Day 10 - Camelbak Podium Ice Bottles

I think that non-cyclists (and probably a lot of cyclists too) think that all water bottles are created equal. You’d think that something as simple as a water bottle would have been perfected decades ago, but somehow that didn’t happen. Some bottles are definitely better than others. 

The two best bottles I’ve used are the Camelbak Podium and the Specialized Purist. 

The Camelbak Ice is the bottle I use most often. It’s insulated. In fact, it’s supposed to keep water cold 4x longer than their other insulated bottle, the Podium Chill. Insulated bottles are great because they keep your water cold in the summer and they keep them from freezing in the winter. If it’s cold enough I’m sure they’d eventually freeze, but I haven’t experienced that yet. In the summer your water does eventually warm up, but if you fill them with ice, the ice lasts a lot linger than I expected. In a hot crit, it’s great to have ice cold water.

The Specialized Purist bottles are great too. I actually didn’t know they had insulated ones until I checked today. They do custom orders so you can put your team’s logo on it. The big selling point of the Purist is that you can wash the bottle and it doesn’t taste like your dishwasher. If you rinse the bottle out after you had sports drink in it, the bottle doesn’t taste like sports drink the next time you use it. 

The Podium and the Purist both have nice lids. They are both easy to squeeze (unlike the insulated Polar bottles I’ve tried). You don't need to suck on either one. Just squeeze and the water comes out. Sure, the Specialized Big Mouth bottle is a fine bottle (this is probably the most common bottle, you’ll know if you have it because it has a specialized “s” on the bottom), but the Podium and Purist bottles are worth the extra few dollars. If having cold water is important to you, then the Podium Ice is the way to go, even though it has a harsh retail price.