Do Sports Gels Matter on Long Rides? Potato and Raisin Evidence

The short answer: gels aren’t automatically better

On long rides, you may not need sports gels to get a performance boost from carbohydrates—at least not if your “whole-food” option is a carbohydrate that’s consumed in a similar way. In two randomized crossover trials in trained cyclists, time-trial performance was similar between gels and certain whole foods. Potato purée vs carb gel after 2-h challenge and time trial Raisins vs sports gel for pre-exercise carbohydrate

But these studies also have limits: they tested only a couple of foods, used small sample sizes, and didn’t cover every ride length or on-the-bike fueling schedule. Potato purée vs carb gel after 2-h challenge and time trial

Potato purée vs gel after a prolonged cycling challenge

In one study (n=12 trained cyclists), riders did a 2-hour cycling challenge (60–85% VO2peak) and then completed a time trial. Compared with a water condition, both potato purée and a carbohydrate gel improved time-trial performance—and there was no difference between potato purée and gel. The paper also reports that potato and gel ingestion equally sustained blood glucose concentrations.

What this means for everyday fueling: if your “normal food” is carbohydrate-rich and you use it as part of a fueling plan around hard work, this trial suggests it can perform like a gel in that specific setting. What it doesn’t prove: it doesn’t guarantee that all whole foods (or all timing strategies) will match a gel for every kind of long ride.

Raisins vs gel when fueling is pre-exercise

A second randomized trial (n=8 endurance-trained cyclists) compared raisins vs a commercial sports gel consumed 45 minutes before exercise. The riders then completed exercise and a short performance trial. In this study, performance did not differ between raisins and gel, and the authors describe minor metabolic differences (including insulin changes and free fatty acid changes).

So raisins are another example of carbohydrate you can get from normal food that matched gel performance—though this was a pre-exercise strategy tied to a shorter performance outcome, not a full test of gel-versus-food fueling across an entire long ride.

Bottom line

Across these small trials in trained cyclists, gels were not clearly superior to carbohydrate from whole foods: potato purée matched gel after a prolonged challenge, and raisins matched gel for a pre-exercise fueling scenario. Potato purée vs carb gel after 2-h challenge and time trial

In these small studies, potato purée during prolonged cycling and raisins before exercise produced time-trial results similar to gels in trained cyclists. These studies don’t answer every “long ride” question—because they tested only a narrow slice of real-world food options and ride/fueling setups. Potato purée vs carb gel after 2-h challenge and time trial