sports!

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

It's also not not streamlined.

as opposed to what? bottles above the saddle? or no bottles back there at all? bottles below the saddle are better than above the saddle, because it's: 1) hard to hike your leg over those bottles when getting on or off the bike; and 2) if you have a decent position, air is flowing over your back, reconnecting behind you. bottles are going to mess with that.

however, if you're asking why there are any bottles back there at all, i'm with you. i think there are 2 things pros overwhelming do that are overwhelming ill-thought-out: putting bottles back there at all and putting a cage in between the arms for a standard bottle. a number of hydration strategies are available that are, in my opinion, superior to what many or most of the pros do.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

To carry more bottles without having to stick one in a jersey pocket. The TT bikes I've owned only had 1 place to mount a bottle cage on the frame. I think it's fine for training but pointless in a race where you can get a new bottle every 10 miles or so.

https://www.aero-coach.co.uk/water-bottle-testing

Just curious what those options might be? I always thought the best way to carry hydration, in order from the least penalizing to most penalizing, was 1) between the arms, 2) behind the saddle. Or are you referring to frame mounted aero bottles and in-frame hydration storage?

i think that nicely demonstrates my point. both my points. all my points.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Very interesting! I never saw this content from AeroCoach.

Being irrelevant for my TT stuff, it takes a back seat in testing order, but I do own a Trinity integrated hydration system I made work for the TT bike frameset. I can test that against my Fizik Mistica BTS bottle setup someday.

I use the BTS bottle setup to train because I leave the Notio on the bike a lot, and that integrated hydration system would screw the data for TT in the cockpit area.

But, I'm going to bet now the TT bike tests faster WITH the front integrated hydration given it's like a giant fairing leading into the head tube.

I'm confused-don't the results suggest a BTA bottle is pretty much the best solution?

What solution do you think is superior (excluding in frame bladders) for a IM race?

I've seen some gorgeous triathlon bikes that were turned into bricks by all the hydration and supplies hanging off of them.

Last HIM I did I saw one bike with 5 bottles. Two behind, two on frame and one between arms. Not sure how long they were planning on biking.

Some folks can't handle on course nutrition, so they need to bring their own. Some prepare for Marshall Law and want to have enough water. Some just don't understand that it slows them down.

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The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.

But wow - did you see in the photo how they aggressively hide the BTA bottles in the aerobars? Does anyone actually ride like that? I don't think any of the IM pros do, just by looking at it.

Was legit very surprised at how fast the aero downtube bottle tested. Am going to get one.

I leave the stock aero bottle on my P-Series at all times. My fitter told me it was more aero that way, glad that someone actually tested that and he was right.

I have not used my rear cage for an actual bottle in years but I do use it as my flat kit and use an aero bottle on seat tube and BTA. Could not get a bottle back there to work without sitting up for a minute and messing around to get the bottle out. Too much hassle.

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Twitter - Instagram

N=1

Long arms and short torso, so reaching back isnt that hard for me. I race with that as a refill with my preferred hydration for my BTA (Torhans Aero-Z). It is not something I drink from, only a once or twice refill in a 70.3.

For training in FL summers I use that BTS as my third bottle on long rides. I do this for avoiding any spillage in the cockpit, and there's usually a few hot rides a year where I need that bottle earlier than planned.

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Waterbottles between the arms is so 2015. I have a bullet shaped Bluetooth speaker cranking out tunes between my arms now.Fits perfectly in a waterbottle cage and totally weirds out the local geeks on the road here.

Perhaps. And, I’m not the guy carrying 5 bottles but having tried just about every combination available, I can’t totally discount that approach for several reasons
(1) avoid slowing down/ potential crashes near aid stations
(2) easier to avoid missing/dropping bottle at aid station
(3) ensure your have personalized drink mixes.
(4) avoids either refilling BTA with whatever you get at station or trying to fit/keep an aid station hand up bottle into a BTA cage that likely won’t fit tightly.

time savings on behind seat bottle likely lost when reaching back for it...

Some time, definitely. All the time gained, maybe, maybe not. Which is yet another reason I think this subject is so complicated and can’t be determined strictly by referring to wind tunnel results.

Accidental-not-accidental drop of bottle to discourage a drafter is more easily defended on a seatpost mount than front mount.

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Anyone remember back in the late 80's or early 90's they sold a big old rubber bladder you could fill up it was then attached to the back of the seat, it came with a long plastic pipe to route along the top tube and up in front of your face when on the aerobars, I forget the name of them. I was at some race in the transition when I saw some guy filling his up and it went pop what a mess. A friend had one it was horrible to clean out especially if you used Exceed or Gatorade. I had purchased one but never used it after seeing that mishap. Cheers LA Rob

Attach a tube up to your aero bars

No need to reach back

the data was generated by putting bottles on on a canyon speedmax TT bike. there are limitations to that kind of test, which is why aerocoach describes the testing methodology. if you're cervelo or trek and you design a frame and a bottle together, as a unit, the data on that bike overcomes the data from aerocoach for that particular bike. so, that's one.

two, has anybody tested lunch in the jersey pocket versus lunch on the top tube, in a bento? if putting your food in your jersey pocket were marginally more aero, do you think people would go back to that? especially if it was the generic bento on the generic bike that was tested, versus a bento designed in concert with the bike, specifically for aero purposes?

three, as you see, BTA is about as fast as behind the saddle, and BTA is where it should be. a 500ml bottle behind the saddle is about as inefficient as you can get: doesn't hold much water, have to keep reaching back, have to toss the bottle for a new one at every aid station. the aero cost, the power cost, it's just not a good place for a bottle. the aero and power cost associated with a good BTA is miniscule.

that kind of test is like a helmet test: it assumes behavior that doesn't exist. ta 500ml saddle bottle is great. if you don't ever use it. a helmet that is aero straight ahead is great. but when we comb through our pics of an IM race, half of them show the rider looking at his BB. so, real world testing of bottles and food and helmets mean testing as the athlete behaves in the real world.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I don't do tri, but if I had to guess folks who should know what they're doing that use those likely don't drink constantly from them. My guess would be it avoids slowing to an aid station to grab and refill a frame or BTA or integrated hydration system. So you only ever reach for it once and it's in the same situation you'd be "sat up" anyway to refill an integrated or BTA setup. Refilling at 20mph versus slowing to pickup from an aid station then fill/reaccel.