Upgrade Your Water Bottle Now!

 I often start my rides with temps in the 70s or 80s, but they end in the 100s, so I have learned from experience the tremendous difference between CamelBak's Podium Ice and all other bottles. Seriously, the Podium Chill aren't worth the water they displace, because you could pack the bottle with ice, fill with water, and the loss in volume when the ice melts is less than the 3-4oz you lose to thicker insulation in the Podium Ice. 

Bottom Line: It's Podium Ice or warm Gatorade.

So why the "News-Flash"?, because the small silicone cap on the  inside of the lid has been flagged as a choking hazard, so these (and all other CamelBak) bottles are now on sale for up to $11 off, making these wonderful, but expensive $26 bottles a once in a lifetime bargain. Oh, and if you're one of the few people left on Earth who still use a Polar Bottle, for God's sake upgrade your gear!

I have two stations for water bottles on my Pinarello. The Red one on the down-tube is for Gatorade, and the Blue one on the seat-tube is for water. I actually prefer the pale blue one, but this one is more distinctive, so a better illustration.

I have quite a specific management protocol for hydration using these bottles, as I live in the high desert and it's very hot and dry here. 

The Gatorade bottle gets filled about half full of the crescent shaped ice my ice maker supplies, but I make the Gatorade from powder and water that sits overnight in the coldest spot in my refrigerator, so it's usually partially frozen. I add Emergen-C powder to the Gatorade powder, pour in the quasi-frozen water and shake. I then put the entire bottle in the freezer while I dress & shower. The insulation prevents the mixture from freezing and ruining the bottle, which it ABSOLUTELY will do! 

The pure water bottle is packed with ice. If you have crushed ice, use it. Whatever ice you use, don't add any cold-wicking water to the bottle until you absolutely have to while out riding. Solid ice has very little contact surface with the walls of the bottle, so it will last a lot longer if you don't fill it with water. I can fit a Zefal Magnum water bottle on the seat-tube, which is where my pure water goes. It's a great option, filled with ice, if you only have warm tap water to refill with on your ride. Its much larger size makes it a better option than the Podium Chill bottles bc it holds so much more ice.

When you need more Gatorade, take the cap off and hold it in your mouth, the same one you're going to be drinking with, and WITHOUT taking the lid off the bottle holding melted ice, squirt the very cold water into your Gatorade bottle. Replace the cap you've been holding in your mouth. NEVER take the lid off of both bottles at the same time as an unlucky gesture like trying to keep your bike from falling over, sliding, etc. leaves ALL of your fluids dumped into the sand. This could be fatal, or at least life-threatening (probably not, but it's a very, very bad feeling to see all your hydration spilled on the ground). 

When you have an opportunity, fill the bottle with ice and melted water with the coldest water you can find, and repeat the process to make more Gatorade. This is the ONLY time the lid should come off of your water bearing bottle, and only when the lid is on and tightly shut on your Gatorade bottle. The idea is to sacrifice cold water for cold Gatorade bc warm Gatorade sucks, and doesn't do anything to cool you off that just sweating would. Try to keep the bottle for water only ice by topping up your Gatorade bottle.

When you get to the end of your ride they won't  be enough ice left to chill a full bottle, so try to judge how much water you can add and still end up with cold Gatorade when you use it to make Gatorade in your front bottle. I often can only top up my Gatorade bottle with chilled water at this point, and have to fill my water bearing bottle with warm water, but that's still a great problem to have after 4-5hrs of riding in 90-115F heat.

PS: If you just have to have pure water along from the start, consider buying an ice-cube tray that makes giant ice-cubes - like 2" squares. Walmart sells them and so do others. The larger the cube the longer it takes to melt into the water that's in contact with the walls of the bottle. It works, but it's a  PITA to work with giant ice-cubes.

Keeping your Waterbottle Cold

 It occurs to me that this post would have been more helpful 3 months ago, but until 6 weeks ago I couldn't have written it with authority, so I guess you can file this under "Better late than Never".

I have tried about every possible way to manage the two, and only two bottles in the cages of my Pinarello, and this method is the clear winner, so I am happy to share it now that I have something to share.

1st, buy the best possible bottles, which are hands-down the Podium Ice bottles by CamelBak. Yes, they are expensive, and they don't hold as much liquid, but they are MUCH more effective than Podium Chill, or **gulp** God forbid, uninsulated bottles. Also, turn the temp down in your fridge and freezer as low as possible. A small mini-fridge can be helpful in this regard. Remember, water ice can be any temp between 32F and -459F - absolute zero. You want that ice as cold as possible. For a special event, like a Century, you might even consider using some Dry Ice, which is frozen CO2, and is at least -110F.

It's important to have only water, or water and Emergen-C in the back bottle, so you can drink the water or pour it into the front bottle to make more Gatorade by adding Gatorade dry powder to the water. I find if I eat GU, rice, or energy bars, I need water to balance the salinity and sugar in my stomach, thus the dedicated H2O bottle. Do don't want to get yourself into a situation where you have fluids on the bike you can't use because they have too much salt in them.

Early in the season, May & June, I tried using Zefal's Magnum bottles in the rear, cock full of ice at the start, and full of very, very cold water, and that kind of works on dry days where you drain the bottle in under 2 hours, AND, move water from the back bottle to the front as quickly as possible. Like when you stop for GU every 15 minutes, drink water from this bottle too. In all cases, LARGER ice-cubes melt slower.

It turns out the bottle on the down-tube, at least on the Pinarello, is better protected from moving air that pushes heat into the skin of the bottle than the one on the seat-tube is, so my strategy, in addition to buying a Silca bottle cage for the seat-tube which has long, slotted bolt holes so it can be seated within 2mm of the bottom of the downtube, is to drain the liquid out of the back bottle ASAP as I ride, because it's the liquid which conducts the cold from the ice to the heat against the bottle's outer skin.

For really hot days, which we have every day in July, Aug, and most of Sept, use only Podium Ice bottles, and PACK them with ice. That means put cubes in the bottles and then slam them down onto a hard counter-top (not so hard as to breach the inner surface of the bottle, but hard) to shatter, crush, pack the ice into the bottle. If you have a cold spot in your fridge, store a bottle there so the water you use is as close to freezing as possible. The Zefal Magnums work great for this. 

Now make a Gatorade & Emergen-C mix in a 3rd UNINSULATED Podium bottle using that water about 1/3rd full of ice. Shake the bottle vigorously and put all 3 bottles in your freezer. What you're avoiding here is putting "red hot" Gatorade from 75 degree tap water into those very cold, ice-filled Podium Ice bottles, because that will raise the temp of the ice and the bottle, and you won't have enough time while getting showered and dressed for those insulated bottles to shed that heat into the freezer. The 3rd bottle solves this problem. 

When you are all ready, roll your bike out to the kitchen, lights flashing, fully clothed, helmet on, Garmin started, and squirt the slushy mix from the 3rd bottle into the two Podium Ice bottles you are taking with you. I use a 25oz uninsulated or Magnum bottle and aim to have just a bit of it left in the bottle when done. Drink 12-24oz of water (or Gatorade) just before you get on the bike, and anticipate having to pee somewhere 10-15 miles into your ride. Also, expect the Gatorade to get frozen into a slush the first 30-45 minutes as you ride. Don't worry, you won't have depleted your electrolytes this early into a ride, and it will liquefy soon enough.

As you ride, try to find the coldest water you can to replace the water in the back bottle, which should still have ice left in it 2-3 hours into a ride. Sacrifice the cold in the back bottle to chill the water in it before squirting it into the front Gatorade bottle you add powdered Gatorade to. Do NOT take the lid off of the back bottle to squirt water into the front bottle. Having both bottles open at the same time wastes cold and usually results in spilling water & ice that you can't replace. You, of course, will have to take the lid off the back bottle while refilling it with cold water, but only then should you risk a spill. 

If you follow this procedure, you can probably still have cold Gatorade 4-5 hours into a ride, even when starting out in 70F temps and finishing up in the low 100Fs. I find the water cooler at the Apple Valley airport very helpful in implementing this strategy, but ice and chilled water from a convenience store can also be fantastic. Unfortunately, the one here in the right location to help doesn't allow bikes inside, so I'm SOL there. 

In short, this strategy has two parts:

1. Make everything colder than everything else at home
   
2. Sacrifice the cold in the back water bottle to keep the front Gatorade bottle cold

NOTE: Do NOT, NOT, NOT freeze water in Podium Ice bottles. They absolutely WILL rupture after a few freeze cycles and you're SOL with your $25 bottle. 

 

 

 

 

 

.

Continental GP5000 TL Longevity

I've got a pretty good flat spot across the crown of the tread on my rear 28mm Conti GP500 TL tires now, this after ~ 1,250 miles. The wear dimples are still visible, but by the end of May I will be replacing them (Update: done), as they should have well over 1,500 miles on them.

Note "Chicken Stripe" on cntr tread

I'm perfectly happy to get 1,500 - 1,700 miles on a rear tire, as I have always had a problem with wear on my rear tires, even when running wider tires in the back than in the front. Riding weight for me is 185-190 lbs, which is probably the biggest culprit, as I am only making ~ 120 Strava watts and 225 RWGPS watts on a typical ride.

Had to wipe the dimples with my fingers to find them back

The desert is a very hostile environment for tires, with the usual glass, but also tons of thorns and goat-heads. Heat also wears out tires a lot faster, any kind of tire. Car, truck or bicycle.

Based on historical trends over my last 12 years of riding, I get about half the tire life most people experience, so at least with the 28mm tire in back, expect to get ~ 3,000 miles out of a Conti GP5000 TL.

What I treasure most in a tire here is reliability, and these tires have performed flawlessly. No point pushing a bad bet to save a few bucks and ruin their perfect record. Speaking of bucks, with inner-tubes going for ~ $8-$9 these days, I've now saved enough on inner-tubes to pay for a new tire.

It's worth repeating, I absolutely love these tires now that I have mastered how to put them on and air them up with sealant inside. The ride quality is spectacular, they're very tough, roll better than anything anywhere near their durability, grip extremely well, and have decent wear. Probably going to jinx myself here, but knock on wood, I have yet to have a flat on this tire.

PS: This is how I expected a Conti tire would wear out, with the sidewalls failing. It wasn't until home I noticed the wear dimples were pretty much gone!

Here's a beautiful picture of me taking a break in the shade at Spring Valley Lake yesterday. It's important because it has absolutely no bearing on this post at all, but with all the COVID-19 craziness in our lives, something beautiful and soothing has become as important as social distancing.

High Desert oasis

No ice left in these uninsulated, but smaller, more aero bottles after 1hr. The small one was filled with ice, chilled water, and left in the freezer for an hour before starting. Time for insulated bottles I guess. I have a bit of an obsession with bottles, so I'm sure I can find the perfect pair somewhere in my collection of 30+ bottles. Almost time to break out the big guns - Podium Ice with Aerogel insulation. I bought a pair off-season for $16 each at Amazon.

Techie Tuesday: Podium Ice Waterbottles

I decided to get Tuesday out of the way early to make time for the upcoming holiday - St Insanity Day! lol 

I first noticed the CamelBak bottles because of the bite valve, which self-seals when left open. It makes drinking out of a bottle much easier on really steep climbs, because you don't have to open and close the bottle, it's done automatically.

I'd also say, the valve is much softer, so a lot less chance for a fat lip, on a bad bump. At 21oz the Podium bottles are just a little smaller than the 24oz Polar bottles, but easier to squeeze (especially when cold), and once the valve opens, the squirt stream is 3-4X the volume.

I've been waiting for these Podium Ice bottles to show up at the local Performance Bike Shop, as they are listed online, and while looking in vain today for another jersey, I found them in stock. Sitting right next to these ZeroLoft insulated bottles, was another new offering from CamelBak called "The Big Chill" - a full 25oz bottle. Unfortunately, those did not use the new Aerojel insulation. (and why not ???)

I started using the CamelBak Chill bottles prepping for my 2nd, and successful attempt on Mt Hamilton as part of the Canyon Classic ride in 2009. It's also why I'm interested now, as I would like to do the unofficial "Super-Century" version of the CC, where you do the Mt Hamilton route, return to the little village of San Antonio, and then join the regular Century course where the two parted company. That should make for 11-12k of climbing and 155 miles. I only have 7 weeks to train for it though.

I currently have one bottle cage on my downtube, which I lowered one hole (the bottom hole is tied with a vinyl tube clad zip tie), and two via a Profile Designs aero bottle rack (I reviewed it extensively for Amazon). I notice it's now available in white, which I would definitely get, as it helps make you more visible at night with your taillight reflecting off of it. It might help keep the bottles cooler too. (why has no one made an insulated bottle HOLDER yet???)

Having 3 X 25oz bottles gets you into the CamelBak hydration pack range without having that weight on your back and butt all day, so this is interesting. (but, why not the best insulation ???)  The shape is also more aerodynamic, and easier to pull out of the bottlecage than a Polar bottle. Anyone need some well-maintained Polar bottles?

While we're on the subject of stuff you put on your seat post, I just have to give a shout out to the gorgeous ToPeak RX BeamRack carbon fiber rack. It weights less than 13 oz, and even with the small bag mounted, weights just 32oz. It's so beautiful I just want to buy one and hang it in my living room. Tons of bag options for their slip-on mounting system too.

 I'd spend the money for a good seat post though. Something like the Syntace P6 carbon fiber (sold out everywhere!), not the total POS Easton stuff I have. I can't see it in the pic below, but the photographed rack is actually mounted on a Syntace P6!

This system would make Centuries, Double Centuries, hot, thirsty summer, and cold winter ride starts SO much more manageable. Would the Profile Designs waterbottle rack fit around this? I think so on my compact frame. Those side panels unfold into full side panniers on some models. Pretty sweet system!

Oh, just to wrap up this review of seatpost mounted stuff, I'm really liking my Specialized Romin Elite Gel saddle. The extra padding of the gel is something I NEED - along with the 153 width.