If it were me, I probably would grab the food first and quickly tuck it away somewhere and then grab the water bottle and quickly use it to refill your bottle before you hit the last chance trash drop (which should a bit past the last place to grab/food water, though the distance seems to be getting shorter and shorter each year). Then eat your food and you just have to carry the empty food wrapper in a pocket or someplace else until the next aid station.

grab the food first. I just did IM Chattanooga and my recollection is they have water and maybe gatorade first, then food, then water and gatorade again.

I prefer to have a BTA and 2 cages and will refill BTA outside of the aid station, so it it safer. You see some crazy things at an aid station: people cutting you off, stopping, dropping bottle, and filling BTA with powder. If you do plan on no cages free, then grab food and put it in pocket or your mouth, then grab water/gatorade and fill your BTA. Make sure you ride extra slow through aid station. Porto potty is usually at end, so beware of people cutting in front of you.

That is part of my concern also, with IMAZ being a 3-loop course. That 3rd lap could be hairy at the aid stations.

I might experiment on the bike trainer with temporary storage ideas, and keep the extra cage as an option if I can't figure something else out. I don't know what the aero/drag penalty is for having an empty cage on your seat-tube or behind the saddle, but maybe it's worth it.

I can't remember the brand, but I was recently in a race where a guy had an essentially double sized aero shaped bottle mounted behind the seat with a long tube running from it up to between his arms that he kept his nutrition in.

I'm sure the aero experts could weigh in on whether or not this is true, but he believed that there wasn't much aero penalty to having something behind the seat.. you could run a setup like that, which would free up the down tube cage as a spare holder.

Bonus would be that by having extra large nutrition bottle mounted behind the seat, you wouldn't need to stop at special needs for a refill of nutrition

ETA: just did a quick Google search, I don't know if it was the "never reach" brand, but it looked similar to that.

Ha, I've seen that. A little over the top for me. I think I'll just plan on zip tying an extra cage behind my saddle as a backup. No purchases necessary for that one.

Yes, this is always an issue. The aid stations go by very quickly as you ride thru them. Thus, filling a bottle, say the BTA bottle, can be hard to complete within the aid station space and before the last trash drop zone.
Personally, I use an open cage on my BTA and a single rear cage behind my seat. This way, I can grab whatever bottle they are handing up (gatorade or water) and quickly slap it into the cages and keep riding thru the zones. I have seen too many people trying to fill caged bottles with a water bottle or gatorade bottle they just received at the aid station, and in doing so are all over the road. Aid stations are dangerous!!! Get in, get out, as quickly as possible.

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Team Zoot-Texas, and Pickle Juice

What I did: bta and one behind seat, bento box. Coming into aid stations I'd sit up and drink as much as I could from my seat bottle and then toss it. Grabbed food and stuffed it in the bento. Grabbed a bottle and squeezed it into my BTA and then put the bottle behind the seat. Repeat every couple stations. Worked well.

Not to high jack your thread.... since we are speaking of aid stations....

I’ve struggled with using the Gatorade endurance bottle in my bta cage. It sits fine in the cage but when trying to grab it and drink while staying in aero can be a little challenging with the twist cap. I have twisted the cap to open it before grabbing the bottle but then Gatorade squirts everywhere all over the bike. Is it better to grab the bottle, try to twist open with your fingers or teeth? The twist bottles just aren’t as easy to drink from in aero position compared to a standard bottle.

Open to suggestions if anyone has any.

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I think you're nuts if your plan requires you to handle more than one item at a time or do a refill at the aid station. Make the aid station a grab and do refilling etc before or after. Aid stations are easily the most dangerous points on most courses. There's enough going on without giving yourself more to do.
My strategy has been to use aid stations for water only with re-fillable BTA and a cage behind the seat.
Prior to stations, transfer any remaining water from bottle in rear cage to BTA, unless I won't need it. Entering station, discard rear bottle. Grab a new one and slot it into the rear cage. Ride on. Transfer water from rear bottle to BTA when needed. Unless there's some reason you can't put a cage behind the seat this should work for you too. You have the additional bottle on the downtube for nutrition but that won't affect anything. The rear bottle won't cost you anything aerodynamically if located sensibly and should make life a lot easier. It also means you can carry an additional bottle from the start if you want/need but the cage can equally be left empty initially if you prefer so that it's ready and waiting for the first aid station and only used for bottle management.

I don't think you should refill at the aid station. It's too likely you'll either have an accident or cause one. I also reckon you'll lose less time refilling once you get clear and you're back up to speed. At that point it only requires maybe 20 seconds out of the aero position to refill a BTA and you stay pretty much at race speed. You can also choose your moment so there's no corners or traffic to worry about.

I'm currently we up with a refillable Bta and a bts with nutrition (enough for entire 70.3, so it'll stay the whole race). No other cages on bike. plan is to refill bta with aid station water. I'm willing to pull off for 30 seconds if needed. Not looking to break records, just finish and not wreck or cause ons. Is this dangerous, or should I throw a cage on the down tube I seat tube just to hold an empty aid station bottle?

The aero penalty isn't in having something large behind your seat (assuming proper positioning, etc.), its in having the giant tube stuck to the length of your frame.

+1!! I have the same set up. I leave the rear cage empty at the start of the bike and pick up a bottle at the first aid station and throw away the empty bottle at the next aid station

you may not have room in your tri top pockets, but if you are looking for a place to put a bottle temporary as you zoom through aid station, consider putting a Gatorade or water bottle down your shirt. I have done this and it works if you have the right tri top. This buys you time to shuffle your hydration around or finish off what you still have. I have put 2-3 bottles in my shirt on hot days (domestique style). I don't want to get part way to the next aid station and have nothing.

Using downtube water bottles may not be as aero, but something worth thinking about just out of convenience.

To keep things simple I just took solid foods with me, only picked up water/gatorade at the aid stations. I had a BTA bottle for course supplied water/gatorade, a frame mounted bottle with some Hammer Perpetuem/water mix for liquid calories/electrolytes. My other bottle had tire repair stuff in it. I had solid food in a bento box on the frame.

Start with one clif bar on you and one at special needs. Done.

Otherwise the empty behind the seat option. For a full IM I actually use 2 x 3 hour bottles behind the seat and water up front (BTA). No special needs stop unless I need a new tube.

If I was you I'd do one of the following:
1. Put a second cage behind the seat. Use one for nutrition and the other for the bottles you grab at water station.
2. Put an aero bottle on the downtube and keep the single behind the saddle bottle. Use the aero for nutrition since you won't want to discard that.

A standard bottle on the down tube would be a last resort for me. It's the most convenient but unfortunately it's also the most aerodynamically costly.

If I thought there was an easier way........I'd do it. My first is next weekend (IM). I plan to start with full bottles and ditch them (empty) at aid stations........and only stop if it's hot (to take on water). Otherwise, I'm 100% liquid nutrition. I'll pick up full bottles at SN. I lose a few water bottles in the deal. No biggie. I do not plan to stop at aid stations.

I have the X-Lab torpedo.....but honestly find it a PITA to refill. I'll put a regular water bottle, there.

Good luck in your race.

All really helpful advice. I now not only have a plan, but a backup plan, and lots of ideas for plans C-Z.

#1 plan of all is NO crashing. 5 extra seconds at each of 6 stations is a total of 30 seconds. Waste those 30 seconds for the piece of mind knowing that you didn't crash and that you didn't end anybody else's day either. Slow down and don't forget that you're not the only one out there.

Curious - what's your issue with the XLAB torpedo? It's easy to open and close, and the hole is plenty big enough. The only real issue I have is water sloshing out as it gets close to being full, so it generally only gets about 80% full on aid station refills.

I keep the BTA Torpedo for water, and refill at stations as needed. I'm also 100% liquid nutrition (concentrated Infinit), keeping all of that in an aero bottle on the downtube. Single bottle for 70.3, 2 bottles for a 140.6 (I pick up the 2nd in SN). I keep a single BTS cage just in case I need to stash an extra water there. I find this to be relatively clean and simple.

Hello fishybike and All,

Go first class ....

http://video.dailymail.co.uk/...0809189335285318.mp4

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Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

Not to be "that guy" but at IMMT I just played the grab and chuck game. I figured that the time save grabbing a new bottle at each aid station and chucking it at the end of the zone was greater or close to the time saved from any refillable aero style with a straw. Plus it make it easier and I got cold drinks regularly, and didn't have to carry anything or stop at a special need tent.

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

mbwallis...how much do you concentrate your Infinit? 900 calories for each bottle? I'm doing my first IM in Louisville on October 15 and am wondering whether to have two concentrated bottles on my bike. I'm genuinely curious...why not just carry both bottle on your bike? Do you feel that the time stoppping at SN is offset by the added weight of an extra bottle?