While training for my second attempt at Pikes Peak (in 2011), I learned how to sip from my water bottle without having to pull over and put both feet on the ground.
I thought I'd hit big time! I could take a swig of water or herbal tea without crashing! Just like the pros!
My very first attempt at drinking from my water bottle while still riding was way back when my kids still lived at home. We were doing an all-night charity ride together on department store bikes and while wearing jeans and T-shirts. Yes, we did wear helmets back then.
We were on a rather steep but very short hill when I reached down, successfully pulled my bottle from the cage, drank a couple of sips, then missed the cage while trying to replace the bottle. The bottle rolled down the hill behind me at an alarming pace, causing a couple of kids to swerve out of control, which started a chain reaction. About 20 riders in all went down. Meanwhile, in my attempt to try to catch my dropped bottle, I, too, overcorrected and slammed into the rider next to me, causing both of us to go down. My bike somersaulted over me and caught yet one more inexperienced cyclist unaware and another predicable domino-effect.
Too chicken to ever try that again. Until Pikes Peak. While training for the shortened five-hour ride the second year, knowing my chances at making it up the mountain were severely limited when I couldn't beat the buzzer in six hours the year before, I did everything I could to be able to stay on the bike the whole ride. I would not make it if I had to pull over every five minutes to take a drink.
I learned to keep my bike balanced while not only sipping, but while removing the bottle and replacing the bottle. Even though I didn't make it up Pikes Peak the second year, I knew I'd accomplished something huge because I could quench my thirst and stay hydrated without getting off the bike.
Now, I think I've died and gone to heaven.
RBR (Road Bike Rider) e-zine recently published a set of tips for long rides, and among them was a suggestion for switching water bottles while riding when the first one runs dry. They suggest the rider hold the first bottle by the nozzle in their mouth while moving the water bottle in the rear cage to the cage in the front and then putting the empty bottle into the empty cage under the seat.
I could have danced!
I've been doing that since about August 2011!!! I can already do that! I can already do that!
See, I'm not all-blonde and all-klutz after all.
Woo hoo! Where do you keep the important stuff like Peanuts?
ReplyDeleteBack jersey pocket, Marigold. Just waitin' for ya!
DeleteThat must have hurt indeed, oh what a water bottle can do.
ReplyDeleteDidn't hurt enough to keep me from laughing about it, Pat. Or getting back on the bike!
Deletethere must be better ways of doing that. But I´m glad you made it.
ReplyDeleteStopping probably is the best method, Monica. But I'm one of those wobbly weebles that can use a good lesson in balance now and then.
Delete