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Hydration options while riding?

As a rule of thumb I never wear any backpacks or anything unless it is a very short ride on my Hawk. Stuff bouncing around on my shoulders gets cumbersome and if you are riding for a while it will wear you down, so when it comes to putting down miles and staying hydrated I keep a bottle of water for emergencies and then I just drink some water or something cool at every gas stop. I seldom go more than about 130 miles in between stops because I have to stretch my legs and knees at that point anyways so that is where I water down some. My last trip from DFW to Toronto I took a camel back and had it in my top box but it ended up being a space waster and I was annoyed with it the whole time because I felt like it was taking up space I could have used for something else, like maybe some additional clothing or gear. If I was camping I might have found it more useful but after the first day I actually thought about finding a UPS or Fedex store and shipping it home. Now in my case I was staying in a hotel each evening, and I have a bajillion points so when I check in I get free water so that is the other point at which I would water up was in the evenings before going to bed.
 
As a rule of thumb I never wear any backpacks or anything unless it is a very short ride on my Hawk. Stuff bouncing around on my shoulders gets cumbersome and if you are riding for a while it will wear you down, so when it comes to putting down miles and staying hydrated I keep a bottle of water for emergencies and then I just drink some water or something cool at every gas stop. I seldom go more than about 130 miles in between stops because I have to stretch my legs and knees at that point anyways so that is where I water down some. My last trip from DFW to Toronto I took a camel back and had it in my top box but it ended up being a space waster and I was annoyed with it the whole time because I felt like it was taking up space I could have used for something else, like maybe some additional clothing or gear. If I was camping I might have found it more useful but after the first day I actually thought about finding a UPS or Fedex store and shipping it home. Now in my case I was staying in a hotel each evening, and I have a bajillion points so when I check in I get free water so that is the other point at which I would water up was in the evenings before going to bed.

Do what you think you need to do but this is not good advice for riding in 100 degree weather with high humidity .

I would be dead already if I drank water at your rate [emoji15]
 
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I would estimate that better than half of the guys I ride with carry a hydration pack, especially those guys riding the dual sport/adv. Personally, I carry a small one that fits tight enough for any activity and I only carry water, a hat, first aid and snacks in mine but I've seen guys carry some pretty strange stuff like the guy in the photo who hung his license plate on his pack.
 

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I almost always wear my camelback when riding offroad. I do on occasion on street rides as well.

This week I had a service call in Houston, Conroe, Beaumont then on to Baton Rouge for one the next day, so I filled the camelback with ice and some water loaded up the FJR and rolled. Left NB around 6am rolled into BR at 7:30 and still had cold water in the camelback.

Loaded it up with ice at the motel the next morning went to my customer and took care of his issues, grabbed some lunch and rolled back camel back still had cool water in it when I got back to NB

Only thing I dont like is my offroad helmet has a dedicated path in it for a camelback hose so the bite valve stays in place in the helmet, my Shoei RF1200 is a bit of a tight fit to get the bite valve and hose in the helmet while riding
 
I was referring to riding in real hot weather all day long and several days at a time. I drink lots of water all the time , even in the winter. Probably lots more than I really need . After having kidney stones about three times the doctor told me to drink plenty of water to avoid them.
 
I've had two. Ain't going back for a third.....
While I was in hospital for a surgical removal of a kidney stone some years ago (more of a kidney boulder really)
I met a woman who was in there with her 3rd kidney stone.
She told me, "I would rather have another 4 kids than one more kidney stone!"

On that basis, I suggest everyone drink lots of water (and a few beers are also excellent for flushing the kidneys...) :trust::trust::lol2:
 
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