DIY winter hydration system for cycling, prototype 1.1

When you ride in extreme winter conditions you need to protect your drinks, snacks, batteries and electronics from the cold. And you have only one source of heat: your own body. How to keep your water from freezing when you ride in below -20c (-4f) for hours? For shorter trips thermos bottles are fine, but if you're going for a longer ride with limited or no chances to fill your water bottles, you need to carry more water and somehow keep it from freezing. There are several vests that you can use to carry a water reservoir under your jacket, but how to drink from the reservoir? If you keep the tube under your jacket, you need to open it to take a sip and you loose heat. If you take the tube outside it will freeze. I haven't tried an insulated tube myself, but my friends have said that when temperatures drop to -20c, it doesn't take long until the mouthpiece is frozen. This winter I will test a new, handy (pun intended) winter hydration system which, I believe, will keep your water in liquid form and easily available.

The concept

You can keep the reservoir warm on your back under your jacket, but tube and mouth piece are trickier. Instead of hanging the tube on your chest, I decided to run the tube on the back of my arm. This way the tube will be protected from wind under your jacket and your arm will provide the necessary heat to keep it from freezing. The mouthpiece will be protected by both, your windstopper jacket and pogies. Water will also be easily available without opening your jacket and loosing heat. To my surprise I didn't find a product like this on the market (please, let me know if someone already makes something like this) so I decided to make one myself. This is how I did it.

Gear

For storage I use Raceface Stash tank. Officially you can use it with up to 1,5l reservoir, but my 2l reservoir also fits. For reservoir and mouthpiece technology I rely on Camelback. When you have the mouthpiece under your jacket in winter time, you don't want it to leak a single drop. Camelbak mouthpiece is great for that. The DIY parts of this product are the tube and its attachments on your arm.

Tube

Standard tubes are meant to be used on your chest and they are too short for your arm. I bought 6mm (1/4") food grade silicone tube at the local hardware store. This tube is more flexible than normal hydration system tubes. The extra flexibility comes in handy when you attach the tube on your arm which is mobile. On the other hand, flexibility also means that it might bend in a way that prevents water from flowing. I noticed that this is especially a problem close to where the tube is connected to the reservoir. I used a hair tie to attach the tube to the top of the reservoir so that it will not bend close to the connector (see the picture below). Most people will need a longer tube for the arm. For me (I'm 187cm/6'2") and this build a 115cm/45" tube works great. Build the system, try it on and cut the tube to the right length for you.

Attachments

With the more flexible tube connected to your arm you need a few attachments. You could sew the straps to your base layer, but for my first tests this autumn, before the temperature drops to minus-a-lot, I didn't want to use a base layer so I sewed couple of attachments. I used elastic bands with hook and loop fasteners for both, putting the attachments in place and mounting the tube. The attachments pictured below work just fine, but I believe anyone who understands something about clothing design could do this better. Well, these are a lot better than the old socks that I used for my first test ride (prototype 1.0).

Prototype 1.0 with extension piece (not pictured), original Camelbak tube and sock "attachments"

First rides

I have now used this system on a few rides. Now I know that technically it works, is easy to use and comfortable. In the video below I'm carrying two liters of water, which is easily available during the ride, but you can't see it and I didn't feel it. What I don't know yet is whether it will work in extreme winter conditions. I've had couple of rides in +10c (50f) and the water that had been sitting in the tube is a bit too warm, which is a good sign for winter time. Have you ever seen or, better yet, tried anything like this? Can you tell me why this will not work? If you are interested in developing this, build your own set and let me know how it works and how you've improved it. I'm a firm believer in open source. Let's develop a hydration system for our long rides in the cold.