Fuel Explosion

Update March 2008: (scroll down to read original post)

I wrote to the Fuel Belt company. They replied that they’ve never heard of this happening before, and offered to send me a replacement. Since they said no-one else ever reported the flask exploding, I wanted to try it with other gel products, thinking maybe the Accelerade powder was the culprit.

I tried it with honey, since that’s similar consistency to standard energy gels. That was too thick to suck or squeeze, so I added 1/3 water. That worked great. It did not explode with the honey or honey/water mix.

Then, I tried mixing the Accelerade powder in the flask, and letting it sit open for 20 minutes before going out for a ride. That stuff really foams up. Once it settled, I put the lid on and went out for a ride and had no problems with it exploding. So, I’m confident that it is the Accelerade…. It expands too much for the flask. Letting it sit to air out first solves the exploding problem.

Original Post, written Jan 2008:

I got this Fuel Belt brand gel flask and holder for my bike. My hope was that it would be more convenient than carrying the little packets. Definitely not!

I’ve been filling it with Accelerade powder mixed with an equal amount of water. The darn thing explodes… once all over my legs in the middle of a ride. Other times – into my mouth on the first sip, nearly choking me! I’ve only ever filled it half way, so I hate to know what would happen if filled completely!

Here’s an animation I made using Flash to illustrate:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bArbMrNMBAQ]

Here’s the product, which I do NOT recommend: Actually, after solving this problem, I now can recommend this product!