I'm finding this whole thread about which hand to use very amusing. I'm picturing where on my road bike my hand on the handlebar is, while I'm holding the water bottle. It's somewhere near the middle of the flat part of the bar. It's no where near the brakes - front or rear. If I have to make a sudden stop, the bottle will probably get dropped as I'd prefer to brake with both hands and that is what my body is trained to do. Since the bottle in my right hand, it will end up on the side of the road, not in the middle of traffic.

If you are only using the rear brake, you only have about 30% of your normal braking power. If you brake hard with just the rear, you're probably going to skid into whatever it is you want to avoid. I think that if I really want to stop and can only have one brake, I'll take my chances with the front. Yes, I know I may endo, but I have twice as much braking power to play with.

I stand by the advice of don't drink if you think you're going to need to do any sort of emergency evasive action.

As far as balancing while you're reaching for the bottle. It gets easier with practice - just like everything else. And soon you'll find yourself not even thinking about it.

Have fun!


Veronica