CamelBak followup -- success!

[Roberta Jo Lieberman <woik@home.com>]

After reading everyone's responses (thank you!!) to my CamelBak query
and then "bunny-hopping" around the living room with pack "loaded" with
five D batteries and two unopened bottles of EZ Foam (thanks Nancy!), I
could see the wisdom of ridecamp experience: lateral stabilization --
especially sternally -- was needed! 

So I hopped on down to the sports shop and tried on several more packs.
I wanted something fairly simple, without too many bells & whistles. The
Gregory Mirage model had both waist _and_ chest stabilizer straps. I
also found its cut of the shoulder straps to be more generous and less
binding than the CamelBak Rogue -- in fact I could hardly tell it was
there. So home it came for Saturday's training ride.

Filled it partway with water for its maiden voyage (it holds 110 oz).
The reflective aluminum bladder must be stuffed into something they call
a "HydroCell" which is padded and insulated. Got not too far down the
trail when I realized that my back was getting a bit wet. Uh-oh --
figured I hadn't threaded the red cap on securely. and that was the
case. Fixed it, rode on with no further leakage (from that bladder,
anyway ;-) The bite-tube attached with a slim Velcro strip to the
shoulder strap and I sipped away... actually drank it dry. It was great
having "water on demand" and really helped maintain my hydration. Just
keeping a wet whistle made a difference, although I think all those
little sips add up (the other bladder got full ;-0)

Thanks again to all who responded for all of the terrific ideas and suggestions...

Bobbie (still carrying backup water bottles with Cytomax)
April (can ya squirt some of that water on me?)
In Southern California where it's RAINING--first time since I moved
here...why don't the weatherpeople like it??


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