Got WATER BOTTLES? Water Bottle Giveaway Plus Ten Reasons to stay Hydrated
22. Jun, 2012 
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Why Hydrate?
We all know we need to stay hydrated while we are exercising, but staying hydrated all day is the key. Here are 10 reasons (if you need them) to stay hydrated! Make it easy to stay hydrated on and off the bike during your day by taking along a water bottle that you can easily re-fill with water or another favorite liquid. We are also giving away several of these bottles. See below for details. Also, read Nancy’s Clark’s excellent article on hydration and why water is a natural performance enhancer.
- Optimize your athletic performance. As you exercise, your body temperature rises and the heart rate goes up. Without water, you’ll fatigue more easily and you may be at risk of heat-related injuries.
- Stave off fatigue and keep your focus. (A mere 2% drop in our body’s water supply can trigger signs of dehydration: fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on smaller print, such as a computer screen.)
- Keep your skin looking healthy and beautiful
- Suppress your appetite naturally by drinking water. We often confuse hunger for thirst. Bonus: stay hydrated for better metabolism.
- Flush out toxins from the body. It’s not only important to do this right after a tough workout, but during the course of the day!
- Stay regular by drinking. Water improves digestive issues of all types.
- Avoid headaches by staying hydrated and if you do have a headache coming on, be sure to drink up! For more about dehydration-caused headaches, check out this info.
- Avoid post-exercise cramps by drinking well as even mild dehydration in warm weather can lead to muscle cramps.
- Stay well by staying hydrated. Your body’s cells need to be hydrated to fight off disease and keep your immunity system strong.
- Mild dehydration can also effect your emotional state, putting you in a bad mood.
A Bottle Perfect for Après-cycle:
Blender Bottle—This bottle is part high quality water bottle and part blender and is thus the perfect bottle for mixing a post-ride recovery drink. Inside the bottle is a stainless steel blender ball that can smoothly mix powders with liquids and can even mix in soft creamy ingredients such as peanut butter, yogurt or crushed fruit. (The Blender Bottle SportMixer 28 oz. size retails for $14.99)
Bottles to use During your Busy Day:
Lifefactory—This glass bottle has an unique look that make it stand out and with its good looks you can take it to board meetings or to a yoga session. The glass bottle is sufficiently covered with a decorative silicone cover to protect it from minor falls. (See Julie’s review below) The soda lime glass bottles are healthy, safe, non-toxic and dishwasher safe. (Available at Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma and Whole Foods and many other stores. Retail price of the Classic Cap 22 oz. bottle is %22.99)
Do your part and use a washable cup or water bottle for your coffee or tea instead of paper or styrofoam cupsinstead of cups
Klean Kanteen— If you are a coffee or tea drinker, Klean Kanteen has a vacuum insulated bottle that will keep your drink cold for 24 hours or if you like it hot, it will keep your beverage steaming hot for up to 6 hours. Drink your hot or iced tea or coffee from this double-walled stainless steel bottle instead of wasting more paper or Styrofoam cups. It’s just one more way you can do your part to save Mother Earth! (The 16 0z. size shown above retails at $25.95 and also features a cafe cap for ease in sipping.)
Sof-Flex Bottles (Made by Liquid Solutions): These bottles are lightweight, recyclable and are well-suited for walkers and runners. The nearly flat shape when empty also makes these bottles very packable. Throw them into your purse or beach bag to fill up with cold water as needed during the day. The “sports-style” ones shown have hand straps and pockets and the fabric is machine washable. (Retail price $11.99)
CamelBak Groove Filteration Bottle: Get the great taste of clean filtered water from any tap with this bottle which filters as you drink. (Capacity: 25 oz. Retail price: $27)
Great Bottles to use During Your Ride
Polar Bottle: This is our favorite bottle for hot weather long rides as the insulated Polar Bottle keeps the water icy-cold much longer than standard bottles. How long your bottle stays cold depends on a lot of factors including the high temperatures and the direct exposure to the sun’s glare. For best results, fill the bottle with ice cbes and then add water or the night before, fill it half way and freeze it overnight, adding that additional water to your large ice cube just before leaving on the ride. (24 oz. Polar Bottles are shown above and come in a variety of colors and cool patterns. They retail at $11.99–with limited edition prints pricing at $14.99)
Hydrapak Gel Bot gives a cyclist or triathlete both water and gel in one easy-to-use bottle. You can use it with one hand, so it’s usable on the bike and in races! It is a cool product because you won’t be struggling to pull energy gels from your back jersey pocket, tearing them open with your teeth and wondering what to do with the leftover sticky energy gel bags. You don’t even have to slow your pedaling or lose focus on the road ahead and the cylists around you during a race or while in a Peloton. (The 20 oz. bottle retails for $13.99 with the 24 oz. selling for a dollar more.)
Julie’s Review of Life Factory’s Bottle:
The Lifefactory water bottle is a classier version to the typical water bottle. This glass bottle protected by a stylish silicone skin is the wonderful solution to the fashionable eco-friendly way to stay hydrated. My favorite feature is the glass part. I never got into the metal bottle craze because I couldn’t stand the taste of the metal when I drank. Plus my hand would freeze if I decided to through ice into my bottle.
The only thing I didn’t love was the flimsy rubber stopper. I had to be careful not to carry this upside down or next to my laptop. If left upside down for too long, the stopper would give way.
A true Cycle and Style girl, I was always looking for the replacement to my plastic Specialized water bottle I also used for when I went riding. The Lifefactory bottle is chic, and unlike many of my other plastic bottle, it doesn’t change colors when I throw my various powder mixes into it. It cleans better (in the dishwasher–silicone skin and all!) and this allows me to mix all my drinks.
One of my favorite things to do with the water bottle is to toss a few frozen raspberries and lemon slices in with my pink lemonade. It’s fun to watch the fruit swimming around in the bottle.
Water Bottle GIVEAWAY!!
We have packaged together four of these great water bottles to help one of our readers stay well hydrated during the day: A Blender Bottle SportMixer for mixing drinks, the Hydrapak Gel Bot to use for endurance training or races, the Klean Kanteen double-walled stainless steel bottle (with two lids) and the easy to throw-in-a-purse Soft Flex bottle (which is also great for runners!)
Simply comment below to be entered into the drawing for these bottles. Contest runs from now through July 2nd. We can mail this to our readers in the US or Canada.
I have been looking for the right water bottle and now have some great ideas!!
I have set a goal to drink more water – this would helpl so much! Plus, I just bought a protein powder to help me recover after my rides, so I would especially love to have the BlenderBottle!
The Soft Flex sounds great. I definitely need something that’s easy to tote around.
Wow! So many different kinds of water bottles. Thanks for the depth of options to look into further!
Thank you Cycle and Style – once again you introduce me to cool new products . YOU ROCK !!
Great review! Been looking at the blender bottles and the polar bottles already, but you gave me some others to give some consideration to as well. Can’t have too many water bottles in my opinion!! And golly – the hydrapak gel bot sounds like something worth checking into. I don’t race but like getting out on some long rides.
Like everyone else here, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your reviews. It saves money and frustration when you buy a product from someone you trust. I have been recently joining club rides, going on longer rides and prepping for the Los Angeles summer heat and really struggling with what to make work for hydration. I have been lugging a giant Nalgene bottle for years and wasn’t keen on trying something new, even making my own life difficult trying to tie it to the handlebars and wrap it around my back rack. When you are parched and at a red light, I’ve ignored my thirst because it’s too difficult for me to access my water bottle.
Thank you for showcasing all the different types of water bottles. I was only familiar with the Polar and Sigg bottles. The blender bottle is a great idea for mixing recovery drinks! I totally need the Klean Kanteen in my coffee drinking life. I must track down the Sof-Flex bottle for my friend, who is a endorphin running junkie. Thanks again!
So many different water bottles! None of my current water bottles do any cool things like that. Pretty nifty!
Love the collapsable bottles. Great for keeping in the gym bag.
Glad I found your article. I had no idea at the choices available. I am guilty of failing to prepare and grabbing a water/drink while out when needed.
Love these bottles, mine are getting a bit ratty from riding and would totally use these and even share with my hubby! Love the fact that you are thinking about the people drinking and accomodating their unique needs!
Would love to give anyone of them a try the all seem like interesting products.
Hot summer! Love the info on the Polar Bottle!
love the blender bottle!
Great giveaway!
Wow, these are amazing! I’ve never seen the Sof-Flex bottles before, those would be super handy to take into work. Less to carry out at the end of the day! Great reasons to stay hydrated too… I try to drink water when I’m feeling hungry, and more often and not I was thirsty rather that truly hungry.
One of my officemates has a Blender Bottle and swears by it. Plus, it’s a really fun thing to shake around in meetings. Thanks for the tips on the huge variety of water (and other good stuff) holders!
Thanks for the info! Polar bottles are great, and I would love to try some of the tther bottles!
Great selection! These all look like great products
How does the Hydrapak Gel Bot work, exactly? Do you put the gel in beforehand? Does it get mixed into the water? I am very intrigued. One of the things I am most horrible about on the bike is nutrition and hydration; I get too nervous that I’ll miss an attack and end up not drinking enough. When the temperatures are up in the triple digits, that’s no good!
Thank you for the review. I always freeze my water bottles the night before–gives a nice cold drink on the ride!
Commenting to be entered!
We love water bottles at home!
I just started going to the gym and a water bottle would be great to take along with me…
Wow, these are awesome! I’m crossing my fingers on both hands
~J
BlenderBottle is a must-have. It’s the only bottle that will actually mix powders completely.
This is an awesome giveaway, thank you so much! Have a great weekend!
definitely commenting to enter this. the klean kanteen looks pretty slick, and i’m excited about the chance to win it all
I. Love. Hydration!!
I would love to win this! Thanks for the chance!
I’ve recently made a commitment to drink more water and stay hydrated! Would love to try out these products to meet my goal!
Great timing! I just shattered my hard plastic water bottle with a hard fall on concrete
I have had my eye on a couple of these for replacement.
Those are awesome. with our temps over 100 , it would come in handy
AWESOME giveaway! WE always seem to be running short on water bottles.
Great review! I am always in need of more water vessels. especially one with a blender!
I have been cycling for about 10 months and am quickly learning the power of hydration (or the lack thereof). I am a heavy soda drinker and have been trying to find ways to sneak water into my workday so I am well hydrated by the weekends for cycling. These water bottles may be just the thing to make drinking water FUN!
I am addicted to water bottles. These look awesome and would definitely help me to drink more water.
I’m gearing up for my first bike camping trip and extra water bottles would be awesome!
I love having a variety of water bottles. I drink more water if I switch up the vessel used every so often.
Great giveaway. So many choices!!
I love drinking water but I’ve been looking for ways to get my family to drink more! I hope that I win!
Shannon F.
meltoole(at)hotmail(dot)com
Thanks for posting this review of some pretty cool water bottles. My son is about to leave for college and I have been looking for a neat water bottle to send with him! Although I missed the window for the give-away, I appreciate getting an update on the new technology in water bottles! Thank you!
I just lost my water bottle during a bike ride. A replacement or replacements would be awesome, right now.