Quote Originally Posted by SheFly View Post
If you are on/near the front, do not take a drink,
I disagree with this. In women's races, it is best to be near the front. It saves your hands from a lot of braking, and it gets you away from some sketchiness. If you can keep on pedaling while you drink, then do it. When I'm ON the front, I will do all sorts of things...grab a snack, swap bottles. If I have to stop pedaling for a couple revolutions to get at the seat tube bottle, for example, I still try to keep things steady. I'll move a little to the side or I'll glance around to see what others are doing. When I'm in the pack, I am less likely to be moving my hands around unless I KNOW the wheel I'm on well. BTW, it is good practice to be able to ride around with a bottle/food wrapper hanging from your teeth in case a surge or big slowdown happens when you are unprepared. Always get your hands back on the brakes/shifters (you should have one there anyway) before messing with putting your stuff away.

This may seem obvious, and I'm sorry if I'm lecturing, but a girl last weekend took down half my field (luckily, I was in front of the wreck), because she tried putting her bottle away before hitting the brakes when a big slowdown occurred. She overlapped wheels, the girl in front of her had to do some evasive maneuvering after tapping the wheel in front of her, so bam! Out went the front wheel. She did not have both hands on the bars (nor either one at the hoods).