Stopping to refuel

term1te

Does the couple of minutes it takes to fill up at a refreshment station on a sportive have an advantage on your overall performance, other than being able to refuel? I'm doing a fast flat 180 km ride in a few weeks, the cyclotour du Léman. Last time I did it went round without stopping on 1.5l of sports drink and a banana, but felt dehydrated at the end. Would it be better to stick a third bottle in my jersey pocket and just keep going, or stop to and fill up halfway around? It was fairly cool last time, if it is hotter this year I'd probably need to refuel even with a third bottle.

DaveMoss

1.5 litres weighs 1.5 kg. (How much have you spent on equipment to save that much?) . half a kg of food weighs...let me think.....errr half a kilogramme

Carrying less and stopping to refill when you can must be quickest in the end. Avoiding de hydration will definatly save time however you do it.

bahzob

I typically plan to stop as little as possible on sportives. Reasons are not so much due to weight or time but once stopped takes me a while to warm up again and relying on feed stations can be risky as quality varies between events. Also if you happen to be with a good group that doesnt stop its nice to have the option to stay with them.

I'm also having a go at BAR this year and for this its definitely a case of limiting stops to minimum.

To help with both I've got myself one of these:

http://www.gadgetreview.com/2009/03/camelbak-racepak-a-jersey-that-keeps-you-hydrated.html

Tried it on some long rides and one road race to date and seems to work very well. After a few minutes you get used to it and forget you've got it on. Apart from extra capacity another benefit is that its easier to take small frequent sips than having to reach down/replace bottles, especially if conditions bad and riding in fast group.

term1te

Thanks for the comments. I think weight is less of an issue on a flat course. The orgaisors claim only 200 m over 180 km. I plan to undertake a couple of events in the mountains later in the year, and there, weight will be kept to a minimum.

I know what you mean about losing a fast group and warming up again. They should have F1 style pits, 7 seconds to refule and change tires! I've got a camelback, but I can't get on with it. I don't backpacks or similar when its hot. I'm tempted to stick a third bottle in the back pocket and see how it goes.

vorsprung

Term1te wrote:

Does the couple of minutes it takes to fill up at a refreshment station on a sportive have an advantage on your overall performance, other than being able to refuel? I'm doing a fast flat 180 km ride in a few weeks, the cyclotour du Léman. Last time I did it went round without stopping on 1.5l of sports drink and a banana, but felt dehydrated at the end. Would it be better to stick a third bottle in my jersey pocket and just keep going, or stop to and fill up halfway around? It was fairly cool last time, if it is hotter this year I'd probably need to refuel even with a third bottle.

You could use 1 litre bottles