Sticky Pod review

Whilst energy gels are great, what do you do with the packet after you're done?

If it's an event like Etape or a sportive, you try and time your consumption near the rubbish spots and chuck the packet out.

If it's a big bike race, well, you roll it up nice and tight and put it in your pocket, hoping it does leak goop everywhere.

I stopped doing this when one leaked into my BRAND NEW iPhone connector input and clogged the microphones up (Apple swapped the phone for nothing happily).

I then started putting them up the end of my knick legs, but that means goop on your knicks and on your legs. In your socks? Also no-go.

Blergh.

And with events like Etape, it’s not just a case of where to put gel packets.

You see, with events like Etape, your pockets are just full of so much stuff. Most people (me included) tend to overpack for events like Etape, and it makes for a tricky endeavour trying to find that scrunched up gel amongst all the other debris in your pockets, whilst trying to extricate it without pulling everything else out…all whilst riding one handed amongst thousands of others.

Miles Schwartz—a cycling entrepreneur from the US—has come up with a solution.

Miles has made a funky product called the Sticky Pod.

It's essentially a jersey bin, but goes beyond the stock, tiny, plastic jersey bins you can get.

Coming in two sizes, it's big or small enough according to your needs.

The big Sticky Pods are pretty big, as you can see from the photos. Plenty of room for a couple of energy bars and gels and money clip.

For a shorter event you can get away with a smaller Sticky Pod.

For a long event like Etape du Tour or La Marmotte, a larger Sticky Pod might be more apt: you can put used gels in there, keys and money clip, leaving your pockets clear for your phone, point and shoot camera and whatever else you need quick access to. (As an aside, for an event like Etape I'll typically have my point and shoot in my right jersey pocket so I can quickly whip it out, along with a gel or two; and my phone in my left, along with my Ventolin.)

What I like about this product is that it's simple and well-made. The external zip is excellent: large gauge zipper and a big tab.

The pods have rubber dots on the outside to help make them stick in your pocket (hence the name).

The smaller sticky pod can also carry spares. You can fit a tube or two, mini tool, 2 CO2 canisters and a patch kit easily. This is pretty cool if you switch bikes a lot and don't want to change your saddle bag all the time, or don't want one saddlebag (with spares) per bike. You can just keep one Sticky Pod with the spares and put it in your jersey pocket.

The products themselves are simple and washable. Moreover, as they're made from neoprene, they'll soak up small amounts of escaped gel without making the internal of the Sticky Pod, sticky.

This is a really cool product, and solves a problem I'd never really thought about solving before.

And at around US$15/$17 (small, large), this is a cheap investment in a versatile, practical, well-made product.

Where to buy Sticky Pod

You can buy the Sticky Pod direct from Miles' Sticky Pod website.

(If you're an Aussie shop or distributor reading this, Miles is after an Australian distributor, so contact him via his website!)