Do you use public drinking fountains?

[emily_in_nc]

You know, this thread was definitely on my mind this morning when it rained on our club ride.

I DO know someone who got very sick from drinking water from a frame-mounted water bottle. You do know that if you ride through water, whatever's in that water is now on the valve of your water bottle ... reclaimed water in the suburbs, dogsh*t and automotive chemicals in the city, cow and pig manure and ag chemicals in the country. But I still drink from my water bottle, and so does everyone else I know.

Absolutely. I got just about as sick as I've ever been in my adult life during Bike Virginia in 2003 from just this. We were riding through a rural area with chicken farms, and it had rained recently, so apparently there was chicken poop in the rain run-off on the road. Or at least that's what the CDC came up with when over 100 of us contracted Camplyobacter during or after the event. Oh, I was so sick!

But I do drink out of public water fountains without a thought. I too have a bit of a psychological aversion to drinking water out of glasses or bottles filled from a bathroom sink, though I'll do it.