A Woo Hoo moment for me!

[winddance]

I though of you, Slinke, tonight when I took my bottle out WHILE PEDALING!

I witnessed this! I was very impressed by bikerz's advanced water bottle wrangling.

[velogirl]

Here are a couple of tips (which you may or may not know):

Whenever you take one hand off the bar, move your other hand to the top (not the hoods or the drops). This will be more stable and prevent swerving while you take the other hand off the bar. Once you master this, then you can start working on drinking from the hoods or the drops.

When you grab your bottle (or put it back on the bike), never look down at the bike. Instead, keep looking ahead of you about 20 feet. Your bike will look where you go and there's rarely a reason to look down at your bike.

Here's a little something to practice. When you're standing at a stop, straddle your top tube and just reach down and grab the bottle then replace it over and over again. It takes time to learn where your bottle is on the bike (and different bikes will feel different due to variances in geometry). Even better, do this sitting on a stationary trainer. Before you know it, you'll be a pro!

Oh, and it helps to always use the same size and shape bottle.

One of the funny things about cycling is that most of us never "learn" how to ride (or do things like grab a bottle) -- we just do it as a child. There are lots of skills that we should practice which will make us better, safer riders.

[Crankin]

This is my next skill to perfect (after 5 years)! I had it down pretty well 2 years ago, but then I started using my Camelbak on longer rides and pretty soon i had lost my ability to do the water bottle. My riding partner is slower than me, so riding with her involves some stopping, so I usually just drink then. I really like the Camelbak, but I know it marks me as an "amateur" unless i am on my mtb.
Glad to know I am not the only person who hasn't mastered this.

[Tater]

Congrats on the bottle grab! What helped me was getting a bottle holder that was adjustable, so I could loosen the cage. Since it didn't hug the bottle as hard, sliding it out was a breeze!

[Hill Slug]

Last year on the Sunday portion of STP it was raining, I went to get take a swig of Cytomax, and I about spewed it because of the road grit on the mouth piece... So just a word of caution.....

[CR400]

Good job! Sometimes it seems harder then it really is. There are times in fast group rides and now some races I don't use a bottle for fear of looking like an idot when I drop it. It's never been a problem getting it out its putting the dumb thing back. I drop it, the team leader tells me even in your traing rides you drop it, forget about it and keep going. That is stupid on a 50 mile ride.

[Dianyla]

Careful to not have the bottle cage too loose. You want to make sure it can hang onto a bottle when going over bumps. Bike Goddess, speaking of STP and water bottles, did you happen to notice coming over the bridge into OR there was this big ol' suspension joint BUMP! and then in the next 20 feet downhill from the bump there were about a dozen ejected water bottles lying in the bike lane?

[Lise]

I've got (as Napoleon Dynamite would say) skills with the water bottles--I even switched an empty one for a full one while riding today.

BUT. I nearly killed myself trying to roll down the sleeve I had rolled up while pedalling. Good Grief!

[DirtDiva]

It's not the doing things while I'm riding that I have trouble with, it's the remembering to keep pedalling!

[fatbottomedgurl]

Warning: Never, ever throw a frisbee while riding a bike. Okay, I was ten.

[easterbird]

well fyi, I can drink from a water bottle when on my comfort bike Sedoana Giant cages;however, I can barely lift a hand to signal on road bike OCR c2! I have to plan a stop to drink on road bike ;cause I am still unstaedy with the new bike...I was same way on Sedona so I guess it will come in time. I am a Slooowww learner at 58 +!