A solution for amateurs and pros alike for refueling during a bike race. Patent pending.
A Bottle Grab replaces the soigneur on the side of the course handing off nutrition to riders in a bike race.
To perform in a bike race, a rider needs to consume fluid, electrolytes, and perhaps most importantly carbohydrates while riding. While riders start with two bottles on their bike, they need to be given more during the race. This has been done by soigneurs – volunteers or team staff that stand on the side of the course in the feed zone who execute hand-offs of bottles or musettes full of nutrition. The vast majority of bike racers today opt to consume carbohydrates in races by drinking them in the form of carb mixes dissolved in water – it helps them consume more carbs per hour throughout a race, which is a new trend in cycling performance. While 90 grams per hour is today’s standard for consuming carbs, the amount of fluid and electrolytes needed depends on the day. Riders need to consume more fluid and electrolyte on hot days. The 2024 US National Road Race Champion Sean Quinn and the rest of his teammates on EF Education-EasyPost drank 16-17 bottles over five hours during a hot stage of the 2024 Tour de France.
In amateur racing, it’s often difficult to find a volunteer soigneur, someone willing to stand on the side of the course for hours often in the middle of no where to hand off race nutrition to you, usually in the form of bottles. When you do, that person is often already or then asked with doing the same for teammates, friends, and others. Getting you the bottles you need to perform once you’ve found a soigneur is also by no means certain – soigneurs need to pick out their riders from the pack and execute a bottle hand off, which often times is not successful. Even when you do get a bottle, it might not be the one you wanted.
In professional racing, the life of a soigneur is arduous and at times dangerous. On race days, soigneurs are up before the riders and to bed after with little to no rest in between – a professional soigneur has many duties in addition to handing out bottles during the race, including transporting rider luggage, preparing bottles, giving massages to name a few. When they do hand out bottles, it can be dangerous. Pros often are going by at high speed, and a wrong move can leave those on the side of the road and on it seriously injured. The business of professional cycling is a difficult one as well. Teams often struggle to find funding and sponsorships, and the work is often not lucrative for staff and riders alike.
The Bottle Grab offers an enabling and more effective way to get bottles during a race for amateurs. In the pros, it can save time, effort, and costs while providing an opportunity sponsorship branding. While these represent two ends of the spectrum, anything in between, perhaps such as being a gravel privateer, reaps the best of both worlds.
The amateur racer can set up a Bottle Grab prior to a race and be all but guaranteed of getting the bottles they need throughout the race. Professional teams can employ one soigneur to set up multiple Bottle Grabs along the course instead of needing one soigneur at each course location.
The Bottle Grab suspends multiple bottles at a height ideal for riders to be able to grab a bottle while riding. The Bottle Grab is designed to hold up to the elements, the weight of what it holds, and to anything thrown in its way. Sandbags placed at the base of the stand and chained off the side of the course in addition to the weighted design make tipping near impossible. Specially designed bottle holders are intended for outdoor use, wear and tear in transport, and for the perfect bottle hand off for any bike bottle with a neck. Aluminum T-slotted framing is stiff, strong, lightweight, and does not rust.