Is there a trick?

I've actually stopped carrying a camelbak or any additional gear on my Floop rides. I find that I'm actually much faster and have a more enjoyable time.

 

When I use a bottle this is the exact strategy I use. maybe not six scoops but heavy in the bottle, water in the pack. Works awesome and I used tailwind this last summer during all the heat... and it was amazing.


My other two cents...

Haven't put a bottle on the Bronson yet because of the cable management and being lazy strangely enough I've been eating a bigger breakfast and less on the ride with plenty of water and that seems to be working for me up to four /five hour ride.

Also a big believer of being well hydrated going into the ride by the way folks coffee does not count as hydration its a diuretic I dehydrates you.

I also use a concept / idea ... you have to cover your food with water example if I eat a big breakfast like a bagel peanut butter plus Banana I need to drink a whole bottle of water just to cover my food. Food takes water to digest easily / well.


I'm mostly still a pack guy unless it's a really short ride it's my safety belt also my physiology Demands a lot of water... always has, so that part I think is to each his own.

 

You can do the whole FLoop without a pack??? Holy crap!!!

I kid. I do, however, find amazing the number of folks I've seen on the FLoop with armor and Camelbaks.

I can only imagine that they're hitting the FLoop as part of a larger ride that includes Coal Canyon and CHSP on the same ride also.

 

They must be shredding the stairs from the fifth floor of McCarthy Hall on the campus of CSUF.

 

I used to be the gear guy who had spare tubes and all the tools to make sure everyone can pedal home. Now I'm the guy who flags random folks down when my bike breaks.

 

I carry mule camel pak on floop.. Whats wrong w that?
I usually dont bother putting water in it..
I paid once when i did loop x 2 on 90 degree day.. W no water n empty pak..

 

I tried Tailwind.

I felt really good for a pretty much all-out effort for 3 hours, and got a PR on the circuit. More amazingly, I was not KOed afterward like normal.

It's on my list of tricks for sure. Thanks, Steve (and J)!

 

I've also found that it works great in the morning if you have a couple beers the night before!

 

Isn't that better known as carbo-loading?

 

Depends on your definition of "a couple beers".

 

This is my definition of a couple of beers.

 

Great minds think alike.

 

Well, I actively managed my water consumption on todays ride. I filled up my 3L to see how much I would (or wouldn't) end up with and had a little over 2L left..a first for me. The weather was fairly cool, but I did not gulp the water down as normal..little sips here and there. It would be nice to go without a backpack, perhaps I'll just throw a few goods into my favorite fanny pack now.

 

Yep! Tailwinds is the only way to go!
It was hard and slightly uncomfortable taking off the camelback, but I can do longer and longer rides on less water as I focus on it. But as I do, I become more comfortable, the last thing you wanna do is run out of water out on the trail.

 

That 5000 foot plateau is about the point I was at when I discovered the Tailwind. Prior to that, I was using PB&J sandwiches, apple, and electrolyte powder in the water. It worked... But logistically it wouldn't have worked for me to get past that, because it was just too much of a pain to carry all that stuff and ingest it at a consistent rate.

The Tailwind (or First Endurance, etc...) really are a one stop solution. Drink at a consistent rate, and you get the calories, sugars and electrolytes all in one. Conditioning was one part of the formula to get to the 10,000 foot mark, but easily managed nutrition was the other. Like any other product there is a learning curve. How much to use, how fast to drink, etc... But it is worth it in the end.

 

KC...
There is an underlying humor about you I am just beginning to realize. haha! Keep up the good work!
You go you Flooper, you!

 

To 7Mary3's original post about watering oneself, or not...I did my super FLoop yesterday, 21 miles, tad over 2 hours, and 2000 feet, and didn't even realize until I got back to the car that I had not touched my water bottle. I'm not sure whether this is acclimation or stupidity.

But even when I got home, I wasn't particularly thirsty. I wasn't dehydrated. Maybe conditions were perfect. My only point is that everyone is different, and general "rules of thumb" are only guidelines. You cannot do better than knowing your own physical condition and requirements.