Gatorade on the Go

Yes, I am painfully aware I still owe everyone a post (2 actually) on half-step gearing, but as John Lennon famously said "Life is what happens while you're making other plans".

I was cleaning my "new" Gatorade container and thought somebody else might want to know how to carry Gatorade powder with them in a neat, clean, reliable way that allows you to open and consume as you please - not all at once or not at all. I carry this in my saddle bag at the very back, on top. Easy to get to, and after 1 month, zero mess.

I think the picture about says it all, but I did want to point out that the translucent seal can be installed upside-down. To insure it's in the right way trial fit it to the top of the bottle. It should press-fit into the bottle and present a flush surface to the cap. You'll have to install it properly into the cap before the cap can be used to seal the bottle though. No dice trying to press the cap into place with the seal installed in the top of the bottle.

This 50.9 oz container of Gatorade at Walmart goes for a mere $8.38, so a typical 24oz waterbottle full of Gatorade, sans the cost of the tap water, can be had for just under 27 cents, which is about 1/5th the cost of buying it in liquid form, so you can ride 5 days a week for the cost of 1 day. Obviously, carrying powder instead of liquid Gatorade is a lot lighter and more compact, but it's also cheaper by far and contains sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup.

The medicine bottle has a pressure seal cap that is crazy effective at hermetically sealing powder from water, damp air, whatever. You can open it, pour some random amount into your partially full bottle at a hydration stop, and it will reseal beautifully.

I've tried double zip-lock bags, and they don't reseal worth a darned, they leak all the time, and after a few rides the Gatorade is ruined from being sweat-soaked. I know Gatorade claims to "Help replace what you sweat out", but I don't think they had in mind to literally recycle your sweat! ;)  Not all medicine bottles are of this design, so do be certain. I don't think the screw down bottles would work very well at all.

Cheers!

PS:

I've decided to break my post about half-step gearing into two parts, the 1st will be on theory, and the 2nd part will be on practice.

I couldn't find a 52/36 crank in stock for under $245, but I did find the big 52t chainring at Tree Fort Bikes (online) for $110, so I will replace my stock 50t with that, BUT, in the process of Googling around to find the big-ring, I found an R8000 compatible 38t small ring made by a new company called Absolute Black, which also makes oval chainrings.

Having chainrings for BOTH a 52/39 and 50/38 I now find myself with an embarassment of riches, so I will do the theory part of half-step gearing "real soon now", but may have to play around with both combinations before finding a clear winner between these two options. The shaping of the front derailleur cage, in particular, may play a dominant role in which shifts better, and therefore, rides better.