While on the club ride Sunday I ran over a water bottle.

We were pacing along at about 22. I was 4th in the line of about 10. The guy in front of me had one of those bottle holders that clamp on the seat post and holds 2 water bottles. He also had 2 bottles on his frame. That's a lot of extra weight.

Anyway, the road was a little rough. All of a sudden, one of his bottles pops out of the seat holder. There was no time to avoid it. Both tires went right across the middle of the bottle. There was no time to swerve, and since it was a busy road with no bike lane and a 8" curb, swerving was a bad choice.

I think I'm lucky it was empty as a full bottle might have thrown me off. At least a few of the 6 other riders might have ran over me like I did the bottle.

Gets you thinking....

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Good grief, 4 bottles of water! I usually take 1 bottle in mild temps and 2 in the summer but there's stores about every 10 to 15 miles where I can get a refill if needed.

I see way too many cyclists, mostly beginners carrying way more than they need. Bags under their seat, on top of the top tube, camel backs - YUK!

I can't stand using a saddle bag but I will if I'm riding solo. If it's a group ride I take it off. If you can't fit it in your jersey pocket you don't need it.

BTW, Glad you stayed up!!!

Sarge

^^^
The guy that borrows tools rather than carrying his own.

[QUOTE=Sgt. Spillco;10594717]Good grief, 4 bottles of water! I usually take 1 bottle in mild temps and 2 in the summer but there's stores about every 10 to 15 miles where I can get a refill if needed.

Well you must either Not ride very far at one sitting or you enjoy stopping a lot. I carry 4 bottles so I only have to stop every 70 or 80 miles. If you were riding 300 to 600k with little support I bet you would enjoy 4 bottles. Also if you are drinking your meals it nice to have 1 or 2 of your bottles pre-filled with mix. I will agree however that if your out with a normal weekly group its probably overkill, but when doing an organized century or longer its the only way to fly.

I wonder if running over a full water bottle would really have caused as much problem as you think.

Cheer up! It could have been a dead skunk.

I was wondering that also. I'm cheap and a solo recreational rider so stopping to drink isn't an issue, I use old Gatorade bottles with screw caps and I doubt that even they would put up much of a fight.

Early in the ride if the bottle had been in the freezer overnight could have presented a challange.

I ran over my own bottle once. It was over half full and after I took a drink I dropped it as I was putting it back in the cage. somehow it landed sidways under my back wheel. My rear wheel took a pretty good bounce and I only had one hand on the handlebar. I didn't wreck, but only because of being lucky. I had just passed an older couple and when I stopped to get my bottle they said they thought I was going to crash.

I think as a general rule, you should drink about 1L/hour at temperatures below 25℃ (make that 1qt at temps below 77℉), more at higher temperatures, most bike bottles are 750mm (ľL), so for rides shorter then 45 minutes at cooler temperatures, one bottle is sufficient. Make it warmer, or the ride longer, and you need more. Realise that water, bought in disposable bottles in stores, costs about twice the price of gas, and means all that plastic to dispose of. There is a bigger issue though, and that is, if you don't carry enough, you can run out, in the heat of a ride, you may not want to stop, you get dehydrated and end up with a much bigger performance issue then the kilo and a half for a couple of extra bottles. I have 2 bottle mounts, and will often carry extra, but usually in a pannier, along with a couple of kilograms worth of camera equipment, food, extra clothing, etc. The bike is a converted mountain bike, it weighs 15kg, rigged out for riding distance, it's often over 20kg. I know for a lot of roadies where bikes of 9kg are considered heavy, that's a lot, but I would rather carry something and not need it, then not carry it, and need it.

I don't know, and I just as soon not find out.

Someone mentioned dropping a bottle and running over it with the rear wheel. Even with one hand on the bars, I don't think it's as dangerous as hitting a full bottle with the front wheel. Think of it as hitting a 3" log at 22. Granted, it may not cause much other than a big bump, and perhaps throw a wheel out of round. But then again if it causes the front wheel to turn while it's off the road and come down at a funny angle, who knows what might happen.

I'm with you on that. Things happen quickly in fast pacelines. I have run over full bottles at 15+mph without other bikes right on my tail. I don't recall it being more than a mild thump with no damage to the wheel. The cap blew open and the water flew out so the impact was not as big as hitting a solid object.

Might be more to this than meets the eye, Sarge. Where I ride most often, temps are often 90-100 in summer, and it can be 40 miles between water stops. I go through a bottle every 20 minutes or so. I always carry two, and sometimes a spare one or two in a handlebar back or great big carradice saddle bag i love more than chocolate. Not often a camelback, but sometimes (i just don't like riding with a backpack). we also have 8000-foot passes with no water at the top. I'm not a beginner--I bought my first "real" bike in college 40 years ago this month, and i've run out of water enough times that i know i don't want to do it anymore.
Incidentally, for the OP, hopping something the size of a water bottle is a fairly basic skill, something you might work on. I got back into cycling on a mountain bike after a post-college layoff, and in the days before suspension, the first thing a beginning MB rider learned was how to negotiate technical terrain. I'm 65 now, but some of the skills persist. The other day I was rummaging around in my handlebar bag and looked away from the road for a few seconds. When I glanced up, there was a section of 4x4 post lying across the trail. I had about half a second to figure out what to do, and i instinctively lifted the front wheel and cleared it. I'm sure if I hadn't done all those hours on the mountain bike, i would have crashed.

Let's see--4 water bottles-at least 20 oz./bottle--why not just use a Camelbak? Plenty of water, and room for a few tools. But maybe it isn't "cool" for a road rider to use a Camelbak? I know I sure enjoy having plenty of water on a hot day. And once ya hit 50, who really cares what you look like (well, maybe some do, but I could give a hoot!)

Never liked camelbacks on road bikes because I don't like the weight on my back for that long. Not as much of an issue for the relatively short rides on mountain bikes. On the road, I'd rather let the horse carry the load.

That's scary - but it ended safely.

I also vote for using a Camelback. I'm much to uncoordinated to drink and ride (using a bottle). I'd have to stop to take a sip.

Count me with the Camelback group. I don't leave home with out it even for 20/30 mile rides. I am not into the appearance thing.

Guess I am just a beginner, but count me in the bag under seat and on top tube group. There is no "forgot to put it in my jersey" that way. Just one water bottle gets me by in most cases.

It all comes down to being prepared, there are two end of the rider spectrum, the boy scouts and the weight wienies. Boy Scouts will carry everything they think they might need, tubes, cables, tools, extra clothing, if it's field repairable, they can probably fix it. Weight wienies are those who think that spending $500 more on a new component because it's 5g lighter is a good investment. They refuse to carry anything that might add even 1g of extra weight. This is okay when racing and their is a SAG that can provide tools and parts, or haul your sorry donkey to the end of the line. If not racing and you sometimes ride far from civilization, it can be a really long walk of shame when you break down and find the nearest hamlet is in any direction, is 2 days journey on foot.

Most riders are in between, the more remote area your riding in, the more you need to be toward the boy scout end of the spectrum. On my bike right now there are 3 spare tubes, and 3 spare chain links. I would like to add a couple of spokes and a couple of cables to that on bike spare parts list.

I just send back someone to the team car for more water.
Wait.. that was a dream.

Man I must be a water-hog as I can use up 2 large bottles of water in less than 30 miles!!, I've got two bottles on the frame and one smaller bottle (hiking bottle with full lid) in my tail pack, the idea of running out of water really bum's me. Now my wife use's a Camelback on the road rides cause she only has "1 waterbottle" cage on her 14.5in. MTB, converted to road hybrid and that one is on the "BOTTOM" of the down tube, no way in heaven or hell she can "reach" it while riding the bike!!! Without the camelback we'd be having to "stop" a lot more for her to be able to get a drink. I too don't give a hoot about "style", I'd rather have WATER than FLASH, jmho.

Back to the original topic....

Just got back from a ride first time this year hitting a small hill, a local dam.

On the way back trying to catch my wind a dern squirrel at the last moment darted in front of me.

Hit him with both front and back wheels almost went down.

Boy, sure was glad it wasn't a water bottle.....