Special bottles

markwb79

I took part in a race at the weekend on a 7 lap course.

I was quite surprised that there was quite a few people getting passed a spare bottle from friends/family as we was about to enter the last lap.

Is this common in the UK as well?

I have heard of people taking pain killers or caffeine as they enter the end of races.

Is this what happened? Or do people only carry the one bottle on a 2 hour race?

alan_sherman

Noting to do with supplements. Just weight saving / insurance against lost bottles during the race.

maryka

Markwb79 wrote:

I took part in a race at the weekend on a 7 lap course.

I was quite surprised that there was quite a few people getting passed a spare bottle from friends/family as we was about to enter the last lap.

Is this common in the UK as well?

I have heard of people taking pain killers or caffeine as they enter the end of races.

Is this what happened? Or do people only carry the one bottle on a 2 hour race?

Usually there's no feeding on the first and last lap of a race like that and the comm will say so, but most minor races (2/3/4th cat) they won't care. Getting a bottle so late is a bit weird but for some people it's psychological I guess. On a hot day with a really hard course and hard effort I suppose a 2-hour race might need a bottle hand-up with ~15-20 min to go but not usually. No idea what was in the bottles, can't see how pain killers or caffeine via a bottle would have any use with such a short time til the end of a race! Be better off taking them in capsule form I would think, and even then it's debatable.