threonine g 0.092
Isoleucine g 0.103
Leucine g 0.152
Lysine g 0.155
Methionine g 0.041
Cystine g 0.033
Phenylalanine g 0.113
Tyrosine g 0.094
Valine g 0.143
Arginine g 0.117
Histidine g 0.056
Alanine g 0.078
Aspartic acid g 0.622
Glutamic acid g 0.427
Glycine g 0.076
Proline g 0.091
Serine g 0.110
Other
Alcohol, ethyl g 0.0
Caffeine mg 0
Theobromine mg 0
Carotene, beta mcg 3
Carotene, alpha mcg 0
Cryptoxanthin, beta mcg 0
Lycopene mcg 0
Lutein + zeaxanthin mcg 12

USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 19 (2006)