FUELBELT I almost always run with a water bottle belt, but not solely for its intended purpose. I'm sort of swayback. I think I was ridden too much as a colt. As a result, I've got a strange thing going on in my low back, and it even limits the positions in which I can sleep. A water bottle belt does the double-duty of supplying me with water or fluid replacement for the run while stabilizing my lumbar region. It definitely allows me to go on longer runs without back pain, or at least it staves off the pain for a longer period of time. The weather being generally disagreeable for cycling this past weekend, I thought I'd give a new (for me) trail system a try. I decided I'd also put the Fuel Belt though its paces, both for its intended purpose and to see how it got along with my idiosynchratic back. Fuel Belt sent me three belts to try, with 4, 6, and 8 bottles per belt depending on the model. I decided to try the 4-bottle belt first, and to make sure I was bringing along enough water I filled one of my large, 25-ounce bicycle water bottles I usually put in my Ultimate Direction water bottle carrier––the best of that variety I've found. The contents of my 25-ouncer precisely fit into the Fuel Belt's 4 smaller bottles. The whole idea, it seems, is to spread the weight more or less equidistant around your waist, so that you don't have a big bottle bouncing every time you stride. As I took off on my run––I was going to go 2 hours, so as to give the belt, and me, a good challenge––it was apparent that the thing doesn't bounce or jiggle whatsoever. So far so good. But one thing did bother me. Perhaps my arm carriage is unique, but my hands occasionally came in contact with the front bottles when I ran. By "front bottles" I mean the ones that are at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock, on either side of the key pocket. I'm assuming these are the front bottles, and I'm guessing that the Fuel Belt connects in the front. I found the problem was easily solved, though. I just rotated the thing 180 degrees, with the key pocket (the thing which says "Fuel Belt") at the back. The two bottles normally at the back were now at the front, and they're much closer to each other. All the bottles were now in their perfect places, at least for me. How did the Fuel Belt perform as a back stabilizer? My normal water bottle carrier––in fact every one that I've ever had––has a rigid belt with an adjustable strap. The belt must be made of a rigid––not elastic––fabric because that big bottle in back would bounce all over the place with an elastic waistband. The Fuel Belt's waistband is elastic, though, sort of like a race number belt (but about 2" wide––double that of a number belt). One end of the Fuel Belt terminates with a key pocket––not big enough to carry anything else, except perhaps some cash––and the back side of the key pocket is Velcro. That's how the Fuel Belt clasps in front (or rear, as the case may be). The upshot is that the Fuel Belt did give me precisely the amount of support I needed in the back, and did so in a more comfortable way than my water bottle carrier owing to the Fuel Belt's elasticity. Perhaps even that thicker, slightly taller key pocket (now at my back) helped additionally. The new trail system on which I ran yesterday was so spectacular (Dripping Springs, on the back side of San Diego's Palomar Mountain on highway 79) I went back today and ran another 2 hours on a different trail. No back pain with my Fuel Belt. That's pretty miraculous for me. (Knees, that's another story, but I can't blame the belt for that). I can't use the 6-bottle Fuel Belt without my hands hitting ill-placed (for me) bottles. It appears I can use the 8-bottle belt, though, if I strategically remove two of the bottles, yielding me 6 usable bottle positions. There are some drawbacks to the Fuel Belt. There's no place, for example, to stick your GUs. You'd just have to squeeze a bunch of them into one or two of the Fuel Belt's bottles. But that's sort of a hassle. It occured to me that perhaps a Fuel Belt user might want to consider a mixable gel like Hammergel. When I later looked on Fuel Belt's website for the contact info, whaddya know, you can buy Hammergel on the Fuel Belt website. Obviously these two companies have recognized the symbiotic nature of their relationship. (One note: Fuel Belt separtely sells its "Power Pocket" that I didn't try, but that does allow a user to carry his pre-packaged gels). There are two other issues with the Fuel Belt. One is that if you're lazy, like me, you've got to clean and keep track of all these little bottles, which unlike tribbles and coat hangers probably do not reproduce––quite the opposite. But then you can always buy extra bottles from Fuel Belt if you lose any. Then there's the issue of refilling them during a long race. Would I want to do that? I don't know. When I recently competed in the Wildflower half I took a water bottle carrier and––being the wuss that I am––I had a small cooler in the transition area with an ice-cold bike bottle inside for the run (Wildflower gets hot). When I finally finished the bottle off, at about mile 5, I didn't see the need to refill it. I tossed it at an aid station, and just relied on the water and G-Push on the course. If I was the type who'd want to refill the bottle, with the Fuel Belt I'd have to refill 4 bottles instead of one. But, as I said, I didn't refill my bottle during the race. Maybe I'm just thinking up theoretical negatives that don't exist in real life. I'll certainly use a Fuel Belt during a race. Okay, maybe it doesn't necessarily look chic, but neither does my Seal Mask. I'm past worrying about that. I'd use it for a half-Ironman and up. I may or may not use it (or any bottle carrier) in an Olympic distance race or shorter. Depends on the heat, and what the race director is offering in terms of quantity of aid stations, fluid replacement, and gels. I'll certainly use the Fuel Belt during my training runs, but to be honest that's largely because it works better than the water bottle carrier at stabilizing my low back. That's perhaps a problem few Slowtwitch readers have. The 4-bottle Fuel Belt that I prefer sells for around $32. The entire range sells for $25 up to $39, depending on how many bottles you want it to carry. You can contact Fuel Belt at info@fuelbelt.com or (617) 868-9506