I hate stopping on long rides. I hate running out of water. I don’t like hydration packs on road rides. I don’t own bike bags with water bladders (yet). I sweat a LOT.
Just passing this along in case it’s useful to anyone.
All known bottles ≥ 30 oz (If you have any to add, please let me know):
Zefal Magnum Bottles (32oz)SIS 1-Liter BottlePolar 30-oz bottleElite 950-mL Bottle (oh my goodness, my new all-time favorite, finally tried it this week )Trek Voda 34oz bottle (promising.)Soma 38oz bottle (leaks when shaken. only use for plain water)Gatorade 32 oz bottle (not for bikes! not a fan of mouthpiece)NEW Zefal Magnum (975 mL) (meh)Zefal Magnum Pro (975 mL) (fine)Gatorade Insulated (30 oz) (not for bikes! not a fan of mouthpiece)Van Rysel FastFlow (950mL) (must be The Hulk to squeeze. Terrible)Specialized Team 32oz (not for bikes! Ironic for bike company named Specialized)
Europe-only Isostar 1-L bottle (have not tried)Europe-only Powerbar 1-L bottle (have not tried, thank you @kajet for the find)
Honorable mentions:
Trek Voda Ice (28oz insulated) (thanks @echappist)Bonus… some cool cage systems if you’re already maxing out BTA and BTS bottle carriage. Plus, these can hold 32-oz bottles with less ejection risk.
Additional Universal (“SKS Anywhere”) Bottle Cage MountLyne Components - Holy RailWolf Tooth Double Bottle Cage Adapter which mounts on Wolf Tooth B-RAD Mounting BaseWeight limits of all 3 of those systems far exceed their listed weight limits. Either that or I’ve just been lucky so far.
(no affiliation)
I posit that >95% of people’s GI issues in training and racing ARE related to:
timing of hydration intake & overall hydration status
orglucose:fructose ratio management. Usually too much glucose.
orComplexity of carb source, usually turned to because of desired lower carb intake rate, decided upon because of erroneous belief they’re intaking too much fuel for gut issue avoidance.
(or an interplay of the 3 above)
And **NOT **related to:
Excessive fueling.Consider getting bigger bottles. It’ll solve a lot of problems.
I hate stopping on long rides. I hate running out of water. I don’t like hydration packs on road rides. I don’t own bike bags with water bladders (yet). I sweat a LOT.
Just passing this along in case it’s useful to anyone.
All known bottles ≥ 30 oz (If you have any to add, please let me know):
Zefal Magnum Bottles (32oz)SIS 1-Liter BottlePolar 30-oz bottleElite 950-mL Bottle (oh my goodness, my new all-time favorite, finally tried it this week)Soma 38oz bottleAnd as a bonus… some cool cage systems if you’re already maxing out BTA and BTS bottle carriage. Plus, these can hold 32-oz bottles with less ejection risk.
Additional Universal Bottle MountLyne Components - Holy RailWolf Tooth Double Bottle Cage Adapter which mounts on Wolf Tooth B-RAD Mounting BaseWeight limits of all 3 of those systems far exceed their listed weight limits. Either that or I’ve just been lucky so far.
(no affiliation)
I posit that >95% of people’s GI issues in training and racing ARE related to:
timing of hydration intake & overall hydration status
orglucose:fructose ratio management. Usually too much glucose.
orComplexity of carb source, usually turned to because of desired lower carb intake rate, decided upon because of erroneous belief they’re intaking too much fuel for gut issue avoidance.
(or an interplay of the 3 above)
And **NOT **related to:
Excessive fueling.Consider getting bigger bottles. It’ll solve a lot of problems.
you are VERY quickly becoming my favourite poster. THanks!!
Same issues here, sweaty italian that hates stopping.
Love the elite 950 bottles, wish camel or polar would make similar sizes with their nice tops. I have 3 cages on each bike and sometimes stick an extra bottle in my jersey.
I bought a couple of the ZEFAL-Magnum bottles. I love the extra ounces of water. Totally noticeable difference. But I was bummed that the lids were not interchangeable with the standard water bottle or my speedfil A2.
Do you know if any of the other bottles you have listed are compatible?
Great tips! I always leave the house with bigger bottles but I am finding that I have become more sensitive to dehydration, especially during this part of the season when temps are transitioning to warmer. I’ll check out the Elite bottles, I think my shop carries them.
I can vouch for the Soma 38oz bottles. Great for long gravel rides on hot days in remote locations. Simple valve design but they work well and just fit under my top tube frame pack bag.
Bucking the trend of most cyclists, love it. Can’t figure out why so many people like the tiny 500 mL bottles. Kinda useless IMO, except as a third bottle.
Just got your book, or rather my girlfriend got it for both of us, can’t wait to read it!
Bucking the trend of most cyclists, love it. Can’t figure out why so many people like the tiny 500 mL bottles. Kinda useless IMO, except as a third bottle.
Just got your book, or rather my girlfriend got it for both of us, can’t wait to read it!
One of Michelle and my favorite pastimes.
My goodness this makes sooo much sense. I’ve honestly just never thought about the simple solution of…just getting bigger bottles! Honestly it makes me feel pretty silly to admit it but it never even occurred to me. I’m 100% sure that this will help me out, both in training and in races.
Same issues here, sweaty italian that hates stopping.
Love the elite 950 bottles, wish camel or polar would make similar sizes with their nice tops. I have 3 cages on each bike and sometimes stick an extra bottle in my jersey.
Great post doc.
FP
Agreed, the 950ml Elite bottles are by far the best bottle ever made: the lid does not leak, lets a ton of fluid through, easy to clean, can add dust cap for gravel, easy to squeeze. Only downside? they scratch so easily that a printed logo will come off after one ride, so can’t use for company bottle. The neck is so minimal that it has trouble staying in a bts cage.
Polar released their 30oz bottles recently and I like them, though rubber is too thick. The new Polar lids/nozzles are also great (not as nice as Elite, but far less likely to leak than a Specialized big mouth nozzle).
bottle ships free with saddles and bts waterbottle cage.
I posit that >95% of people’s GI issues in training and racing ARE related to:
timing of hydration intake & overall hydration status
orglucose:fructose ratio management. Usually too much glucose.
orComplexity of carb source, usually turned to because of desired lower carb intake rate, decided upon because of erroneous belief they’re intaking too much fuel for gut issue avoidance.
(or an interplay of the 3 above)
And **NOT **related to:
Excessive fueling.Consider getting bigger bottles. It’ll solve a lot of problems.
What do you consider the reason of this to be? (from a practical standpoint)
Not having enough capacity during a race and so using what’s on the course?Having to stop and get more store-bought nutrition/water, and so you partly digest while you’re upright and spending the 5 mins getting more? (vs during a race where you’re likely at higher intensity and don’t stop)Poor mixing of nutrition for those using a concentrate and mixing with water during a race?Some other factor?
The Zefal bottles are solid and I tend to use them most often.
The Soma bottles are bigger, but in my experience, the lids can be prone to popping off / leaking due to the softness of the plastic at the threads (Mountain biking) but YMMV.
The SKS Anywhere Adaptor is great. I’ve used it on seat posts and top tubes.
More Tips
Most Top-tube bags are sloping. If you use them on a sloping top-tube bike (especially mountain bikes) it can be too much slope. I actually run mine backward so that the wedge shape offsets the slope of the top-tube. This seems to help stuff more into the bag as the opening is level.
Water Filters are great (depending on your location / worries) for mid-ride top-offs. I use a Katadyn BeFree which is a flexible bottle that you fill and can then squeeze into your main bottles. This works well because 1. They’re faster than squeeze / pump versions 2. They pack well 3. You can use them to store additional water.
If you’re going out for a long time label everything with what it is and when to use it (I use masking tape)
If you’re going out for a long time write out a plan of what and when and stick it to your top-tube. I know I become real dumb / forgetful after a couple hours.
I posit that >95% of people’s GI issues in training and racing ARE related to:
timing of hydration intake & overall hydration status
orglucose:fructose ratio management. Usually too much glucose.
orComplexity of carb source, usually turned to because of desired lower carb intake rate, decided upon because of erroneous belief they’re intaking too much fuel for gut issue avoidance.
(or an interplay of the 3 above)
And **NOT **related to:
Excessive fueling.Consider getting bigger bottles. It’ll solve a lot of problems.
What do you consider the reason of this to be? (from a practical standpoint)Good question.
Not having enough capacity during a race and so using what’s on the course? Maybe a little.Having to stop and get more store-bought nutrition/water, and so you partly digest while you’re upright and spending the 5 mins getting more? (vs during a race where you’re likely at higher intensity and don’t stop)Maybe a little here too.Poor mixing of nutrition for those using a concentrate and mixing with water during a race?Yes, but I think this is a symptom, not a cause.Some other factor?Yes. Those other factors:
People don’t understand that they must stay hydrated to continue absorbing carbs at their desired rate. Dehydration kills gut tolerance. You can’t maintain optimal hydration fueling every 20-40 minutes. At least most people can’t.
People have no idea what sugar composition is in their products. There is no way to know, for many companies because they will not disclose. You can do ingredient and nutrition facts math to narrow it down or find out exactly on some products, but on most products, there is no way to know and there is a wide range of possibility.Lots of companies use carb sources other than what are optimal for ease of digestion. They’ll throw in maltodextrin and claim osmolarity benefit (which is minimally important, but then throw in some random fruit juice concentrate or starch, which doesn’t pass the gut as readily, dramatically outweighing the benefit of using dextrose, fructose, sucrose, or maltodextrin.
You combine the three things above and you have a recipe for a carb industry where anything goes and there is a revolving door of users trying two dozen different supps. I hope to solve that.
If you’re going out for a long time label everything with what it is and when to use it (I use masking tape)
If you’re going out for a long time write out a plan of what and when and stick it to your top-tube. I know I become real dumb / forgetful after a couple hours.
Solid advice. I hate doing this. I have dreams of our app pushing this info to head units someday. I don’t want to think about this stuff anymore and just want to go ride! Maybe I’m just lazy, but I ride bikes because I love riding bikes, not because I like dreaming up fueling plans.
You’re right though, if you’re going super long, the plan is a must. (adaptability on the fly is handy too, of course.)
The Zefal bottles are solid and I tend to use them most often.
note: there’s a newer 33oz Zefal Pro bottle with a much improved nozzle over the standard Zefal, though they added some weird ridges on the groove/neck of the Pro bottle that affect bts performance. nozzle on Elite still 5x better than even the new Zefal Pro nozzle.
also, a side note on the new Polar single wall bottles: the groove/neck is amazingly ergonomic if you carry a bottle while running (which I do)
