All 3 of the past WTC 70.3s I’ve done have had the same terrible bottles for bike sports drink. Looks like they refill emptied water bottles and just squeeze the cap on.
Typically I bring my own 3 bottles for 70.3 but since StG was hot I grabbed 3 more sports drinks (and 2 more water bottles, I only drank 2 of the sports drinks). On all 3 sports drinks, the caps completely came off the top instantly - at one point I had 2 completely uncapped bottles on my bike, and the one in my BTA spilled a bunch onto my brake rotors making for some ungodly squealing (which I’ve never had before).
Don’t know if they use the same bottles for IM, but seems like you’d have to use some of these bottles for IM at least. How are you folks dealing with these lousy bottles? I know there are pour-in BTA hydration kits (I have one but prefer normal bottles), but I rarely see the pros using them for 70.3 or IM.
Any tips or tricks that make using these on-course bike bottles more usable would be appreciated!
My BTA bottle is my own and it’ll stay on my bike.
The bottles I picked up from my last race go BTS and get replaced at the next aid station (as required). I then wash them and put them in my cupboard until my next race.
My last race in Oman the bottles were completely smooth and had no groove around the neck, so one just flew out of my bottle cage at the first bump which was annoying.
Any tips on mixing as you go? I’ve always found that for an IM, trying to mix in exactly 1/6th of my calories into the BTA reservoir, less what I think is in my tank, and then mix with water as I fly by the aid station to be a little tricky. I always end up with one or two aid stations worth being too concentrated, and it risks upsetting the stomach.
I’ve never tried to mix on the go. I try to keep it as simple as possible:
For a 70.3:
2 bottles w/ 90-100g of CHO each (1 BTA, 1 BTS) - 750-950ML bottles
1-2 gels in top tube
First aid station - grab water at the beginning of aid station and drink as much as possible and dump the rest on my body before the end of the aid station and toss it (if it’s not that hot, I may skip this aid station)
Second aid station - toss my calorie bottle BTA and grab water at the beginning of the aid station. drink that bottle as much as possible until the water station at the end. toss water bottle and grab a full water bottle at the end of the aid station. My calorie bottle BTS gets moved to BTA, and the water bottle goes BTS.
Third aid station - Similar to second aid station but I may not toss my calorie bottle and just swap the water bottle for a new one.
What do you do for an IM? For a 70.3 I just bring everything with me. I usually need 3L but if its hot I can bring 4L with my setup (2x BTA and 2x BTS), and the only thing I do at an aid station is douse with water.
Last time I did an IM, I did it with 3 bottles. 2 bottles had concentrated mixes (1 BTA bottle for first half, 2nd bottle on downtube (aero bottle) for back half of the ride). 3rd bottle is just water BTS. I have to make sure I am taking in enough water at each station to keep hydration up.
Whenever I do another IM, I will go to a 4-5 bottle setup (2 BTA, 1 aero bottle on the downtube, and potentially 2 BTS) . Thanks to all the nifty bottle solutions these days, 4-5 bottles can be done without aero sins. I typically drink a 950ml bottle each hour so for a 4 bottle setup, I would make 1 bottle a little bit more concentrated than the others. Likely the very first one I drink. The rest would be the normal amount and just use water from aid stations. 5 bottle setup would be all bottles have the same amount of calories.
I’m planning to use the Profile Design HSC 250 this year, filled with PF Flow Gel. 300g total carbs there (half the package at the start, the rest tossed in the special needs bag for a refill). Then I can fill other slots with Speed Nectar at ~120g per 1L.
I’ll grab a few water bottles at aid stations to chug and pour on myself for cooling, but I shouldn’t need anything for fueling.
That’s what I was thinking of doing. Unless its very hot, I likely need 5L and can do 4L comfortably on the setup. I was thinking of just doing normal concentrate mix for the first 3L. From there, I can either do the last bottle 2x concentrate and mix with water (50/50 water + concentrate is easier than 1/6th), or if I its super hot, start with 4L and then I can stash 2L at special needs.