I bought a behind-the-seat bottle carrier. I’ve been carrying the extra bottles in my jersey pockets for the long rides which was always fine. But as my rides have been getting longer in the aero position, I find that 6 hours with the extra weight from 2-3 bottles gets to my arms. I feel dirty.
I almost succumbed, but what I ended up doing instead was routing my long rides through towns where I knew there would be water/gatorade refills. So I load up one bottle full of infinIT concentration (6-8 scoops), a 2nd with either water, gatorade, or standard mix infinIT, and #3 (aero bottle) with water or lemonade. I refill bottle #2 and aero bottle in the towns on my route. Works like a charm.
So did I. A non-aero X-lab Saddle Wing. You don’t need it for racing however. At ANY distance.
what I need is a way to keep my bottles cool. I find I have to stop and fill my bottles up with ice every 40 min or so here. but I guess that’s what I get for living in the central valley, ca. I’ve found that like thunderlegs I can pretty much ride anywhere without the need for more than 2 bottles.
I used to live in TX and found the greatest invention in the world was insulated bottles. If you don’t have them already, pick up a pair. They work really well.
(On a side note, glad I read this post before I hit the “Post” button. I mispelled insulated as “insulted.” Didn’t want to hurt my bottles’ feelings or anything because I do love them).
So did I. A non-aero X-lab Saddle Wing. You don’t need it for racing however. At ANY distance.
Some of us have bikes with only a single frame mount. Since I do liquid calories and chase my concentrated solution with water, I need a behind the seat carrier.
-C
Dude…you still haven’t bought a bento box? You have not done anything until you have done that. If you haven’t bought a bento box you are fine, man. I think if one actually buys a bento box…they are officially gay!! So don’t feel dirty Look at it this way, if you haven’t put a camelback on your back for hydration during a race, you are ok.
I have a Cervelo Dual with one cage mount on the downtube. Not enough for an IM training ride! I have an Xlab Flatwing and keep two insulated 24 oz bottles of Gatorade that I froze the night before in it, and wear a small Camelback with about 50 ozs of frozen water in it that melts at just the right rate to give me an occasional ice cold sip of water along the 5-6 hour ride. I keep a bento box full of peanut butter pretzels and Fig Newtons and also keep a peanut butter/banana sandwich in the Camelback. I am pretty damn loaded down, but come IM day, I’ll be feeling superlight!
I used to have the opposite problem in Canada. On long winter runs, my bottles would freeze.
I solved that by microwaving my gatorade or similar, just before heading out the door. On really cold days (below-20C) I would also add one of those foam beer bottle/can covers upside down over the top half of the drink bottle. The bottom half was protected by the foam re-inforced belt holder I’d run with. The ones I used even had a hole punched in the bottom to let out air and condensation out. Made a perfect hole for the nozzle on the bottle.
About once an hour I’d nip into a 7/11 and grab a gatorade and nuke it! I’d get comments every time from the guy behind the counter.
This system worked down to my minimum running temperature of -35degC, but I’d have to stop every 30 minutes in that case. I’d much rather run at -35degC than +35degC that is for SURE!
At -35 I’d limit runs to 2 hours so I never got too far from home in case I got hypothermia (which I got a couple of times)
Even these days when I do early morning rides here in New Zealand, with a frost on the ground first thing, I will simply take hot water out of the tap, just before I head out for a ride. Stays warmish for about 30 minutes, then I’m warmed up and glad to have cold water anyway.
Holy crap, that’s hardcore! I think I would strongly consider a treadmill purchase instead of running in weather THAT cold!
Harden up! You’re a triathlete now, you’re supposed to be tough. 
If you don’t toughen up, what are you going to tell your grandkids? I drove 3 blocks to school in a stretch Mercedes Benz? Phhhhtttt. Whatever.
One winter day, my car wouldn’t start. I walked 3 miles to a friends house at -53degC (now THAT was cold) just so I could drink beer and listen to his new Rolling Stones record!
Another time I was skiing with a wineskin outside my jacket. It was so cold that the wine froze and when I fell, I though I’d broken my ribs!
Okay, I could bore you with my stories of growing up bodyboarding in Maryland in mid-February in water temps around 35 degrees (about 2 celcius) with snow falling so hard I could barely see the waves coming, and windchills much below freezing!
If I’m not mistaken… Hydosloth has only one mount on his Softride…
There are ways to do it without… but I’ve always done IM with my rear mount…
I bought a behind-the-seat bottle carrier.
That’s unfortunate!
Do everyone who rides behind you in a race a favour and take it off for races.
Same here. I bought one for training only and will most likely take it off for racing. For IMWI I plan on one bottle concentrated infinit on one frame cage and the other frame cage will hold water. Will replenish water as needed on course and will swap infinit out with second bottle of infinit at special needs.
In 6 years, never launched a bottle once. The reason (I am convinced anyway) that the bottles launch is because people try and use the cheap ass bottle carriers behind the seat. I have two of these
and have yet to launch a bottle.
Mark,
I have two of those Profile holders on my frame. Simple. Basic. Bombproof. In-expensive. What’s not to like. Never lost a bottle out of my fame mounts - ever!
As for the behind-the-seat - since you can’t legislate common-sense - I say ban them!
Please note that the above is just a personal opinion.
Those are exactly the ones I bought. The reason I bought those ones: they were the cheapest ones in the store ($4.99)! They seem to hold really tight, so I’m happy. Though I love the little sticker on them that says “Do not mount on behind the seat bottle holders.” Haha…
You wrote: "Some of us have bikes with only a single frame mount. Since I do liquid calories and chase my concentrated solution with water, I need a behind the seat carrier. "
Me too - a Softride Road Rocket! I did IMC 06 with spare tube/cartr… in jersey. Pro-Dez “front loader” for liquids. The one bottle cage I had, I used as a spare, that may be your calories. If you are a MOP biker the aid stations in an IM come up frequently enough that you don’t need much more.
Unless you don’t use anything from the aid stations. I can’t stand the Gatorade and my stomach won’t tolerate it. I use Infinit so I have to carry what I need.