"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Camelbak Racebak + Summer Crits

I'd like some of your thoughts on an idea I had while suffering under the sun this past Saturday.

I don't perform well in heat, and with a multitude of crits happening at the peak of summer here, I'd like to do more to help my body keep cool. What do y'all think about freezing a bladder full of water in the Racebak (http://www.rei.com/product/779970) and wearing it under my skinsuit? It's additional weight, and in a flat crit with lots of micro-bursts that weight will probably cause me to work a little bit more, but I'm hoping the lower core temperature and (hopefully) better performance are worth the cost. Thoughts?

The point here is not to use the Racebak as a replacement for water bottles, but to help cool my body by basically putting a block of ice (the frozen bladder) on my back. Think of it as a poor man's ice vest.

http://www.ichicoblog.com/archives/Camelbak_RaceBak_rear.jpg

fredelicious.

give it a try on a training ride.

other hot day tips ( I live in Texas ):

- keep a cooler full of ice in the car, and fill it the day before the race so it's a bit melted. as you're warming up, take off your jersey, soak it in the icewater, put it back on. repeat just before the start
- also soak your head / hair in cold water. wear your hair really short.
- carry 2 bottles even in a short crit. 1 for go-go juice, one with icewater to squirt on your ears, face, helmet vents
- white jerseys really are cooler. sucks for me my club is black and red. Man I felt it yesterday.
- acclimate. get used to it. go out intentionally during the hottest part of the day. the body does adapt, it takes a couple of weeks of pretty regular hot-day riding.

fredelicious.

where's the "you disappointed Bongo pic?"

give it a try on a training ride.

Other hot day tips ( i live in texas ):

- keep a cooler full of ice in the car, and fill it the day before the race so it's a bit melted. As you're warming up, take off your jersey, soak it in the icewater, put it back on. Repeat just before the start
- also soak your head / hair in cold water. Wear your hair really short.
- carry 2 bottles even in a short crit. 1 for go-go juice, one with icewater to squirt on your ears, face, helmet vents
- white jerseys really are cooler. Sucks for me my club is black and red. Man i felt it yesterday.
- acclimate. Get used to it. Go out intentionally during the hottest part of the day. The body does adapt, it takes a couple of weeks of pretty regular hot-day riding.

+1.

-makes sense for TTs so one can stay in position and still hydrate, particularly when the TT is part of a stage race and recovering effectively from the TT effort is important. everything TT is fred so that just adds to the aura.

-RRs, kind of makes sense too since you will likely need more than 2 bottles and maybe it would keep you cooler (?)

-Crits, I cant see why it would be necessary. The crits you'll be doing are <60 mins and many are 20 miles (more like 40 to 45 minutes). I normally only carry 1 bottle because the races are often too ballistic to get through more than that, but have carried 2 bottles on occaission. Just reach down and get a drink from your bottle.

where's the "you disappointed Bongo pic?"

:lol:

-Crits, I cant see why it would be necessary. The crits you'll be doing are <60 mins and many are 20 miles (more like 40 to 45 minutes). I normally only carry 1 bottle because the races are often too ballistic to get through more than that, but have carried 2 bottles on occaission. Just reach down and get a drink from your bottle.

It isn't so much for hydration as for keeping my core cold. Like an amateur version of the cooling vests used by motorsports drivers.

Hydration isn't my problem - keeping myself from overheating during something like Sally Ride or RTCGP is. So I thought that having (essentially) a block of ice on my back might help keep me cooler.

I was toying with the idea for full torso distribution, but that looks to hold the same amount and bulge in the exact same spot.

Its quite heavy and would never consider it for anything except for long TTs. I did use it for RR earlier this year but only because 1/3 of the 100 mile course was on bumpy gravel roads and I didnt want to loose a water bottle.

ok, everyone is missing the point so I've updated the OP with a more obvious statement.

ok, everyone is missing the point so I've updated the OP with a more obvious statement.

HTFU and deal with the heat.

ok, everyone is missing the point so I've updated the OP with a more obvious statement.

At least two of us got your point, but you missed our answer.

Think Floyd in Stage 17 -- not the drugs, but the water bottles on top of his head.

I hear you on the "hot but hydrated" thing.

To hot races I usually bring a cooler with at least 2 frozen bottles, 2 cold ones (fill them with ice water), and a couple sodas. I dump a bottle on my head if I remember. At one particularly hot race (to me anyway, it was something like 90 deg with 80-something % humidity) I started with a third large bottle of ice in my back pocket and an ice water bottle on the bike. I drank/dumped the icewater bottle relatively quickly then transferred the big bottle to the bike. I used that up too, as well as my cold soda one.

When it's hot I can't deal with drinking sugary stuff. Usually I have one very cold soda, perhaps cut it a bit with water. The other bottle I freeze completely, and stick it in the cage frozen (almost frozen - the cooler will let maybe the first 1/8" melt). Half way through the race it's mostly water, and it's really refreshing.

If you want to use the RaceBak (first I ever heard of it today) purely for cooling, I'd put holes in the bottom of the bladder so that the water drains out. That'll cool you a bit (although it'll give you a wet butt unless you guide the water somewhere) and reduce weight.

Carrying a camcorder and 8 AA batteries as well as assorted helmet cam gear, although I know it's there, I don't think it unduly handicaps me, esp since I'm about 20 lbs overweight anyway. What's another 3 or 4 lbs to me, not much.

I just wish I remembered all this on Sunday when I totally overheated.

cdr

poking holes in the bladder is a very interesting idea...

especially if I put nail-sized holes all the way up and down the bladder, maybe I can get some drip irrigation on my back...

poking holes in the bladder is a very interesting idea...

especially if I put nail-sized holes all the way up and down the bladder, maybe I can get some drip irrigation on my back...

Sounds like a hoon cooler. Too bad they're no longer made.

The point here is not to use the Racebak as a replacement for water bottles, but to help cool my body by basically putting a block of ice (the frozen bladder) on my back. Think of it as a poor man's ice vest.

http://thechaly.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/smiser.jpg

i'd be in heaven

On the bike the team uses a custom made item the riders have bestowed with many names. For our purposes, we’ll call it an Ice Sock. The team has hundreds of these tubes made from a soft poly-fiber. On hot stages the Ice Socks are filled with ice and passed out with extra bottles when the riders come back to the team car. The socks, stuffed around the shoulders and neck, keep the riders cool through the properties of conduction, evaporation and convection.

“If you use something like this,” says Lim. “You’re getting the evaporation; you’re getting the conduction and the convection because you’re riding through air. If you use plastic [and the reason we don’t is] you hold onto the weight of the water; the bag stays full.”

Maybe you could make something like those? Old bibs fashioned into something to fit some ice cubes? Stuff them under a base layer or jersey?

Maybe you could make something like those? Old bibs fashioned into something to fit some ice cubes? Stuff them under a base layer or jersey?

another interesting idea... thanks!

How about a large (PT style) ice pad? You could strap it on and/or wear it under a baselayer. The gel would provide more, longer-lasting cooling than melting ice and it would shape to your body to provide more skin contact.

i like that idea too. lots of things to try out in training.

Strap two of those chemical ice packs under your arm pits. That way you will be able to cool the blood going into your core. (small light weight chemical cooling units)

I'd be concerned about crashing with a large block of ice attached to my spine.

Why not just wear a cool vest (http://www.coolvest.com)?

just throw a chillow under your base layer. if you need to duck tape it to your body.

http://theselittlemoments.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/chillow.jpg

For crits, you can probably get by by wearing a cap and soaking it and also soaking your jersey just before the start. (I also soak my hair, but some of you guys cut your hair too close in the summer). It doesn't have to be with cold water. Any moisture will help once you get going, but you could put some colder water on your shoulders and collar of the jersey as well as behind your ears.

This will work so long as the humidity isn't too low such that you'll be dry in 15 min.

It's how I get through summer training rides when the humidity is too low (for me, that's probably sub-65-70%--I grew up in the swamp). On water stops, I will get extra and re-soak myself, plus I'll have one water bottle on the bike dedicated to clean water (no other drink) for soaking between stops.

As an alternative to the bladder, if you must go that route, try filling a sock with ice and pinning it on your bibs. Water will drip out from that, so no need to ruin a bladder or wear the big pack.

- carry 2 bottles even in a short crit. 1 for go-go juice, one with icewater to squirt on your ears, face, helmet vents.

Everyone that does this eventually mixes them up in the worst way possible.:lol:

I have used my Racebak for about three rides now, one in a short race. To cool yourself with it (and not by drinking from it) is overkill and quite frankly even freddier than it already is.

Plus, I don't think it cools you down THAT much. There's an insulated pad that helps disperse your sweat and stabilizes the bladder so you don't get that much cooling transfer anyway.

FWIW, its great for what it was designed to do.

thanks for the experienced insight, joe. This thread has shown me a lot of innovative solutions that aren't nearly as expensive.

soak your jersey then freeze it; transport it in a cooler; put it on just before the race= poor man's ice vest.

Alan Lim is big on ice vests.

Take a zip lock bag and fill it with ice. Then poke some holes in the bottom. Stick it in your jersey by your neck. The ice will cool down your neck area and when it melts, the water will trickle down your back.