On water bottles and avoiding sickness @ Cape Epic

Equipment
1

Hi there, I’m looking for some water bottle recommendations for ABSA Cape Epic (more on this later) and I’m sure you folks have tried everything under the sun :slight_smile:

I currently use camelback bottles and absolutely love them. The jet valve is perfect. Nevertheless in muddy races the valve becomes a pool for every bacteria out there. Since the South African soil will be foreign to my european-bacteria-loving gut, I’d like to know about your experience with water bottles with protective caps. My bike is a 2019 Epic and I’ll be mounting 2 bottle cages. I came across Elite Fly MTB, but I’m not sure about the sizing.

Thanks in advance!

2

I have the Camelback Podium Dirt Series bottles for gravel for this exact reason. The cover works well to keep dirt off of the valve, but using it can be a pain. You have to flip off the cap before drinking, and if you don’t immediately flip it back on, it’s less than useless. So I’m really torn on using these, and thinking of switching to something like the Chase Vest