Camelbak Podium Ice Bottle

Camelbak Podium Ice bottles just plain ROCK!

I never thought I'd pay what I did for a water bottle.  These bottles are absolutely worth it and then some.  Shop around and do some Googling for your best price.  I got "lucky" and caught them on a Hotter than Hell expo sale.

I picked up a couple of the re-released Podium Ice bottles the day before the Hotter than Hell 100, I figured why not give them the ultimate acid test for our area.  The Hotter than Hell usually lives up to it's name as being a hot and windy ride and this year it lived up to it.

When I got into my overnight motel room I gave the bottles two rinses, filled with water and let stand for an hour, dumped the water rinsed again, refilled and let stand another hour.  Then I gave them a final rinse, filled with ice, Skratch Hydration mix, and fresh water and placed in the motel room fridge/freezer.  The next morning, no bad plastic taste, just icy Skratch goodness.

I started the ride with two Podium Ice bottles that were partially frozen.  I was hitting SAG stops every twenty miles.  First sag stop, both bottles still had ice.  Refill my one I had been drinking from with ice water and Skratch, swap bottle locations and continue on.  Two hours and 40 miles in, the second bottle that started partially frozen still had ice.  Refill and continue on, even later in the day when the heat was coming up and hitting 100+ degrees I still had ice in my bottles.  Did I say these things rock?  They are great, plain and simple and are going to be what I will be using anytime it's hot out.


Staying hydrated and not cramping out was a key part of my plan for finishing the Hotter than Hell.  The Camelbak Podium Ice bottles allowed me to do that and complete the ride with a 20.0 mph average, a distance and speed I've not been able to do in over 20 years.