Friday, May 30, 2008

Cleaning the Camelpak (Camelbak?)


First off, is it called CamelPAK or CamelBAK? I always get confused! I think I've been calling it Camelpak. Why haven't you corrected me? Probably because you don't know the difference either. When I was in the store a long time ago looking for one, I remember just saying the word really quickly to the salesperson because I couldn't remember which one it was: Camelpak or Camelbak. I figured if I said it quick enough, he wouldn't know the difference. It worked.

Well whatever it is, mine's nasty. It's been stinking really bad lately...and not the inside of it that holds the water, but the outside cloth has a nasty BO funk to it now. Awesome.

I filled it up this morning and had it in my car on my 45 minute drive to work. The whole time it just reeeeeked of old sweat. After about 20 minutes I got used to it and forgot about my pack.
Then all of a sudden I started to question my own BO. I knew something stunk and I smelled my armpits to make sure it wasn't coming from me. I had just showered and put on deodorant so it couldn't be me...haha. Then I remembered it was my nasty funk bag stinking up the car.

It's just like when I cut onions for my salads in the morning. I always try to make sure my fingers don't actually touch the cut onion because I don't want my hands to smell like BO all day. I'll be at work and touch my face and smell something nasty and think it's me...then I thankfully remember it's the onions.

So anyway when I got to work, I googled "Cleaning Camelpaks" and that's first how I realized I've been calling it the wrong name for the past year. All of the results that came up gave instructions on how to clean the actual "Hydration Bladder" (that's a gross name for it):


I don't care about cleaning the inside...I just put water in it (although the last couple of times I carried it, the mouth piece was salty). I want to know if I can actually put the outer covering of my "bladder" in the wash or something, or if I should just play it safe and live with the awesome smell.

Until then, I'll just keep on wearing the dirty thing.

If you're interested in learning more about Camelbaks, click here.

4 comments:

Brian said...

I like how every bad small is deemed "BO" - even onions. Wouldn't they be "OO" or something?

That's nasty to imagine water leaving one bladder just to fill up another. Bladder - ugly word.

Serious Q about running though: how much water do you drink during, say, a typical hour of running? It's really hard for me to drink whilst I'm running, so when I run an hour I don't drink anything at all, and then during my cool down I guzzle about 30-40 ounces of water. Is that good for me? Doesn't seem like it...

Anonymous said...

You can wash your CamelBak. I wash mine. Make sure to remove the bladder first and any clips. Tighten the straps down and tie up any loose nylon. I'd recommend washing is with some towels or blankets (just like shoes) so it doesn't bang around that much. Air dry, since nylon straps can melt if they touch the heating element in your dryer.

I thought you were always calling it a Camelpak to be playful or something. Like calling the internet the interbob or interweb.

Clara said...

Chris- I'm glad to hear that I can wash my nasty pack. I don't think I want to wash it with my bath towels, though, because I KNOW they'll start smelling nasty, too.

I used to wash my running clothes with my "regular" clothes and Josh would ask me why his white t-shirts started stinking. Haha. Whoops.

Clara said...

You're right, Brian, haha...I put "BO" for an onion. I'm retarded. Oh well...it smells like BO anyway.

Bladder is an ugly word. Why would they call it that? Why not call it "container" or "CamelPak"? :)

I don't know how to answer your question about how much I drink during an hour...see the 15th paragraph on this link:

Lack of Water

Ohhhh well....I don't always drink as much water as I should. I know Chris will have a better, more technical, more scientific answer for you- but I think the amount of water you drink depends on the weather and the course. If I am running up a ton of hills and such, I'll want to drink more water...if it's super hot and humid, I'd drink more because I'm sweating more.

I think I've learned that it is important to continually drink water while you're running, even if you feel like you don't need it.

If you're running more than 30-45 minutes, I think you should make sure you're eating something, drinking something, and maintaining your salt intake in order to prevent injuries and help you feel better....

Basically, who knows.