Product Review: CamelBak Better Bottle

Funny how much the time spent meditating on my bike is/was a muse for this blog. I miss it. It seems while I was riding I had a neverending font of ideas to write about. Now that I'm in bike-exile, thoughts are more sluggish, ideas are harder to find.

One thing I have been wanting to do is the occasional product review. This one is about the CamelBak "Better Bottle." I've been searching for quite some time for a bottle that I will actually use to drink more water (and less Diet Coke) at work. I've tried several, and they all seem to come up short in some way or another.



(Photo courtesy of R.E.I. - a great place to buy one of these...)

The Better Bottle is basically a plastic bottle in one of two sizes (0.5 and 0.75 L) with a fancy screw-on cap. The bottle is made of BPA-free Tritan (looks/feels like Lexan, but it's not...) The cap includes a handy carrying loop and a flip-out, spill proof "big bite" sip valve. This is a larger version of the sip valve used in CamelBak's more famous hydration packs, and works quite well. You can hang a full bottle upside down and shake it with no leaks. An internal straw lets you drink (nearly) the whole bottle down without tipping.

I like the way the valve, when flipped closed, is fairly well protected from damage and dirt. I did notice when drinking from it that it tends to shoot cold liquid against the back side of my front teeth, which can be a bit uncomfortable at first. This is a minor issue, and seems to have gone away as my teeth got used to the cold.

My favorite part of the bottle is the hanging loop. Integrated into the lid, it's easily strong enough to hold a full bottle, and sized just right to hook a finger into. This makes the bottle easier to carry than a soda can -- an important feature when I'm feeling lazy. It can also be used with a carabiner to clip the bottle to a pack or belt loop.

One minor nit to pick: The 0.75L bottle is just a little bit too large to fit into a standard bicycle bottle cage or an automobile cupholder. If you intend to use it this way, I'd recommend going with the 0.5L size (which from the pictures appears designed to fit a standard cup holder).

Another nice thought: CamelBak claims the lid (also sold separately!) is built to match a standard size bottle, so you should be able to attach the lid to a standard bike bottle and solve the cage issue. I have not tried this yet, but it looks like it would work.

The Better Bottle comes in a variety of colors, including some interesting patterns, if you like to dress up your liquids. At $13 retail, it is quite an expensive bottle, which makes me worry about misplacing it, but here's the key. Unlike most of the other bottles I've tried, I actually tend to use this one... and isn't that the point?

Some musings on "reduce reuse recycle"

Hmm... my enforced sabbatical from the bike (symptoms improving slowly, btw) has left me reading a lot and thinking a lot.  Since at least part of my impetus for cycling to work - and hence part of the raison d'etre (did I spell that right? excepting diacritics?) of this blog - is at least some measure of environmental responsibility, I suppose I should wax a bit about the topic (and yes, I'm feeling a bit "wordy" today).

First, I don't consider myself an "environmentalist" or a "tree-hugger".  I'm certainly not a "liberal", either.  I think the current political labeling system is far too simplistic and ham-fisted, but I'd have to say I'm "conservative" or even "libertarian" on most issues.  I'm certainly not in favor of government mandates to force everyone to do things a certain way.  I think that runs essentially counter to the fundamental core of America's spirit - one of individualism, bootstraps and all that.

And yet, when I see the TV running with nobody watching, or I make another 2-mile trip to the store in my car, I wonder if I couldn't be doing better for myself, my family and the environment.

Nothing left but to explore some of the reasonings and rationalizations for voluntarily and individually living in at least a somewhat more "earth friendly" way...

I think in short it has to do with thinking long term and thinking about one's impact on the world around himself.  Sometimes the best thing long term isn't the best thing short term.

For starters, let's look at the obvious question of why bike everywhere (or even most or some places) instead of driving?  Here are a few practical thoughts:

* Less gasoline bought
* Lower maintenance costs
* Less net time spent exercising
* No health club fees
* Lower cholesterol and A1-C scores
* Overall better health
* Lower purchase price for the vehicle(s)

Just looking at the money aspect, all of these reduce the overall cost of living.  Any money saved in these areas can be redirected to savings and investment, or to spending on more "fun" things.  There is clearly, therefore, an economic benefit to biking over driving.  There are trade-offs, however:

* More exposure to the weather
* More exposure to "overuse" injuries
* Longer travel times, especially outside the urban core

I'm sure there are others.  However, for most folks, these downsides are not nearly enough to tip the balance.  A car can be retained (or rented!) for bad weather or long trips, and the exposure to overuse injuries must be balanced against the overall increased health due to increased exercise.  Again, for most people, biking wins.

There's a dubious argument, of course, that cycling is somehow more dangerous than driving.  However, the statistics don't bear this out.  In fact, studies done worldwide show that the health benefits of regular daily cycling far outweigh the risk of injury or death from accident, and that in fact cycling is no more dangerous than driving an SUV.

What about other "green" activites?  Simple things like keeping unused lights and other power drains off, wise choice of thermostat settings, and weatherproofing have long been touted as good ways to reduce home energy costs, and also contribute to reduced CO2 emissions at the power plant.  Money in  my pocket, and green!

We're talking about getting a rain barrel and having a small garden in the yard.  I don't know if we'll truly get any direct economic benefit... I strongly suspect that tending the garden will cost more in sheer $$$ than simply hitting the grocery.  On the other hand, the kids will learn something of hard work and tilling the land.  Again, I think the benefits will outweigh the costs.

It boils down to eliminating waste and focusing on what really matters.  Every watt a light bulb in an unused room burns is a penny my kids could be tossing in Trevi Fountain someday.  Every gallon of gas I burn between home and work is a movie we could be watching together and another hour of the day I have to carve out for exercise.

So, a little bit at a time, I suppose I'm turning green in my "old age"...

Grounded...

I'm off the bike for a couple weeks.

(CAUTION: Icky medical details follow...)

I was due for a checkup on my diabetes, and I've been having some, aah... urinary issues. Discomfort, flow problems, etc. So, after seeing one too many Flomax commercials, I popped in to see the family doctor. After the usual round of tests (cough! cough!), he sent me home with an antibiotic. Diagnosis: prostatitis, a rather annoying inflammation of the prostate gland. My wife dove into the Internet and uncovered the possibility that my cycling may be exacerbating the problem. More specifically, my 10 year old not-so-anatomically-engineered saddle might be exacerbating the problem.

So, just to be on the safe side, I'll be taking a break from the commute for a couple weeks while I treat the problem. Then, weather permitting, I'll ease back into riding (with the more-anatomically-friendly saddle moved over from my road bike) and see what happens. It could simply be a bacterial infection, but...

Why in the world would I put such a potentially embarrassing diagnosis on the web for everyone to see? Well, I bet I'm not alone... and besides, It would seem a bit weird for me to mysteriously stop posting for a couple weeks...

Worst case, I'll have to ditch my traditional bikes, grow a (full) beard and ride one of these:


(photo courtesy RANS Bikes... this is their popular Stratus XP model...)

Don't worry... I'll be chronicling my adventures with cross-training and maybe adding a few articles on cleaning and maintaining bikes during the interim. Besides, if I'm going to get back in to triathlons, I'll eventually need to learn how to run and swim!

Definition of Irony...

Irony (n): Driving your kids to school in the predawn darkness, in the first rain we've had in three weeks... on International Walk to School Day.

It aggravates me that there is no safe route to walk or bike the kids to their new school. Not that there was a safe route to their old school either. Six hundred yards of sidewalk. That's all we need. Six hundred yards. And "Phase 2" is not even in the five year plan for road improvements.

I just couldn't bring myself to drive them to the church across the street and walk them across the road to school this morning. As much as I'd love to support "Walk to School Day", it seems somehow... hypocritical.

Still, at least someone is out there promoting the idea of walking or biking to school. I just wish our town's infrastructure made it a little easier.

Mixed Feelings

I really promised myself that I'd refrain from discussing politics on this blog.  Sometimes it's inevitable, though.

Yesterday, Congress passed the "$700 Billion bailout bill".  On the one hand, it's another example of an expensive, potentially bad bill saddled with billions of dollars of "pork".  On the other hand, one of those "pork" items is a tax benefit for bicycle commuters.  The bill allows employers to reimburse up to $20 per month, tax free, of expenses related to getting to and from work on a bicycle.

This might seem unfair, except that it's quite common for businesses to reimburse employees for transit tickets, toll fees, parking expenses, and even fuel costs for drivers and users of public transportation.  This bill just encourages employers to treat bike commuters "fairly" in that respect.

Still, while I'm glad that there's a new benefit that will hopefully encourage people to make the bike racks more crowded at work, I'm not pleased that it and a whole lot of other stuff was tacked on to this bill.  I think the practice of tacking completely unrelated provisions onto major bills like this is a large part of what is wrong with congress.

So, I'll receive this new benefit (assuming my employer opts for it) with mixed feelings.  Glad to have it, but wishing it had been passed in a more transparent way.

Icecicles?

Well, not quite. It was 46 degrees (F) when I rolled out of the garage this morning. The weatherman says the winds were 5mph, but I think they were gusting a bit higher than that. Plus, when you're rolling 20mph (down a hill), who cares?? Wind chill is wind chill.

On the bright side (literally!), the sun was blazing, the sky was an incredible shade of blue, and a few white puffy clouds completed the tableau. There's a short stretch of newly-completed road on my "short route" (of which I took a medium-length variant today) that has freshly laid sod on the median and curbs. Given the serious lack of rain we had last month, it's probably the only green grass in town, and it was glowing in the sun this morning.

Still, as beautiful as the scenery was, it was cold. Maybe not Minnesota-dead-of-winter cold, but compared to summer temps, it was cold this morning. Time to bundle up!

So, how do I bundle for 45F temperatures? Well, actually, that's the easy part. The hard part is dressing so that I'm warm in the morning but not sweating like a pig during the 65F ride home. The key is "layers". I was wearing:

• Regular jersey, shorts, gloves, socks, shoes and helmet
  
• Lycra-stretch head/ear band
• A nice pair of New Balance running tights over the shorts
• Knee warmers
• Windbreaker (yes, the not-so-waterproof red Pearl Izumi jacket...)
  

Here are a few notes:

• I should have worn my CalienToes. My toes were a bit frosted by the cold and wind.
• Less "mesh-y" shoes would have helped, as well.
  
• Likewise, some thin full-finger gloves (or liners under my regular gloves) would have been nice, but might have been a bit too warm.
  
• Arms were a bit chilled, but the windbreaker did its job.
• Even with the chilly temps, I still broke a sweat.
• Tights + knee warmers was almost too warm a combination for the legs.
• OTOH, tights + shorts worked well for the backside.
• Heavier shorts, two pair of shorts, or shorts under "street shorts" would have been warm enough and fixed the "tights+knee warmers" issue.
• Crew- or calf-length socks (especially wool) would be nice, but are not required at this temperature.
• The headband was a bit uncomfortable (tight, loss of hearing, hard to wear shades with), but cold ears are worse. Maybe something less "snug"...
  

In all, it was a surprisingly easy ride. The changing seasons are tough. You get used to a certain temperature range, and temps that would otherwise be comfortable aren't. Right now, 60F is cool and 40F is freezing. By spring, 40F is warm and 60F is t-shirt weather. The key, I think, is to keep riding consistently and adjust gradually as it gets cooler. I think I'll stay out of the rain, though, until I can get some hardier rain gear (probably not this season). Cold is one thing. Cold and wet can be deadly.

The best part of slogging out on a cold morning (besides the bemused admiration of one's coworkers) is the ride home in pleasant, sunny, much warmer weather!