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Can ya'll please share what works best for you/your methods for taking fuel along on long rides?!?
Do you simply use a handlebar bag? If so, anyone have any favorites that they recommend?
And I really wish I could mount another water bottle cage on my bike!
Please tell me what works for you!
Thanks ya'll.
S.
For solids I have a Bento box. I used to cram that stuff into my saddle bag but my smaller bag doesn't have room for it with the tubes, etc.
For liquids I use a fannypack Camel Bak that I refill from my regular bottles: I have two bottle cages on the frame and I just added a double cage and holder on the back of the seat for long rides.
From a racing perspective, my jerseys have 3 pockets in the back and since I only have one bike to train & race on I don't use a saddle bag. I just put anything I bring in the pockets. In the left I usually have keys and gel or cliff bloks. center is flat kit in a bag wrapped tightly and bound with a rubber band. right is cell phone. If I bring a vest or take off arm warmers then I just combine keys, gel, and phone into one pocket and put the extra stuff in the other.
Hope that helps :)
For all my rides up to 6 hours I use an expandable saddle bag (Topeak Medium Aero Wedge Seat Pack) and my jersey pockets.
The food items I carry are mainly powerbars and powergels, which both stand up well to mashing and cramming into tight spaces. I place one of each into a jersey pocket, and any remaining in my saddle bag. I'm tight on storage space with the tools, extra tube, phone, etc.. but it works with all my items strategically placed in the right spots. Though, soon I'll be trying a Profile-Design E-Pack on my bike so I've got my food items right in front of me.
To me, transporting fuel = propane in a Sigg bottle. I get it now.
SK, my first thought was Sigg bottles, too!
But as for biking fuel:
On my utility bike I carry everything in a pannier. There is usually one pannier (left side) on the utility bike.
On my road bike I have a BEEEEOOOOOOTIFUL Rivendell handlebar bag that my sweetie gave me. (she has a matching one) If that isn't enough space or if I don't want to have it on the bike that day, I also have a fanny-pack.
I don't wear jerseys, so the pocket option isn't available to me.
that's so funny about the sigg bottles!
thanks ya'll for the insight and suggestions. i just googled some of the products ya'll mentioned and am gonna go check out some stuff tomorrow.
i didn't even know there were double bottle cages! soooo much to learn!
thanks so much again!
s.
Last year I always loaded up my pockets in my jersey with Cliffbars and sharkies or jelly bellies. I kept sharkies in my bento box in front. Since I ride a 45 cm bike I only had room for one bottle which I kept full of an energy drink and wore a Camelback with water. Since I couldn't carry two bottles, I had to make sure that I kept the camelback full.
I'm all excited because I just found a new snack to carry in my jersey pockets. Dannon "Danimals Xtreme" yogurt smoothies - they're small (3.1 oz.) so they fit in a pocket quite well. 70 calories, no artificial colors, and no high fructose corn syrup. They don't stay cold for long, but on a 1-2 hour ride, I'm not worried about them spoiling. I guess you could also freeze them ahead of time for a longer ride.
I usually carry Gatorade in a water bottle and my Camelbak for water. I love my Camelbak because it's so easy to just take a quick sip of water whenever I feel like it (plus I still haven't mastered the drinking-from-water-bottle-while-riding tehnique). I also carry a Powerbar in my seat bag, but I've found that sometimes a Powerbar is not too appetizing mid-ride. So far I've not found any of the gels that don't make me gag. These little yogurt smoothies go down really easy and they're pretty yummy too. I want to see if they have them at CostCo so I can stock up!
I have a compact frame and don't care to wear a camelbak. For longer rides or rides in the heat, I have a behind-the-saddle bottle holder that holds two bottles back there. It takes some practice to get used to, but I like it. Now that the bottle holder is back there (though currently it is off, as it's not quite hot enough to bother with), i have to find a different way to hang my bike bag, so I rigged it so that it hangs on the inside of the frame, where the other bottle holder would be if it could fit. I can post pics if you are interested in the setup...
I don't know how they compare nutritionally, but Costco DOES carry something called "gogurt" -- a kind of yogurt in a pouch product that would fit in your pocket too. it's kind of designed to attract kids, comes in colors (like, since when are raspberries blue?), it's got "yummy" flavors of some sort, natural or otherwise and probably some corn syrup, but may be worth looking into! I don't think I've seen the Danimals product you're hoping for at our Costco!Quote:
Originally Posted by sara
Karen in Boise
I have three bottle cages...two in the front triangle, and one under the down tube. (My frame pump sits on top of the top tube.)
I have an expandable wedge bag under the back of the saddle.
For long rides, I sometimes use a bento box on the top tube, and I sometimes rig a tiny little wedge bag underneath my aero bars, under the stem, in which I put my repair kit. That makes it easy to carry some extra clothes in my under-saddle bag, and it makes it easy to know where stuff is when it is compartmentalized.
I have a camelback, but I don't care for sweating against it. I really hardly ever truly need the 3 bottles, but I sometimes I have been glad for them, especially when I get a flat out in the middle of nowhere on a hot day.
Whatever food I take with me goes in the pockets of my jersey, can't imagine stomaching anything more then what I could keep back there(gels, trail mix, fig newmans, maybe a banana). I have 2 cages on my bike, one bottle has an endurance drink in it, the other has an emergen'c mixed in with it(i feel that these extra nutrients also help with needing less food)
And then I have a smallish saddle bag for my spare tube,tools, and co2
cartridge.
If i run out of water I stop and refill somewhere.
Excess packaging just bothers me so little thingies of food in lots of wrapper annoy my sensibilities - but I love PowerBars. Of course bananas are already perfectly wrapped... and I have Gatorade in the water bottle and water in the Camelbak. (Gatorade from the powdered concentrate, of course - and I use the old containers for coins and screws and nuts and stuff :D :D )
Mostly I stop to eat along the way, though...