Cycling ladies, >25 mile rides - water question

[farfalla2011]

For those of you that ride longer distances, how do you make sure you have plenty of water? My bike only holds 2 water bottles, but those are usually gone by about 25 miles, especially in the heat. The roads I generally ride on are pretty rural, so there aren't convenience stores - or even businesses or many houses for that matter - to fill up with water.


Do you map out your rides to make sure there's somewhere to stop along your route about half way for about a 50 miler? Do you go put out water somewhere along the way? Or do you get one of those additional water bottle holders for the back of your bike? Anything I'm not thinking of?  

[trigal]

I pass lots of stores, but you could carry an extra bottle in your jersey pocket.

[Susie]

I have a water bottle cage that mounts to the seat post and holds 2 more bottles:

www.amazon.com/Profile-Design-2008-Aqua-Black/dp/B001C69YYO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1440888296&sr=8-2&keywords=profile+design+bottle+cage

It also has threaded holders to screw in two CO2 cartridges.

I am not great/confident at pulling/replacing bottles from it, but for the purposes of long rides it is easy enough to swap an empty bottle on the downtube cage for one in the rear at a stop sign or something. Just be conscious of it if you go over something really rough like train tracks because bottles can eject.

[emilyj]

I carry two on my bike and one in my jersey pocket. If I need more, I just route myself past my house and fill up again.

[laurack]

I have a small camel back that I've used for long rides before, I think it holds about 40oz maybe.

[Nonny]

I have two bottle cages on my bike (just got the second cage actually), but we mostly ride on trails where we can stop at parks every 5-10 miles and refill our bottles as needed. In your case, I'd probably look into a Camelbak.

[farfalla2011]

Thanks ladies! I think my husband may have one of those bottle holders Susie mentioned...I'll be checking before the next big ride for sure.

And I totally laughed about the bottles ejecting...I can totally see that happening to me. So good to know since we go over cattle guards every once in a while which are crazy bumpy.

[sadlebred]

**PLEASE don't use those seat 2 bottle holders on group rides!** By yourself/with DH is fine. Bottles fly out of them, and they can be a hazard on a group ride. They can hit someone. If they fall on the ground, someone could run over it and crash, etc. I've been hit in the face by a bottle that flew out from one of those cages, and we were on smooth tarmac at the time. I had a huge bruise just below my eye.

I recommend a hydration pack or a "Back Bottle." I have one and love it. backbottle.com/ At $12, you aren't going to go wrong even if you don't like it. I hate riding with a hydration pack b/c they get hot and sweaty in the summer.

If you do decide on a hydration pack, take a look at the smaller ones as you don't need to haul a ton of gear on the ride.
shop.camelbak.com/skeeter/d/1353_cl_5865
shop.camelbak.com/charm/d/1281 I have this one that I use occasionally for 20-25 ( up to 3 hour) mountain bike rides when I don't want to haul my Osprey pack.
The racebak is pretty good. It's like a base layer with built in hydration:
shop.camelbak.com/womens-racebak/d/1023_cl_231

[laurack]

I also have the charm camelbak, it's not bad. Not too bulky. it's on sale here for 35 w/ free shipping

www.rockymountaintrail.com/detail.aspx?pid=117815&rwvars=/CamelBak/Women%27s_Charm_50_oz_Pack/CMB-CHM-50&ocid=781045&coid=488888&utm_medium=DataFeed&utm_source=googlepla&utm_content=CamelBakWomen%27s_Charm_50_oz_PackPurple_Majesty&gclid=CISwrLbt0McCFdUTHwodZYMMNA

[sadlebred]

I'll also add that if you are drinking 2 bottles on a 25 mile ride, you might want to rethink your pre-ride hydration strategy. I'm assuming the 25 mile ride is less than 2 hours long. Do you drink anything when you wake up in the morning? Drink a small glass of water. Do you drink anything with breakfast? Drink another 4 oz. water. Do you drink in the hour before your ride? Try to drink 1/4 to 1/2 a bottle in the hour before you get on the bike. Some riders try to drink a whole bottle, but I get "sloshy belly" when I do that. Drink a bit all morning before you ride. OTOH, don't down 32 oz. of water 10 minutes before you get on the bike, or you might throw up. If you ride later in the day, drink about 4 oz of water/hour before your ride. Pre-hydration on a hot day can make a bit difference.

[farfalla2011]

sadlebred- thanks for the tips! I can definitely work on drinking more water before heading out. With breakfast I tend to drink coffee...lots of coffee. I need to add water to that mix, but it doesn't taste as good haha. I probably don't go through a whole 2 bottles with 25 miles, but I don't like having to worry about rationing the water if I do end up drinking too much. I like being over prepared vs being out of luck

Thankfully, not too much longer, the days should start cooling down. But, we're still in the mid to upper 90s with crazy humidity blah.

[sadlebred]

Aug 30, 2015 11:05:07 GMT -5 farfalla2011 said:

sadlebred- thanks for the tips! I can definitely work on drinking more water before heading out. With breakfast I tend to drink coffee...lots of coffee. I need to add water to that mix, but it doesn't taste as good haha. I probably don't go through a whole 2 bottles with 25 miles, but I don't like having to worry about rationing the water if I do end up drinking too much. I like being over prepared vs being out of luck

Thankfully, not too much longer, the days should start cooling down. But, we're still in the mid to upper 90s with crazy humidity blah.

Coffee counts as hydration! If you are drinking a few cups within 90 minutes of starting the ride, you are probably good.

It's still 90 and plenty of humidity here. We have up to 4 more weeks of it. I'm with ya!

[juliabug]

I just bought this:

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001C69YYO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

My bike only has a spot for 1 water bottle, but it isn't very hot and humid in Oregon. Before I got the extra bottle carrier, I would plan my ride so that I could hit up a park to fill up water bottle up at a drinking fountain.