Go to the new website: bottlegrab.bike!
Winters Road Race in Winters, CA – 8/24/25
Another Velo Promo neutral feed using Bottle Grab! I was not there, but someone sent me a video of a Bottle Grab shoutout in a podcast that has footage from the race. I don’t think Velo Promo let folks put their own bottles on the stands, but I like the idea!
San Ardo Road Race in San Ardo, CA – 8/16/25
4 Bottle Grabs set up and reloaded by one Velo Promo race staff (Devin, who is a rising junior in high school….who was awesome!) supplied neutral water to all racers. After my race ended, I caught the end of the P12 race.
Pescadero Road Race in Pescadero, CA – 7/12/25
No video on the day (as I was racing). 3 Bottle Grabs reloaded by one Alto Velo volunteer (thank you Christina!!) supplied neutral bottles to all racers on a second feed zone on Stage Rd. I had a personal Bottle Grab set up at the main feed zone.
Ward’s Ferry Road Race in Sonora, CA – 5/24/25 (Entire Race Neutral Water Feed with 4 Bottle Grabs!)
It’s worth noting that no rider in the race had ever used a Bottle Grab before.
Here are a couple onboard videos from the race! The Cycling Greek gives some great commentary. Bottle Grabs show up at 8:12 and 36:19 respectively.
King Ridge Hopper in Duncan Mills, CA – 5/10/25
I set up a Bottle Grab for myself the evening before the race. We happened to go hiking off one of the segments of the race, so it was easy. I had a mechanical before getting to the Bottle Grab – my rim delaminated on a descent (I’m okay, didn’t crash), but the lone bottle I left for myself was still there 24 hours later after the entire race had come through when we picked it up!
Berkeley Hills Road Race in Orinda, CA – 4/26/25
I volunteered to do the feed for my team, Alto Velo, in one of the biggest road races on the Norcal calendar. While I didn’t get any good videos, my teammates managed 5 hand-offs over the course of the race. I would have had a great video if Cam O’Reilly’s aim with empty bottle tosses wasn’t so good…
UCSC Slug Circuit in Santa Cruz, CA – 4/5/25
Alto Velo racer Ryan Dyke takes two bottles (videos above and below) at the 2025 Slug Circuit Cat 3/4 Race at UC Santa Cruz on April 5, 2025. Slug Circuit is a great race to use the Bottle Grab at. Racers do 10-20 laps over many hours, repeating the same sustained climb. Racers are thus penalized by weight – I saw multiple racers going with only one bottle cage. The Bottle Grab allows racers to take bottles at their convenience and only carry the weight they need in the moment.
Demos on Cañada Road in Woodside, CA – March 2025
This demo was done on Cañada Road in Woodside, CA. Cañada road has fast, rolling terrain and is the focal point of the Spectrum race group ride every Saturday morning as well as the Noon Ride every Thursday afternoon. It’s the best simulation of a race course that doesn’t have any categorized climbing in the Peninsula in the Bay Area. The spot I chose to do this demo is an ideal location for a feed zone because: this section is a slight uphill that averages around 4%; it comes after a flat straightaway that is preceded by an uphill, making the speeds naturally slower; this section is a chill, inconsequential part of the course for the group rides mentioned; this section is a wide open part of the course; and it has a dirt parking lot off to the side. In the video above, I am around 80kg doing 250 Watts, which is what I would be doing when going through a feed zone in a race, and here that results in a speed of around 12 mph.
I couldn’t help but feel the first video looked quite slow, so I decided to do a bottle hand off at higher speeds. In the fast hand-off videos above and below, I’m doing over 400 Watts.
Cañada Road can be windy. The day this was shot, the wind was blowing, and there was intermittent light rain. The Bottle Grab has no problem staying steady in the wind, and the bottles holders are designed to hold the bottles in place while experiencing light to moderate forces.