MikeOCS

I have found that Hammer Perpetum works reasonably well for fueling on long rides. I can keep up to 3 hours worth mixed in bottles with me on rides. For rides longer than that, I have kept the powdered perpetum in snack-size ziploc baggies. They have a tendency to accidentally open up and make quite a mess. Any suggestions for better containers/transportation? I have a century this coming weekend so I would like to have 7 hours total with me. It is an oranized ride, but very casual so I won't be able to drop a bag off at rest stops.

markdel

Maybe try the Perpetuem Solids?

StephenH

I haven't had any problems with the baggie solution- I use the sandwich size baggies and put 4 or 5 of them in a gallon baggie.

pmt

I've used plastic cylinders in the past; I have some that I got eLoad eDiscs in and they're just the right size to hold Perpetuem or HEED powders.

Now however I've switched to Perpetuem Solids for the summer months; they totally blow away liquid Perpetuem. Stop right now and buy the Solids for summer.

radshark

I think (its been awhile) Hammer Nut. suggests making a paste and filling a gel bottle with it...

znomit

I often do a 6 hr bottle. Gets a little funky towards the end on hot days.
Water or dilute powerade in the other bottle, refill that as needed.

Thulsadoom

Plastic vitamin canisters.

MikeOCS

I agree that the Perpetum Solids would be a good idea, but I have a large container of the powder so I really need to use that first. My wife wouldn't appreciate me buying more of essentially the same stuff. I was thinking of using an extra water bottle or a plastic cup with a lid. I only have a few days to experiment. It is supposed to be 85 and humid this Saturday, so fuel/water intake is going to be really important. I like the plastic vitamin/pill container idea, but I might not have time to gather enough of them together. Thanks for the replies.

Derreck

Make a 6 hour bottle, but freeze half of it, then pour the rest in the bottle over the frozen stuff.

thebulls

Ditto.

Every so often I won't get a baggie completely sealed and then there's some powder in the gallon bag, but no big deal.

Carbonfiberboy 

It's a quantity and storage issue, right? I go through 1 pint of powder every 3 hours. That's only 250 cal./hr, so I'm sure larger, stronger riders can go through even more than that. You're not going to store that kind of quantity in a few vitamin bottles, which take up a lot of space anyway. Ziplocs are the thing. The trick with Ziplocs is to very carefully squeeze the air out of them while not getting powder into the sealing area, then sealing them securely and packing them into your saddlebag or whatever immediately. It's leaving air in them that makes them pop. I've never had powder in my gear.

Obviously it's impractical to take enough powder for all your fueling needs on a long brevet. For up to 300k, I go all powder. For longer brevets, I plan for the powder to fill half my fueling needs, getting the other half from conventional mini-mart sources. I use the Zefal liter water bottles, which really help.

jakub.ner

I have two 32 oz plastic bottles that I carry Perpeteum and Heed in, separate from water. The bottles are see through and have graduations every 4 oz: 4 oz is about a serving for Perpeteum and two servings for Heed. The plastic bottles I bought also have a spout smaller than my water bottles to avoid spilling. When empty it's a matter of pouring/tapping 4 oz of each into two different water bottles and filling with water.

FL_MarkD

I use the 'ziploc' solution as mentioned above by carbonfiberboy and others. Two scoops in a snack size baggies and then double bag them in a normal sandwich style baggie. Just be careful loading your water bottles when the wind is blowing, that stuff sure can travel.

Mark

pmt

Man up and buy it anyway; save the powder for the fall. I'm really, really glad not to have to deal with liquid P during the warm/hot months anymore; it's just crazy to suffer through it.

maillotpois

I used to have trouble with the snack sized baggies opening up but then I started using the more expensive ziploc baggies (the ones with much more substantial zip parts) and I don't have this problem anymore. So I still scrimp and buy the cheap baggies for the family, but I have the high-end ones for rides.

unterhausen

do you chew the solid variety? I have been thinking about using perpetum because I always have trouble eating enough at the beginning of a ride, but sad experience has taught me that I don't really want to use a water bottle for anything other than water.

anotherbrian

I'm new to double centuries, and the zip-loc bags bundled into a gallon freezer bag worked for me recently on the Davis Double. Last year I tried carrying a large bag and a scoop but found that was a hassle/mess, so this year I measured 3 hours worth (home-made 7:1 maltodextrin/protein mix at 320kcal/hour + electrolytes + flavor) into each bag and then tore a hole in the bag to dump into the bottle. It worked great.

This year I also switched to using a 6floz flask/90min, instead of a water bottle/hour. I used a large water bottle that I added measuring marks to for the mixing, and then squeezed that into the flasks. Only having to drink ~4floz of mix per hour + water was so much easier than trying to drink water bottle after water bottle of it all day.

MikeOCS

I found a plastic cup with a lid that will fit exactly how much extra perpetum I need. It fits well into a jersey pocket. I have a couple rubber bands around it just to make sure the lid doesn't come off (I had visions of the lid coming off in my jersey pocket and me leaving a caffe latte cloud behind me). I will try this for tomorrow. In the future, I will experiment with the multi-hour bottle, making a paste, or trying the solids. The ride has fairly frequent rest stops, so I should be able to keep 2 one hour bottles in the cages and a extra bottle of water in my jersey pocket. Thanks for all the comments.

pmt

You mostly break them a little with your teeth, then suck on them slowly.

cmorse

I have a bunch of extra 5 serving gel flasks and find that two gel flasks worth of perpeteum powder is about right for a 4 hour bottle for me (6 scoops - 3 scoops per flask). This is for ultrarunning, rather than ultracycling at this point, but no reason it shouldn't work for cycling too. Twist off the gel flask top, dump into the bottle and mix.