That's right, I'm going to explain how to drink water while riding. This is much in the same vein as one of my old bosses, Albert Taskin, telling me how to sweep a floor with a push broom. ( There is a correct way - you don't push the broom, you pull the broom towards you! The benefit, as explained to me, was that you can better control the broom and crap on the floor. Surprisingly, this actually does make sense once you try it. )

 

I don't just sit around and think this sort of stuff up. Actually, I learned this preferred method of drinking water during a USCF training meeting that Chuck South, 3RVS' long time racing director, organized about 150 years ago. I think this was held in Jean Norwalk's family's basement. The instructor was an USCF trainer.

 

You have two water bottle cages on most bikes.  There was a time when only one bottle was common, and that was located on the seat tube. It seemed hard to grab, turn, drink and return to the cage. I was happy when the down tub bottle cages started to catch on. It seemed a lot easier to drink from, so that was what I did most of the time. When that bottle was empty I just switched bottles.

 

Not so fast. Ever notice that when you do use the down tube water bottle that, as the bottle gets closer to empty, you need to crank your neck around and up more, and hold the bottle up more and more? This is the problem. So what's the solution.

 

What you need to do is start using the water bottle on the seat tube first. But grab the bottle this way: reach down normally and grab the bottle. Your hand will be oriented so that the thumb is pointed towards the bottom of the bottle. Lift the bottle and drink. Notice that the bottle is already oriented so that the bottom is up, so that the water is already flowing to the opening. You don't have to raise the bottle awkwardly to empty it, and you don't have to crank your head and neck around to get the last of the water out of the bottle.

 

Give it a try and see what you think.