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Best hydration pack for road cycling
If you hunt about on the interwebs you’ll discover that we should all be drinking a lot of water every single day. But how can you carry extra drinks on your bicycle?
Quick Answer: Seat downtube cage and larger bottle
What to drink while cycling?
As a rule of thumb, you should be aiming for up to two liters or half a gallon per day. That’s a fair amount of liquid to drink. But, if you’re doing exercise, then you need to drink much more: think 500mL or one 16-ounce bottle per hour in cooler conditions, and up to as much as 2L or four of those bottles in very hot weather (assuming you’re a 70 KG / 150 lb rider).
So, why is it that important to keep properly topped up?
Cycling dehydration
Research has proved that a surprisingly small amount of liquid lost will have a big impact on your performance on the bike. Only a 2% drop in body weight due to perspiration (that’s 3 lb / 1.4 kg if you’re 150 lb / 70 kg rider) can noticeably impair your riding, at 4% the capacity of your muscles to work is reduced and, at 5%, heat exhaustion can happen and your capacity to work will drop by up to a massive 30%. You may start to have hallucinations by the time you hit 7%. And at 10%, you might experience circulatory collapse, heat stroke or even death.
So, keep hydrated, okay? This isn’t just about having a bit of a dry mouth.
On a long bike ride this can become a real issue, as often bikes only have one place to store water. That’s a bottle cage fixed on to the downtube – the tube that goes from the handlebars down to the pedals.
If there’s no option to top up your water en route, what do you do?
Well, don’t worry, I’ve got a number of options for you depending on your style of bike and what suits you best. Go with one or more of those depending on what you need and the circumstances of your journey.
Top tip: how to install water bottle cage on bike without holes
No worries! Try using one of these instead.
The quick-release strap fixes securely onto any of the tubes on your bike frame or handlebars, and then you can slot in a standard water bottle.
Bikepacking water storage
We’re going to have a look at these options with the help of a friend of mine called Mary. If you’re a long-time reader of Bicycle Volt, then you may remember Mary. She’s friendly and helpful and is going to demonstrate each of the options available.
If you’re ready, then we’ll take a look.
Short on time? Here are my top recommended methods of carrying more water on a bike:
Handlebars teamed with one of these and one of these
My Top Recommended Methods of Carrying More Water On A Bike
Okay, let’s welcome Mary. Together we’ll have a look at each of these options in more detail.
With Mary’s modeling assistance I’ve pulled together this handy infographic:
This shows the main places where you can carry water whilst on your bike, and we’ll go through each of these now.
Option 1 = Downtube
What You Need To Know
This is a great position as the weight stays nice and low on the bike, so it’s good for your balance. It can take a bit of practicing to take the bottle out whilst pedaling and pop it back in again. However, you can always pull over and stop for a drink until you’ve got this cracked.
Because it’s such a popular method of carrying water there are lots of great options to choose from and at fantastic prices too.
Option 2 = Backpack
What You Need To Know
With a pack or rucksack on your back you can do a couple of things:
– You can put a normal water bottle in your standard backpack
– Or you can get a specialist backpack that has a type of soft water pouch known as a ‘bladder’ and comes with a hose attachment that you drink the water through
We’ll start with the downside to this. The main issue is that water is very heavy and if you have lots of weight high up (versus being down low on the bike) it can negatively affect your balance and can make you wobbly. Also, on hot days, I find that having a backpack on will make my back sweaty, and this can make the issue worse. By trying to stay hydrated I make myself even more thirsty!
It has a couple of advantages though. First up, you can carry much more water in a backpack than you probably can anywhere else on your bike – the only limit is the size of your pack and the strength of your back. Second, if you have the drinking hose positioned just near your mouth it can act as a useful reminder and encourage you to drink more liquid. If you make it easy, then you’ll do it more.
Option 3 = Waist pack
What You Need To Know
Anyway, whatever you want to call them, they can be a very useful way to carry water when you’re cycling.
They were originally used by long-distance runners for carrying food and water, and bikers have now adopted them. They’re quite cost-effective, and you can easily fit one or a couple of bottles in them, plus snacks and an inner tube or two.
They’re easy to reach into whilst you’re pedaling, and you don’t get a sweaty back like you do with a rucksack. Also, they keep the weight lower so no danger of being wobbly.
Option 4 = Water bottle holder for bike handlebars
What You Need To Know
Maybe you’re looking for a different drink than water now and again? Well, you could always stash a takeaway mocha chocca latte with cinnamon dusting directly on your handlebars! Although bear in mind that caffeine has a diuretic effect, so actually makes you thirstier (apologies for being all ‘Nanny State’ and ruining the fun…)
Handlebar mounts like this are very flexible and can often be positioned either right or left of the handlebars (depending on which hand you prefer to pick up the bottle with). Team them up with a bottle cage like this and a water bottle like this.
These mounts can also go on the upright part of the handlebar stem. So potentially you could fit 3 individual bottles on your handlebars alone.
Option 5 = Behind the seat water bottle cage
What You Need To Know
It’s a useful position as the bottle is tucked out of the way, and so won’t affect the aerodynamics.
Do bear in mind though, that if it’s tucked out of the way, then it will be ‘out of sight, out of mind’. You’ll need to make a conscious effort to drink more water as you ride.
Option 6 = Seat downtube
What You Need To Know
This position uses the same cage and fixings as the downtube, so they’re a very inexpensive way of doubling the amount of water you carry with you. They also keep the weight low to help your balance.
Final word on methods of carrying a water bottle while biking
You need to carry plenty of water on bike rides – whatever the weather – in order to keep yourself healthy and hydrated.
Use one or more of these methods of carrying liquids next time you’re out for a cycle and you’ll stop yourself from getting thirsty.
Have fun and stay hydrated.
