BT Forum

My bike tested faster with an aero bottle on the seat tube, so I have my bottle on the frame regardless of the distance... so I always half fill it.

That said, normally I'd say no, but grabbing a drink at the turnaround won't cost you too much if you have your bottle intelligently placed.

Assuming wise bottle placement, only take the bottle if you're interested in going as fast as possible.

Shane

Could you explain this a little more? I recently did a sprint with no bottle on a 90* day, and felt as though I didn't NEED any fluids on the bike. Are you advocating taking a bottle for aerodynamics? Or because of the study that showed the intake of a little bit of sports drink increased performance?

^ most people are faster with a torpedo bottle between the arms than without.
(Sadly I'm one of the few that isn't true for)
Still, the overwhelming majority are faster, so unless you've done extensive testing, the safe bet is to run one, water or no.

I haven't seen this particular data, could you point me in the right direction?

Yeah, still Landis'ing it up. It's possible that a torpedo on the "outside" of the bars would be fine, or possibly something like a torhans (angled up as well) I just have to get some "free" time to test it out.

- Dave if Shane (or somebody else) doesn't throw up the data I'll look for it when I get home tonight. I believe the guys at Cervelo did it.

And I know a newb to all this, but what is wise bottle placement? I've never been in the wind tunnel, so I don't know what you're saying. I have P2 and do use an aero bottle between the bars, so I have the option of whether to go down tube bottle, aero bottle, or nothing.

Here's the link to what Cervelo found.

http://www.cervelo.com/en/engineering/ask-the-engineers/hydration-a...

that is fantastic, thank you!

Aero aside, I always bring some water for any bike race distance. I definitely don't "need" the water, but I get dry mouth pretty quickly on the bike and I like to have at least a swallow or two to keep it at bay.

Not really for aerodynamics benefit although a well placed bottle shouldn't negatively affect aerodynamics and may be a slight improvement.

The big reason is that a quick drink of something with some carbs (even if you just swish with it) can improve performance as it will allow an athlete to produce more power throughout the race.

Shane