Off the Bottle?

So latley I have been thinking about ditching the water bottle cages on my mountain bike, and going with the Wingnut Assault fulltime in XC races, loop races and regular training rides. I will stick with the Hyper 2.5 for big long days in the saddle. The Assault is on its way, so when it arrives I will get a better feel for whether this is a good idea or not. I am just getting tired of drinking warm dirty, dusty, muddy liquids from warm, dirty, dusty, muddy bottles. Obviously some events, like the KTR require both a hydro pack and bottles, but loop races, such as the upcoming E12 dont.

The downside is that you can only carry one kind of beverage. Usually I carry sports drink in the bottles, and water in the pack. However, I am thinking that water in the pack and a nice full gel flask will fill my electrolyte needs. Another downside, is that it takes longer to stop and refill the bladder, than it does to simply grab fresh bottles. It is also easy enough to put sports drink in the bladder of the hydro.

The upside is a hydro will keep things clean, cold, and easily drinkable. It cant get tricky to try and drink from a bottle while bumping along some singletrack. You may be asking “why not just go with both?” Well, I don’t know. I like the idea of shedding 3 lbs off my bike in liquids. Plus, there is that other issue of drinking warm, dirty, dusty, muddy drinks that I have already mentioned.

The big question is, could this strategy work in a supported 100 miler? Specifically, could it work in the E100? Anyway, just some thoughts that have been occupying my mind today while trudging through boring video edits at work. I was in a rush to get out the door this evening on my ride, and didn’t bring any liquids at all. Mental note, that is not a good idea. Of course it was just a short ride at an easy pace, so no big deal…

And completely unrelated, is there anything better than angel hair pasta smothered in olive oil and parmesan cheese?