Originally Posted by
gregf83
Whether you believe the studies is up to you but even a 2% improvement is worth learning to drink while riding in an aero position. You don't have to stop pedaling. Also, many bikes have been tested to be more aero with a bottle on the downtube so even if you don't use it you could be a little faster.
Lol, typical BF thing, assuming the other guy knows nothing.
So beyond the scope of this thread, but I actually do know what I'm doing. My fitter is the guy who does much of the testing that sets the industry standard for aero products, he is a big TT guy. He would like me to race with a specific bottle that mounts on the aerobar extensions, is will give me free watts. I am small though and my bike is small, the bottle won't fit and also leave my Garmin in a place where I can see it and which is reasonably out of the airflow. It could in theory be mounted on top of the aero water bottle but we all think that would likely ruin the aero-ness of the bottle.
So I have discussed this with my coach, who is also a big TT guy. He has in the past rigged a regular down tube (or seat tube, I don't remember the details) aero water bottle in the past and run drinking tubing along the frame to his mouth. He used to race in extreme heat (Texas summer), so this was necessary. I've considered trying this myself but there are a lot of unknowns as far as how it would affect aerodynamics of the TT bike. Right now my first priority is getting some custom wedge-shaped spacers made to enable me to maintain the aero-ness of my basebar by keeping it flat and raising my hands to improve aerodynamics of my hand position. This is the first priority because everyone agrees its almost guaranteed free watts whereas the drinking system could be a net negative. Its easy for me to not race in the heat, our TT season runs Sept through June.
So its not that I'm unwilling to "believe the data," its just that everything on a TT bike is a trade-off. Right now, drinking for me is not possible on the TT bike because it would have to be done from a regular water bottle, which I'd have to break aero to use. I know that I did not get into all of that when I said I don't eat or drink during a 1 hour race, that its not possible. But getting into all that seemed beyond the scope of what we're discussing in OP's thread. I am a newby to TTing but I have had a very successful first season, including making the podium at both of our State TT Championships. I am connected to some very excellent people between my coach and my fitter, so I'm pretty solid in my knowledge base actually.
Ditto for my experience with eating during long events. Last year, I did a series of the road version of OPs mt bike race- long timed events with much climbing- all over 10k feet and with distances ranging from 100-125 miles. Easier actually than a 100 mi mt bike race by a good margin. But going through that, I worked through a lot of the same nutrition hydration issues as OP. I developed what I do based on some basic principles that I was taught and read about and then by putting those ideas into practice and testing them in race conditions. Nutrition is pretty individual but there for sure are basic principles everyone can apply, which is what I'm trying to share.
So I get it that you are more experienced than I am, but I am not posting from a place of ignorance in any way.