Mountain Bike Racing - 2 bottles vs camelback

who likes to use bottles for racing instead of a camelback? do you drink often

I use a camelbak for riding with friends but when I race I typically use bottles because I find the camelback traps a lot of heat against my back. I usually carry one bottle and have someone hand others off to me.

I used to just use bottles but find I prefer my (small 'c') camelbak for three reasons:

1) I drop bottles (what can I say? I'm a klutz).
2) When it's muddy all the gunk your front tire throws up lands on the bottle spout (yuck)
3) You can drink when you need to rather than having to wait for a long-enough/smooth-enough spot on the trail to grab a bottle.

I drink about 1 bottle per lap if the laps are 40-60min, 1 bottle/2 laps if they are shorter. I don't use a camelback because its big and heavy and annoying and I can drink just fine out of bottles. I don't really know why, but you will very, very rarely see anyone out of sport class with a camelback... Maybe that's just because we're snobby though.
(no it's actually because like i said, they are big heavey and annoying and we have these things called "bottle feeds." and yet the beginners have a 5 pound camelback for their hour and a half race)

I drink about 1 bottle per lap if the laps are 40-60min, 1 bottle/2 laps if they are shorter. I don't use a camelback because its big and heavy and annoying and I can drink just fine out of bottles. I don't really know why, but you will very, very rarely see anyone out of sport class with a camelback... Maybe that's just because we're roadies though.
(no it's actually because like i said, they are big heavey and annoying and we have these things called "bottle feeds." and yet the beginners have a 5 pound camelback for their hour and a half race)

fixed.

fixed.

touché ;)

last race i wore a camelback and winded up running out of water by the end of the race

then you drank too much. You really don't need to drink out of the thing every 5 minutes.

There is one other option - - one I used for a while that I found satisfactory: Camelbak makes a hip-pack (mostly for runners) called the Flash-Flo. It holds two water-bottles-worth of fluid, rides in the small of your back to keep a lower CG and overall weight and is still more convenient than handling bottles. It might be another option to consider.

Salsa used to always use a camelbak, but has decided that bottles are better... could it be that he's not 5 foot something anymore, and the added weight on his back hurts? perhaps.... He'll camelbak if there's no way to get more water somewhere along a race, but that's about it.

For me, it depends on where the race is and what the conditions are at racetime. It was mentioned before, but I always wear the camelback when it is muddy. It's gross, but a friend of mine raced in the mud on trails that were shared w. horses and contracted a nasty disease as a result of drinking whatever it was that landed on his waterbottle. Sick, but another reason I bring both bottle and the camelback.

people in the yankee-land have no clue. here in tx we ride full race = no excuses= with temps frequently upper 90's w/humidity high enough for total fog-outs at dawn. next year schedule a try-out at THE SOUTH TEXAS DEATH RIDE. A TRUE TX RIDE OUT. 15+MILES OF GREAT TRAIL RIDING CONNECT TO ANOTHER 11 MILES OF ROCKY HILL CLIMBING BY 35 MILES OF HILL COUNTRY'S FINEST BACK ROADS. NO MONEY OR POINTS JUST GREAT FREINDS AND BBQ FOR REWARD

camelback on long races, tools and what not are the reason for it more than fluid. If temps are low and the course is not too brutal the camelback stays in the truck and I go with bottles. during the summer when it was 100+ for about 3 months straight it was full camelback and full water bottle for a race or ride.

people in the yankee-land have no clue. here in tx we ride full race = no excuses= with temps frequently upper 90's w/humidity high enough for total fog-outs at dawn. next year schedule a try-out at THE SOUTH TEXAS DEATH RIDE. A TRUE TX RIDE OUT. 15+MILES OF GREAT TRAIL RIDING CONNECT TO ANOTHER 11 MILES OF ROCKY HILL CLIMBING BY 35 MILES OF HILL COUNTRY'S FINEST BACK ROADS. NO MONEY OR POINTS JUST GREAT FREINDS AND BBQ FOR REWARD

yup STDR is an awsome ride-Im on Team NRC/Pedalmasher it was an awsome event

The last 2 XC races I did (3 years ago) with water bottles, they ejected and I didn't notice until too late. Got pretty dehydrated on the last one since it was 95+ degrees. If I were to ever race again it would be with a camelback.

It always seems funny that the sport guys/girls get feed zones on 2 hour races but beginners don't even when the one lap races seemed to timed to last 50-75 minutes, but no opp for water and/or gatorade. It's pretty evenly spilt camelbacks=bottles in the texas series. The biggest problem with neutral feeds are that they are mostly kids that don't realize the riders really-really need that 'stupid' drink. here the feed vones are manned as part of some scouting badge deal, it's a good thing but has drawbacks for the racers ing the 85-90 degree rides.

true to that camel backs traps heat off your back... its nice to use these things when doing a recreational ride only... bottles serves more when you race...

Bottles.

I can get more water in 3 seconds from a bottle than you can get in 10 seconds suckling from a camelbak.

Once a friend and I were riding on a dirt road through cow country. I reached down for a bottle to take a drink and didn't look too carefully. After taking a swig I felt something soft on my lip. There was wet cow-pie all over the spout of my bottle, which had transfered to my lip. I don't know how much, if any, I ingested. That right there would be enough to make me consider a Camelbak.

Depends on the race, of course. Short race? Bottles. Long race? Pack. Any aid or support stations/water handoffs? Longer enduro-style races tend to have those.

Short or long is obviously open to interpretation. Been a long time since I've done any kind of racing though, but the subject caught my eye.

The times I screwed myself were when deciding " nah, I don't need to have my tool with the chain tool along" or "I'll be fine with just a tube and pump for this one" or "this is warm enough, it didn't rain that much last night."

if you have a race jersey on they slip right into the back of your jersey. Much easier than trying to pull it out of a cage and like everyone said they get dirt, mud and other things on it. I ride with a camel back when riding for fun but in races it is bottles.

When ever I ride, I use camelbak. I don't even notice the added weight.
Its just convenient to be able to drink with a turn of my head.

I don't use bottles or a camelbak to race.

For trail riding, it's several bottles.