Need help with IM Bike Hydration Plan

Alan May

I'd love any guidance you can provide me...

I'm working on finalizing my 2012 IMCDA on-bike hydration strategy.  I'm riding a P3 which has a set of bosses for cages on the down tube only.  I'm 6'1" and 172 lbs. 

Depending on conditions, I'm anticipating my bike split to be 6 to 6:30.

If I do pound for pound replacement assuming a hot day, I'll need 270 total ounces of fluid for 6hr, and 292.5 for 6.5, given a 45oz/hr fluid loss rate. I plan to drink 16 oz of sports drink fifteen minutes before the swim start to help offset fluid loss during the swim.

I'm going with a Torhans 30 up front which I believe with a good fill with no spills and a bit of splashing, I think I'm getting about 22oz of fluid.  I'm planning to use this exclusively for water and start with it completely full.

If I'm reading the map correctly, it looks like there are 9 aid stations on the bike.  (11mi, 23 mi, 33mi, 39mi, 47mi, 64mi, 78mi, 94mmi, 102 mi)  The longest gap between stations appears to be 17 miles.

 

So I have two sets of questions:

1)  What size water bottles should I expect from the hand-ups at aid stations?   20oz?  Is it in an actual bicycle water bottle or a regular water bottle that you'd get in a convenience store?  Should I expect trouble with launching these bottles in a rear mounted system?

2)  What do you recommend to complement the torhans to match this fairly high sweat rate?

I've been training with my nutrition in an arundel chrono on the downtube with a 3 hr concentrate and two rear mounted cages with additional water.  

I was hoping to get by with the TH + chrono, but I think that might be optimistic on two fronts, 1)  Assuming a hot day and 20 oz handups, I may be a bit shy on fluids if I take a single bottle at each stop resulting in 264 oz(if I don't spill).  2)  I'd say every 75 miles or so I launch my arundel (I've tried adding velcro strips... my routes in Austin may just be a bit rough).  I'm concerned about what my fallback plan will be if my fluids go sailing in the first or fourth hours of the bike if I just ride with chrono and TH since I can't rack extra bottles thereafter.

So at this point, I'm not sure what would be most effective:

A)  Torhans + chrono

 Torhans + chrono + TACX single cage mount (having a lot of trouble with it locking at a specific angle and not launching bottles)

C)  Torhans + [most secure/aero rear double cage mount - is this carbon sonic wing + xlab gorilla XT carbon cages? --- I'm not married to any brand or anything, just looking for best, most reliable performance for my setup]

D)  Torhans + traditional bottle on DT with concentrate

Thoughts???

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jess Withrow

Hey Alan - I added a Sonic Wing w/Gorilla XT cages to my P3 and LOVE LOVE it. No issues launching bottles at all (but I'm talking bike bottles, not the Aquafina/Poland Spring/16.9 oz convenience store type bottles they will likely be handing out on the course - and for the most part, they'll be handing them out without the top on so that you can grab, fill you aero mount bottle, and toss the empty bottle back - open bottles aren't really ideal for carrying on your bike, either!). I have concentrated Infinit in the bottle on my DT, water in my Speedfill, and likely a spare water and bottle #2 of concentrated Infinit in the Sonic Wing (I was one of the likely <.0001% of people whose bike SN bag was misplaced - so will probably be carrying all of my really necessary nutrition with me since that happened! They DID find the bag.... about 10 minutes later!). I supplement with Salt Stick, too.

Jess Withrow

Oops.... meant Aerodrink (32oz), not Speedfill!

John Withrow

I guess you get the JW combo today... At IMLou last yr, I used an Aerodrink on front and my Infinit on the down tube of my P3. I had no spare bottles anywhere else on my bike. I found I could get 3 bottles at EVERY aid station. As I approached an aid station, I would take a swig of my Infinit and drink any remaining water from my Aerodrink. Then I would grab a water from the first person in the aid station and squeeze it into my Aerodrink to refill it. I'd then toss the bottle and grab another from someone in the middle. I would take a quick swig from it, then squirt the rest on my arms, crotch and everywhere else to cool off. Then I'd ditch that bottle and grab a 3rd one from the last volunteer of the station. With this bottle, I'd top off my Aerodrink of it needed it, then take a large drink from the bottle, squirt the rest on myself and throw the bottle. I peed 10 times on the bike (yes, you read that right) so I know I was well hydrated. Only 1 time did I completely empty my Aerodrink before an aid station. I had to wait ~3 miles to the next one, but I was no worse for it.

Alan May

John and Jessica,

Great to hear what strategies you found effective... you've given some great ideas to pursue!

thanks,
Alan

Jump4Joy19

My current plan for CdA is a Speedfil 40 oz on the seat tube, which I am considering mixing up a 6 hour bottle of Infinit (going to try this in RR this week). I have a Torhans 30 on the aerobars that I'm using for water only and will refill when necessary. I don't sweat much and am not a heavy drinker on the bike. I used roughly the same system for IMFL (with a Never-Reach instead of the Speedfil) and it worked out fine, I used the Special Needs stop and one aid station refill and that was it. If the Speedfil is as easy to refill as they say, that might be a good option for you as well.

 

I have to say, I am quite disappointed at how much splashes out of the Torhans. I think I'm going to put my yellow spongy thing from my old water bottle there instead of their cap. I made the mistake of putting Infinit in there for my 4 hour ride and ended up wearing most of it.

Alan May

Hey Robin,

Thanks for the suggestions.

On the Torhans splashing issue... If you have the newer design with the double baffle "funnel", there is a newer design for the included double baffle. I got an early prototype of it from Hans. They were going to mass produce it next, but the new, shallower design of the double baffle is superior to the original double baffle design. If you have the pre-double baffle design ( I've got one of these as well), you might consider ordering just the new bottle (and ask for the second generation baffle as it is much easier to fill and yields more usable volume (about 22 oz))

thanks,
alan