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.

[Owlie]

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.

[strongly considers switching to the Camelbak...]

[Catrin]

[strongly considers switching to the Camelbak...]

That is indeed one of the advantages! I still use mine, though I have to be far more careful how full it is than before my neck injury. I DID figure out how to continue using it, for now at least. Discussing a different approach with my fitter. We will see.

[ny biker]

[strongly considers switching to the Camelbak...]

One reason I use a Camelback while mountain biking is that it's cleaner than drinking out of bottles from bottle cages. And I'm somewhat germophobic -- I do things like press elevator buttons with my elbow instead of using my hands (a habit I developed a few years back when there was a shortage of flu shots and many coughing people in the building where I worked). But I don't think twice about drinking from water fountains or filling my water bottle at them, and I never think about about germs on the bottle when riding through water.

Some friends did a big metric century ride recently in Amish country in Pennsylvania. It rained that day, and I've heard that they encountered mushy cow pies on the road. I was planning to do that ride next year -- maybe I'll bring my Camelback if there's rain the forecast...

[PamNY]

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.

Emily, that sounds like no fun at all. I think campylobacter can turn up in pigeon poop -- that's one of the reasons I wondered about the safety of park fountains.