I am thinking of switching my approach, usually run carbs in my bottles.
If I put carbs in my hydration pack how do I know how many calories I consumed?
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Livin’ on the edge! 
My very scientific approach is that I know a bottle typically lasts me about an hour if I consume a moutful every 5 mins or so. And I know I can fit 3 bottles in my bladder. It usually works pretty well.
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I might have to start riding the trainer with a hydration pack and counting my sips or something. Another variable to sort out
I made the switch last year but didn’t get too bogged down in the details…my goal was to get through a 2L pack in ~4 hours, supplemented with a flask of maple syrup.
For 2L, I would use 9 scoops of Flow Formula, which equaled 270g of carbs. The flask of syrup was ~125g carbs. If I got through both in ~4 hours, I was hitting ~100g carbs / hour. Worked fine on all my long rides and generally OK for Unbound.
Tip for Unbound if you are using a 3rd Party support team and not your own - make sure you have a way to mix your powder well at the aid station (they don’t let you pre-fill bottles or packs to avoid leaking all over other people’s stuff). I left the first aid station without it being well-mixed and suffered from getting a very strong drink mix since the powder was at the bottom of the bladder. Ended up shutting my stomach down for ~30 miles, until I got to the second aid station where a Coke got me sorted.
Yeah, that’s my fear of carbs in pack. Bringing a buddy for support so I can dial all this in how ever I want
My plan was to half freeze mixture so it would be cold.
Knowing how much cals per bottle and seeing your progress makes life super simple
IME, if you just keep sipping on a regular basis, you’ll be fine.
I have had mixed success freezing a bladder…first, you need to consider the frozen shape. It can make al the difference between something that is comfortable and something that is painful.
You also have to make sure that the port to the feed tube is not blocked by the frozen section.
Finally, if you are doing half and half, make sure both portions are the correct mix. I have seen people freeze just the mix and then add water, but they are shorting themselves calories early in the ride and getting too many calories later in the ride.
I personally would just add ice to the bladder and fill it. Another option is to use an insulated bladder. I did that for my longer rides and between the two aid stations last year at Unbound and it worked well.
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Once the bladder is shaken up, does it generally stay well mixed? I always shake my bottles a bit to mix them up before drinking, but maybe I don’t absolutely need. To.
Good timing on this thread. Thus far all my bike rides have been able to be managed by bringing 3-4 bottles. I have a rule 28 gravel suit coming this weekend and will start using the bladder, but haven’t full sorted how I want to do it yet.
Personally, I would err slightly in drinking a bit too much earlier when it’s a bit easier to get the calories in as opposed to later on in the ride/race. There will likely be some trial & error to determine how much it feels like your drinking (i.e. 3-4 hard swigs every 45 minutes) to figure out how fast you’re going through it.
I am planning a 5 hour ride this weekend and will likely have a 2.5L bladder with around 1000 calories in tail wind, another 400-500 in a bottle, and probably a bottle of pure water (temp at the end of the ride will be around 80 deg. F). I usually also supplement with 50-100 calories/hr of gels, peach ring gummies, or fig newtons.
yeah, once you have it well mixed, you are fine…but in the rush to get out of the aid station, I didn’t realize hw miuch of the mix was still clumped together at the bottom.
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good point, i will do ice then
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Added bonus to doing ice…it helps agitate the mix when you shake the bladder.
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I’ve had some really bad luck trying to mix certain powders into an already wet bottle or pack - some are worse than others. It’s one of the reasons I always try to pre-mix and leave an already full bladder / bottles when I can, or a completely dry and fresh bladder with mix, but absolutely make sure you try it well before the race if you’re refilling.
For me, this is another scenario where I’ll consider just using gels and doing electrolytes only in the pack / bottles.
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I will prob mix the night prior with warm water and have my support add ice when hes waiting for me to show up.
This reminds me of the old Camelbak Flow Meter which never really worked.
I do a mix of malto/fructose/sodium citrate in a pack with hot water, then leave in the fridge overnight, and add ice cubes if it’ll be a hot race. Before my first time trying it, I just went for a few hour ride and saw what would happen (with just water) without really counting sips or anything. Just a sip every now and then, which probably ended up being about 10 minutes. Turned out to be just the right amount to finish the pack near the end of the ride.
Then I did Lumberjack 100, 3 laps of ~2:50 hours each. I finished the pack within a quarter mile of the finish line each lap without trying. Now I just keep my sips consistent, but vary the amount of water/carbs for race length, and it’s always worked out well. I think it’s better to figure out your typical sip frequency and adjust water amount to match, rather than adjusting how often you sip.
Then rinse with hot water as soon as possible and clean it often. Make sure to get a small hose brush for the tube.
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Yeah, if you have the time to do the mix with warm / hot water, it really does the trick for mixing. You just have to make sure you leave enough time to cool it down before you need it!!
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I make ice cubes from my carb mix so I don’t dilute what’s in the bladder.
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I am going to be making massive ice balls to go into my pack of drink mix. Then when it melts it will be perfect.
Of course I need to test all of this. Time to test on the trainer and then I can tell how much i drink.
Another small change with the goal of a podium, cant leave any rock unturned.
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I couldn’t have imagined a way to make the trainer any less enjoyable, but you, sir, have managed to do it.
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The US Army achieved and patented a solution. (I recall they put up a significant prize for anyone who could come up with a solution.) I can’t find a purchasable consumer version.
Do you think you would notice performance impacts between these two scenarios leading up to pack swap at the feed zone?
- hour 1: 100g
- hour 2: 60g
- hour 3: 140g
VS
- hour 1: 100g
- hour 2: 100g
- hour 3: 100g
GI Distress maybe at the the start of hour 4 after you had to gulp down the rest of the pack on the way into feed.
Perhaps you plan on underfueling via liquid supplementing the delta with gels. This way if you crush the pack in 2 hours and it had 60g/hour, (180 total) you know you’re not at the point of no return for your stomach. and it had fuel for 3 hours, you know you arent at a level of carbs thats going to nuke your GI.
My last piece… Carb mix is sticky and the mouthpiece getting all gunky vs just water would probably drive me insane.
The largest benefit here is the 0% chance of losing a bottle which means losing an hour of fuel since its all strapped to your back.
All that to say - i’m probably in the minority but i dont think you need to overcomplicate it.