Alameda Runners – Get After It!

Have you ever wondered how to properly clean your water bottle or hydration pack? Proper cleaning and storage is important, so we wanted to chat with some specialists about this tricky subject.

We recently caught up with Hydrapak, an Oakland-based hydration company, that helped give us a great new idea about how to clean our reservoir.

Sometimes you’re going to buy a bottle or hydration reservoir that has a plastic taste that is rather unpleasant the first time you use it. Some people rinse it out several times, while others may even try to use bleach or hydrogen peroxide to clean packs.

“The lemon and freezing is the best for those sensitive to plastic taste that can be most prevalent on the first use. Citrus is great because it won’t stain like a sugary drink, like Gatorade. There may be other concoctions that could be attempted, but I haven’t tried them since the lemon works so well.”

Trying to figure out how to properly clean your water bottle could be an entirely different issue. Hydrapak offers three general tips you could use if you want to wash your water bottle – hand washing, dishwasher, and cool mountain spring.

Cleaning (and more importantly) drying your reservoir is important to reduce the possibility of mold and bacterial growth. This is most important for those using mixes or sugary drinks that accelerates the ‘grunge factor.’ The Hydrapak reservoir reverses and is therefore superior because of its ability to dry.”

If you have a specific question for Hydrapak, I’d recommend following the company’s Twitter account. Despite being a relatively small group of dedicated athletes, the staff wants to help and make sure athletes are using their products safely.

Alameda Runners plans to catch up with other companies, and will help you learn more about properly cleaning your water bottles, hydration packs, and similar products.