datlas 

I love to ride year round. Many of my coldest weather rides are only 30-35 miles, so hydration is less of an issue. The bottle freezes up after about 45 minutes so I get what I can in and am fine since the rides are only 2 hours long.

Tomorrow we are going to do a 3.5 hour ride with temps around 20, so I need to find a way to prevent my bottle(s) from freezing for a longer time. I don't have the time to go buy some fancy thermos or insulated bottle.

As of now, my tentative plan is to put 1 bottle on the bike (with warm drink, for the first hour) and put my second bottle in a jersey pocket close to my skin so it won't freeze.

But putting a big water bottle in my layers is going to be a little uncomfortable/cumbersome.

Any other easy home remedies??

modernjess

Vodka. I guarantee it wont freeze. Whiskey is good too.

Insulated bottles with warm water is all I got. That or a camel back with an insulated hose. Neither of which you have. Stop at a c-store and refill if possible. Ok I'm bored at work. Go with your plan, over hydrate before you leave.

2_i 

There is quite an abundance of vacuum insulated steel thermos bottles and cups right now. I stick with the Nissan-Thermos brand and my favorite bottle is the Backpack, that you can usually find for about $20, e.g. in Target stores. In general, look for one-hand operation. My winter commute is 45 min one way and my beverage continues to be warm even after the return commute.

nkfrench 

I have a stainless steel thermos bottle that fits in a standard bike cage. Got it at Target. I have a neoprene coozie to put it in to eliminate clanging and escapes. It has a button to pop the spring lid open (one-handed operation). It isn't large enough for a long ride so it would be the 2nd or 3rd bottle.

Multiple smaller bottles in jersey pockets under the jacket may be more comfortable than one large bottle. Look at insulated kid's size bottles. Polar makes some.

On long summer rides I used to put a small trunk bag on a light beam rack (alloy seatpost not c/f).
It was insulated and would keep bottles cold for a long time. I expect that it would also keep a warm bottle from freezing in the winter for a while.
My winter rides are usually shorter and warmer than yours so I've not tested it out.
I have no issue stopping to shuffle bottles around every hour or so. YMMV.

Gyrine

Two tips:
1) sports drinks containing electrolytes freeze at a much lower temp than pure water
2) start out your ride with warm, even hot, water - although the temp drops at the same rate, it will take longer to freeze.

Bonus tip: wrap your bottle in something like a sock and stick chemical hand warmers in next to the bottle.

Gyrine

Actually, the more I think about it, wrap the whole bottle cage in something for the winter (held in place through the cage fasteners or whatever); then just slip in hand warmer packets before any ride you are concerned about freezing.

ThermionicScott 

Stow your bottles upside-down so that the liquid near the nozzle freezes last.

rumrunn6

3.5 hrs at 20 degrees nowhere near a store to warm up or buy liquid liquids? impressive! good luck with that! :-)

bikemig 

I like to bring a thermos of hot tea in a pannier.

Number400

An option is to not use standard bottles with tiny passages. You could also tape a hand sized chemical warmer to the bottom of each bottle.

cyccommute 

Here we go again I'll get this out of the way before I respond below.

Adding sugar, ethanol or salt does little to depress the freezing point in concentrations that you could consume. To depress the melting point -10°C (14°C )would require a solution that is 5 molal for a single particle solution like ethanol or sugar while it would require a 3 molal solution for a 2 particle solution like sodium chloride. A "molal" is a mole of a substance per kilogram of solution.

5 moles of sugar is 1700 g per kilogram of solution or a bit over 3 pounds of sugar more sugar than water. For ethanol, 200 g of 100% ethanol per kg would be needed or about 20% total by weight. That's just about the same strength as a bottle of unmixed alcohol contains (35%). How many shots of vodka can you drink in one sitting without geting blind drunk. Finally, for salt, you'd need around 180g of salt per kg or 18%. That's edging up into toxic salt levels. It certainly wouldn't be good for you over even a short period of time.


Camelbak, yes. Insulated bottles, probably not. Alcohol, no (see above).


Not enough sugar and electrolytes to depress the freezing point much below the freezing point of water.

Probably the most workable idea but water in a water bottle freezes from the outside in. The nozzle on the bottle will freeze pretty quickly.

The tiny nozzle is the problem with water bottles. There just too little volume to have much heat there and so it freezes quickly.

A Camelbak with an insulated tube will freeze at 20°F but it takes longer. If you blow the water back into the Camelbak, it takes longer to freeze

Hezz

The best solution in my opinion if you don't like wearing a small camelback under your clothes is the stainless steel vacuum flasks that are sized to fit into a bottle cage. Like some of the above posts have mentioned. Put hot tea or warm water in them. They will stay warm for quite a while and keep from freezing for even longer.

Gyrine

Yeah, yeah yeah, no matter how many times you "keep saying it" still doesn't make it correct. Wikipedia gets you every time.

billnuke1 

I put hot water in the bottle. Then, I put my "Dr. Pepper" hat on it. The hat comes in handy for head if my bike breaks down, too!

Machka 

Put your bottles in socks. If it is cold enough, they'll still freeze, but not as quickly.

datlas 

Thanks for the tips. I will most likely look into buying a stainless steel thermos type bottle that fits a bottle cage.

wolfchild

+1 That's exactly what I do...A very simple solution to a very simple problem.

CliffordK

I wasn't big on insulated bottles during the summer (I'd rather take a big bottle full of water than one half full of air).
However, I decided to keep my eyes open for a few this winter, and snagged a couple nearly new for about $1 each.

Not a lot of sub-zero riding, but the temp did fall into the mid 20's a couple of times while I was out.

I like to start with a bottle of boiling hot chocolate. I'm not sure how much the insulation helps, I have warm chocolate for an hour or two.

As far as sugar/electrolytes... while they might not prevent your bottle from freezing, they may help slow down the freezing process.

AMusingFool

I have a little experience with this problem. A camelbak, even outside my clothes did well. The only problem was that the water in the nozzle had a tendency to freeze (the main cistern stayed warm enough). Drinking regularly was enough to keep the nozzle water from freezing (and that often meant drinking enough to get to the warm water, which was an amusing experience as the water went from cold to warm).

the only reason for using past tense is that I haven't been carrying the camelbak lately, tho I'm thinking of going back to it

FBinNY 

It's 3.5 hours, something someone who starts out well hydrated should be able to manage without issues. Besides winter riding isn't like riding Death Valley in August. So, instead of trying to make water in the bottle last unfrozen that long, change your needs and timing to match the conditions as well as possible.

Dress cool, so you don't sweat too much (which is always a good idea anyway), then start with hot water in a sock insulated bottle. Hydrate before leaving home, and plan on finishing your water before the cold takes that option away. After that finish the ride on your reserves, and rehydrate when you get home.

I sometimes wonder how we human and "ignorant" cyclists ever managed to survive before becoming OCD about hydration.

Machka 

I used to ride long distances on cold winter days, and my system was this ...

1. Drink a reasonable amount before I went out.
2. Put bottle in a sock, put water in the bottle ... just one bottle.
3. Drink until the water froze solid.
4. Ride without drinking for a little while.
5. By then I would be back at home for a quick pit stop, or at a convenience store or similar.
6. Drink a glass of water or something at home, or get a bottle of orange juice or something at the convenience store and drink it there.
7. Replace my frozen water bottle with an unfrozen one, or thaw the bottle at the convenience store.
8. Continue riding until next pit stop.

The thing was, when I cycled in winter, I made a point of never being more than a long brisk walk away from some sort of shelter like a convenience store or home. I usually rode loop routes, or planned my routes carefully to remain within populated areas. So I knew I could re-hydrate reasonably frequently without using my bottles at all, if necessary.

wolfchild

Proper hydration is just as important during cold winter as it is during hot summer. Riding intensely for 3-4 hours on "dry" is foolish. The problem with drinking huge amounts of water before the ride and then riding in the cold is that you will need to stop and pee every 20 minutes. It's better to bring something to drink and sip regularly while riding.

wolfchild

Too many people have this wrong idea that you can't get dehydrated in the cold. The problem with long duration physical activity in cold weather is that, you may not feel very thirsty, but your body may actually be dehydrated....So just keep drinking regularly during your ride, don't try to be a superhero and ride on dry and empty.

2manybikes

Very true and very important. I got dangerously dehydrated on a 50 mile ride around 30f.
Two hours or so later I fell over. Had to take the dog to the emergency vets so I forgot about drinking and eating enough at home. They took me to the ER. My blood pressure was down to 60 over 30. I told the doctor I need lots of juice. He said OK. I had them and was fine. I have been reading about hydration in the cold ever since. It is more important than most people think. Lot of hydration for low temperatures. More than comfortable temps. I had the clothing just right and I was not sweaty or cold, it fooled me. It's inconvenient to drink almost freezing water steadily, but it's important.
I do long mile rides in the cold, as well as long time high effort rides in snow or whatever once or twice a week all winter. I pull down a face cover to drink, so I take a few big gulps each time. It's worth the trouble.
One of my friends is a ski instructor, for the ski instructors. He had a couple of bad times in the cold without enough hydration.
There is a lot about this on the interwebz too.

cyccommute 

Then show where I'm wrong. The equations for calculating freezing point depression are well known. My calculation are solid as is my knowledge of the subject.