Silly Question About Bottle Cages

mdenzien

This might seem dumb, but for two short distance races in a row I've hit nasty bumps in the road right after the start of the bike that have dislodged my water bottles, leaving me without water for the bike leg. The first time was on lap 1 of the ITU Chicago bike course, on Lower Wacker Drive (loaded with hard to see mega-bumps). With no water on the bike I ended up going 90 minutes (swim and bike) with no hydration, thereby trashing my run completely.

I tried fixing the problem by putting new bottle cages on the bike that hold the bottle really tight. The next race was a sprint and I hit another mega-bump and was shocked to see the bottle fly out again, right after the bike start. With a bike distance of only 15 miles and only a 5k to follow, the effects weren't as bad.

Still, next up is olympic nationals in Milwaukee. I drove the bike course the other day and the road looks like Chicago: urban concrete with bone-jarring bumps at the seams between concrete slabs. Another water bottle debacle in the making unless I can figure out how to fix this.

Any ideas on how to keep water bottles on board when riding a course that's like a war zone?

Knighton1

Where is your bottle cage? What kind of cage are you using? What brand bottle?

Al Truscott

An ounce of prevention (what I do in Olys): leave a full bottle or two in transition. Drink up in T1; worst comes to worst and you lose bottles again, drink again in T2. One way or another, all I need in a 70 minute bike is 20 ounces of sports drink, plus what I get on the run.

Peter Greagg

I roughen the bottles with sandpaper so they don't launch.
I noticed my really old (and therefore rough) bottles stayed in the cage behind my seat, whereas brand new ones did launch.
Since roughening the new bottles they appear to stay in.

moetai@gmail.com

well, maybe your bottles are the problem and not the cages...some bottles are narrower than others