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Number of Bottles on Bike - IMLP

henrysaccohenrysacco
in Racing Forum 🏎

Thinking of starting the bike with only 1 full bottle of liquid. Raced IMLP last year (First full IM) and started out with 3!

Given there are aid stations every 10 miles, I assume i should be fine. Any downside? 

Comments

  • Coach RichCoach Rich
    Yes. Please see the "Bike Bottle/Wheels/Race Day Setup Thread" for more discussion. Lots of talk and ideas about this lately.
  • Gordon CherwoniakGordon Cherwoniak

    Henry,

    I have not visited the other thread, but my only comment is that if you start with 1 bottle is this water or sports drink (infinit, course drink).  If the latter the usual note is to just take in water for the first 30 minutes after the swim unless you are a 1:45 + swimmer.  This also depends upon you RR and stomach, but it's good guidance to just go water at the start. 

    Personally last time I did LP I started with a full water bottle and had a small portion of gatorate left in the bottom of a bottle as I was not covering 10 miles in a 1/2 hour. 

    Gordon

  • Al TruscottAl Truscott

    You can get by with one bottle on the bike IF:

    1. It will be the main source of calories, like concentrated Infinit or Perpetuem, and

    2. You can stomach what's in the aid stations (PowerBar Perform and/or PowerBar Gels) as a secondary source of calories, and

    3. It is the usual coolish day in LP, and ylou don't need a lot of fluids in the first 2-3 hours of the bike.

    Priority #1 is knowing where and when your calories will come, priority 2 is knowing how much fluid you'll need, and when on the day (more as the sun gets higher), and priority #3 is knowing what your taste and stomach can tolerate. All this should be decided now, then you can figure out how to use your bike vs aid station as the source of fluids and nutrition.

    Me, I have done IMs with just one bottle on board of concentrated Hammer Perpetuem, and a gel flask with Hammer gel (PowerBar gel is not to my taste). Everything else came from the aid stations. But nowadays, I can't stomach the Perform, so if I want an alternate sports drink, I have to carry it myself. (Grumble - I wish they'd go back to Gu and Gatorade.)

  • henrysaccohenrysacco

    Thanks @Al and @Gordon. I have no issue with Perform (actually prefer it to Gatorade) so i will plan to start with just the one bottle. I supplement with gels which will be taped to frame.

  • Bob IrwinBob Irwin
    I always like a bottle with calories and a bottle with water. That allows me to manage my hydration and nutrition separately. It's not that much extra weight, and it gives you a lot of control.
  • henrysaccohenrysacco

    @Bob, i'm not an Infinit user (just yet) and have had good experiences using only what's on the course. My race plan has me at 20oz Perform per hour (maybe more based on temp) plus 1 PowerBar gel. That totals 275 calories, which has proven to be perfect for me.

    In the past, i've had GI issues mixing different types of sugars (i.e. Gatorade & PowerBar gels) ....Limiting myself to both PowerBar Perform and gels (same sugar) has worked very well.

    Last year in IMLP i went with more liquid, 24-28oz per hour and i had to stop 4 times to urinate. It was cool last year and i will try to account for any changes in temp this year. Let's hope it's 72 degrees as Steve West mentioned :-)

  • Chris GChris G
    I wil start with one bottle of fluid at LP. I will have my first half calories in an aero bottle on my seat tube and about half a bottle of whatever on the bars just so I have something at the start. I will ditch that bottle at the first aid station as I do not like to go fast with a bottle on the front end as I am convinced the extra weight/resistance of it has lead to a wobble in the past.
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