What is the best/easiest hydration?

Before you spend any additional money, assuming you already have 2 bottle cages and zip ties available...I would at least try out a bottle cage on the down or seat tube and one zip tied between the aero bars.  To me, this is the easiest and simplest solution.  I don't see how some of the more fancy hydration systems "teach" you how to drink. 

If you find this solution doesn't work for you, then by all means try other things out.  When I got my tri bike, I went for the PD aero drink.  I found out I didn't like the straw in my face...so I bought a rear hydration tail.  I found out that was overkill, and I went to the solution I mentioned above which works best for me.  Had I tried this solution first, it would have saved me a lot of money.

That tells my story exactly...this year I am going to the bottle on the downtube, and zip tie a cage between the aerobars...

Thanks for the input, interesting..I do have a cage on the down tube and have a spare I can put btwn the bars but guess I'm being kind of a wht weenie since I need all the help I can get.

At my 70.3 this June I was hoping to just have 1 20-24oz bottle like the A2 and fill it when I needed from an aid station. Last year I had 2 24oz bottles on the bike and I maybe went thru 1 so I figure why carry the wht.

I may just bite the bullet on the A2 b/c I'll never know unless I try, I guess it's like finding the right kind of goggles, to each his own. 

Still open to suggestions if u wanna share..

Thanks,

Patsy

I've been thinking of trying the horizontal bottle between the bars, but I'm wondering how to handle refills in longer races. Do you just toss one bottle away and put in whatever they have at the aid station? It seems that would work fine if I want plain water, but if I want to drop an electrolyte tab in there, then it would be a pain. But I might be missing something obvious.

You could drop it in while riding.  But if you've got a bottle on the downtube or seat tube with some electrolytes in it (sports drink, tabs, whatever), do you really need (or even want) one in your water as well?  (I doubt that you do.)

Well, no, I don't know my sweat rate, wish I did but it seems I just don't take in a lot of water. I've read though that you can race better if you do take more in so I'm trying to do that by making it easier to get. I was just gonna put water in the bottle and carry one of those hand held plastic bottle things from Hammer and fill it mostly with Power Bar Gel and mix with a little water. Was hoping to get my electrolytes that way, and then have some extra individual gels and blocks in bento box to top me off. As always, thanks for your input AdventureBear, my nutrition to this point is defined mostly by winging it and so I do appreciate your input.

PP how is the A2 hard to clean? It basically looks just like a bottle, what am I missing here?

Patsy