Question for the cyclists
 

I had a great off-road ride on Sunday morning. Cold and crisp with the sun just coming up over the frozen fields that bordered the cycle route. A little more excitement than I had planned as I went sideways on a frozen puddle but on the whole a really good hour and a half out on my bike.

I just had one small problem: the straw from my camelback froze solid within 20 minutes of leaving the house. :brickwall

Any ideas on how to keep the straw ice-free without adding anti-freeze :wonder:

You can get insulated sleeves or just blow the liquid back into the reservoir

Cheers Andy,

Being gravity-fed, after I stop blowing into the tube it will just fill up with water again - and the reservoir will inflate like a baloon :D

An insulated sleeve sounds like the way to go, can't find anything on wiggle though :(

Fill the bottle with gin instead? ;)

Salt water!

no it doesn't, you're just blowing air into the pipe so there is no liquid left to freeze. When the bite valve is closed it shouldn't allow water back into the pipe.
I do this when I use mine for snowboarding.

Take water in a traditional bottle, in a cage, doubt that will freeze and generally its not that cold in the UK. With the commute, I make sure I have a drink before I leave, only half an hour, anything up to an hour I will do without and if on road make sure I am passing shops, different for MTB of any duration I suppose.

Never had the urge for a Camel Back, it seems to be a de-riguer accesory for the all the gear/no idea brigade.

Camel Back is deffo a MTB thing.

A bottle/cage is fine on the road, but I guess if you chuck in some hefty bumps you could look down and wonder where your bottle has suddenly gone...

J4CKO, I certainly hope I don't fall into the all the gear, no idea brigade. After trying off-road racing with a bottle and seeing just how much time I lost stopping to take drinks and the time I have since saved in races with the Camelbak it was perhaps one of the best bits of gear I've got. Horses for courses I guess. :)

I like the idea of Gin but I'm sure the Mrs will object to me purloining her Bombay Sapphire :D

bugeyeandy - thanks for the link :thumb:

Camelbak is much easier to use off road, just grab the tube and give it a suck :D Much easier to grab a slurp on the trail than fannying around with bottles. Mine also has enough pockets for snacks, waterproof, microfleece, tool kit, maps, etc.

Also they say the best way to stay hydrated whilst doing that sort of exercise is little sips often so Camelbak is better for that....

:thumb: