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How Many Water Bottles Do You Need?

03.09.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 16 Comments

Spring has come to Central Texas! It was 78°F (25.5°C) and sunny today, a great day for a bike ride. I saw two members of my club head out on theirs just as I was leaving for yet another trip to the doctor. Oh, well.

The other day when I was cleaning my bike, I took two half-filled water bottles out of their cages and put them aside for the dishwasher. I’m not really good about hydrating on cool weather rides, but when it warms up, I tend to sweat easily, which reminds me to keep drinking. I try to take a swig every 10 to 15 minutes.

Even so, it seems to me that we don’t need a lot of water bottles. Two will do nicely, if I remember to wash them after every ride. Okay, four, if I decide to skip a day of washing.

But these days, water bottles are easy to come by. Lots of organized rides include a souvenir bottle in their goodie bags. When you rent a bike, the bike shop will throw in a bottle or two that you can keep. Ride sponsors have given me bottles for volunteering to work rides. We’ve got a cabinet reserved just for our bike ride water bottles, and I thought I’d empty it to see just what we have.

There are nine in the picture. We have two more I can’t account for at the moment. They take up a lot of space in that cabinet.

Some aren’t really very good as bike ride water bottles. That aluminum thing in the back right is awful. It has a screw top, so unless you’re stopped for a rest, you can’t take a drink while pedaling. The Monster.com bottle has a leaky top. I guess I’ll dump it. My wife, Pat, has a nice-looking Camelbak bottle with a sort of built-in straw. It looks high-tech, but doesn’t work very well. It’s missing from the picture, because she took it with her to a seminar today.

I didn’t even count the Camelbak hydration pack she owns, but never uses anymore.

Pat tends to favor large bottles, even though she rides shorter distances than I do. The Hill Country Ride for AIDS bottle is hers, as is the TCU Horned Frogs bottle — a souvenir for attending a conference at Texas Christian University.

Other bottles actually have some sentimental value. No kidding. The Outlaw Trail bottle in front is from my first century ride. The MS 150 bottle is from my ride there last year, and the clear bottle on the left is from a terrific vacation we took in Michigan two summers ago.

And yet, with all these bottles cluttering our cabinet, I’ll bet we’re pikers when it comes to collecting them. How many water bottles do you have? How many do you need?

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Categories // Accessories Tags // Accessories, water

Comments

  1. Jeff says

    March 9, 2010 at 7:51 pm

    A bunch…but once I got two Camelbak bottles I never use any of the others anymore.

    Reply
  2. Ashley says

    March 9, 2010 at 8:22 pm

    I have two I bought last year in the backseat of my car that I keep forgetting to bring in and get washed…I have 4 Team Discovery water bottles that are used regularly (I bring one for indoor training and two per outside ride) and I probably have 4 more kicking around at my parents house.

    Reply
  3. Life and Bikes says

    March 9, 2010 at 10:28 pm

    Two large Camelbak Podium Chilljackets are all I keep. They’re the only ones that keep liquids cool in the summer. Everything else goes right to recycling since traditional water bottles turn liquids terribly hot after just an hour in the warm sun.

    Reply
    • rainycamp says

      March 9, 2010 at 10:51 pm

      Yeah, but you get used to drinking warm Gatorade. Don’t you?

      Reply
  4. Alice says

    March 10, 2010 at 8:38 am

    I have 2 Polar insulated bottles. One I use just for water, the other mainly for sports drinks, but I use them both on most of my rides. Especially in the summer. Despite being insulated, they don’t really keep water as cold as I expected, so I usually leave some room to add some ice cubes to each one. That helps. Also, they’re a bit hard to squeeze to get the liquid out (I have arthritis, so that doesn’t help), but I like them well enough to use until I get some other kind.

    Reply
  5. Mark @ Advanced Water Filters says

    March 10, 2010 at 12:45 pm

    I have two good ones. I use stainless steel bottles. I really only use one but when it is being cleaned I need a backup.

    Reply
  6. Justin says

    March 10, 2010 at 1:30 pm

    My bike frame is so old it doesn’t have bottle bosses, so I have to use the Two Fish bottle cage that straps onto the bike. When I’m riding, I only carry one large Camelbak insulated bottle. I have a few other bottles, but I really only use the Camelbak.

    Reply
  7. Jordyn Davenport says

    March 10, 2010 at 7:09 pm

    I really love the camelback ones with the straws, everyone in my family has at least one of them and I have two! It’s one of very few bottles I can use while I’m moving without spilling on myself lol. When I try to use other bottles I end up getting frustrated so I just quit drinking water, which simply will not do in Texas!

    Reply
  8. Joel says

    March 10, 2010 at 7:19 pm

    I’m slowly replacing with Camelback podiums (mostly Team Fatty gear). I think I have a pair, want to pick up a third at some point but I also ride a Surly LHT which has three cage mounts (for touring) so it’s not all that excessive.

    Reply
  9. RamonH says

    March 10, 2010 at 9:51 pm

    I also use (2) polar insulated bottles. One for mixture/sports drink and one for water. I usually account one bottle for every 10 miles. That is just the way the body works.

    Reply
  10. Sine Botchen says

    March 11, 2010 at 1:50 pm

    Camelback.. holds 70 oz. and since I’m on a mountain bike I don’t have to worry about the Fred factor so much. I don’t think I could ever go back to using *just* water bottles. However, for longer trips I’ll throw on a couple of cages & bottles to supplement my Camelback and somehow still manage to run out of water very quickly.

    Reply
  11. Dana says

    March 30, 2010 at 3:34 pm

    If you ask my husband he would say I have too many water bottles and they keep falling out of the cabinet when you open the door. If you ask me I’d say there’s always room for one or two more. My standards for water bottles has risen, much like many other biking accessories, gear and components. It has to be easily squeezed to pour liquid into my mouth. I can’t be sucking on a water bottle when I’m gasping for air. I agree with many others that the Camelbak podium water bottles are the best – I like that they won’t spill when tipped over. However, on a cold ride in the winter months the plastic gets a little hard and can be difficult to squeeze.

    Reply
  12. Gary says

    March 21, 2012 at 7:01 am

    I used to have 10, but binned 4 because I never used them, and they kept falling out of the cupboard, ha ha.
    Out of the 6 I have now have, 4 are Camelbak Podiums which I think are perfect. I take one or two with me on a ride, depending upon how long it will be, and yes, I have two bottles to match my road bike, and two to match my MTB, ha ha. The other two are plain High5 promo ones, so I take them to the gym. But how many do I need, just 2 🙂

    Reply

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