Beach to Battleship

Hey all,

This is my first IM tri, and I have a question pertaining to the fees zones/aid stations. Forgive me if I sound like an idiot...
B2B.com mentions that HEED will be served at the aid stations along the bike course. While riding, how am I to get a bottle of HEED?
Am I expected to stop, ask for a bottle or two? Or do I stop, and someone fills my bottle, then I go charging off once again?
And how do I pick up gels, electro tabs, and bars while riding? Are there just people holding out bars, gels, and tabs, then I take one if needed? Or do I stop as well?? Is there a limit to how many gels, bars, tabs, or drinks that I may take? And lastly, how many bottles, gels, and bars are you ladies and gents carrying on your bikes?

I would appreciate any insight whatsoever. Thanks for reading.

Cheers

If it's like last year, bottles of heed will be handed to you as you ride past the aid stations. These bottles will likely be a standard sized bottle that you'd find at your local cycling store and probably use daily to train with. They will fit right into your bottle cages, if that's what you are using. Also, it's likely that volunteers will hand you gels as you go by and sometimes bananas. Be sure to slow to a speed that is reasonable for you to grab these items from volunteers without dropping them into the road. Soft Hands...... You will also be able to stop and pick up additional items if you'd like. Just be careful to pay attention when stopping as to who may be behind you as well as to be careful when pulling back into oncoming cyclist once you are complete. Set Up and their volunteers did a very good job last year of stocking the aid stations on the bike course and making sure that everyone had good access to what they needed. You may also put additional items not offered at aid stations in your special needs bags. I'd recommend it, even if you don't necessarily think you'll need anything. You never know what can happen in this long of an event. You may drop something and not realize it. You may have issues that you don't normally have in training, etc. Or, you could end up with a flat before the special needs zone, use your one spare, and need another tube or CO2 for the latter half of the bike just in case. Good luck and have fun.