Although many bottles are dishwasher safe, the dishwasher when it comes down to it, is a poor cleaner of water bottles. The jets inside just don’t reach up inside the bottle to fully clean them. Needing to remove that smell and sometimes a sports drink gunk left behind. Game over for the water bottle, if the kids have left it in the back seat of the car for a day or two with any type of drink inside. Drinking out of a clean water bottle is sometimes hard to do, but not after using this brush and cleaner combo. A little bit of bleach and/or vinegar will help kill germs and bacteria. Hot water and the scrubbing with a brush to get in those hard to reach spots. Pouring a diluted solution of one or two tablespoons of bleach or one or two tablespoons of vinegar in the bottle with hot water and letting it sit for about 20 minutes. Then scrub with the brush, rinse very well and let air dry. Clean the lid and nozzle very well, as bacteria can hide inside the lid too. The Relaj water bottles I use, both the top and bottom are removable, yet I still scrub down the walls of the inside of the bottle. This angle tipped brush is the best I have found that will last a long time.
Brigitte’s Naturally smoothies are just the thing for recovering from a tough training workout. Packed with nutrient rich kale and other fruits they taste great and are ready to go, just open the bottle. I’ve had a few of them and the Kale Power made with mango, banana, pineapple, chia seeds, vanilla, parsley, lemon, spirulina as well and of course kale. The greens are packed with nutrition. The smoothies have just enough sweetness to them without being over powered by the fruit included inside them. The perfect vegan meal on the go or just a recovery drink. These perishable smoothies need to be kept refrigerated at all times as well as make sure to drink them before the expiration date.
I’ve been using the TREKZ Titanium Bluetooth headphones by AfterShokz while running and using my indoor cycling rollers. These headphones sit right outside in the front of your ear sitting on your jawbone. The sound travels through bone-conduction. The sound is great. Pair it with your smartphone, which is very easy to do. The headset is very comfortable and can even be worn while still wearing glasses. The main purpose of these headphones is to allow you to hear better what is around you and not totally cutting out ambient sound. It’s an open ear design. Obviously, I would never wear these while riding bike in traffic or out on the street, but I do wear them running and they still allow me to hear the world around me. After charging up the unit, with the provided micro-USB cord, it will return about six hours of play time. Although they are not water proof, can’t be submerged, they are sweat resistant. The headphones come with two fit bands, for those with smaller heads, a micro-USB charging cord, two ear plugs, that help block out noise into the ear canal as well as a storage case.
The headphones can be used to take phone calls as well as listen to music. According to the person on the other end of the phone, the quality of the voice in the call is excellent. By the way, I’ve even used them while out mowing the yard and having them synched to my smartphone playing music.
A few months back, friends of mine at Cat-Ears, gave me a Spruzza Mist unit, knowing I live and train in hot desert of Arizona. It is a misting system that is mounted and used on my bike. The bracket can be mounted to the underside of the stem on any bicycles handlebars, road bike, tri bike or even a mountain bike. The weather is getting quite warm now, whether the sun is up or not. Summer is upon us here in the Sonoran Desert. Spruzza is a misting device you squeeze the trigger and allows you to angle the head of the unit so the mist hits your face, neck, or chest, cooling your body down. The five ounce water reservoir can provide up to 300 squirts of the water mist, so there is plenty usage before having to refill. After initially setting up the Spruzza on your handlebars, which is very quick and easy to install and comes with all necessary parts to do so. The Spruzza can be removed quickly if you decide you don’t need it for the ride you are going on. A small “cleat” still stays on the bike with the zip ties attached to it, but the water reservoir and trigger sprayer come off. The water reservoir is also easy to remove and refill. The Spruzza delivers a two to three inch diameter spray pattern. Typically while wearing sunglasses you will want to avoid spraying them, as it will end up to water spots on the lenses. When I have sprayed my face it has been while stopped at a light. David at Spruzza provided me with tubing ( 2 feet or 24 inches, replacing the 4 1/4 inch tube for the five ounce reservoir) and water bottle set up allowing for water to be accessed from your water bottle mounted in the cage on the down tube of your bike. So now you can add ice to this water bottle, chilling the water down, as well as be able to fill it with 20 ounces of water. So do the quick math and that ends up to
five ounces being 300 sprays
so 20 ounces would be 1200 sprays. This is perfect for those super long hot rides, and you don’t have to worry about refilling as you go.
The directions said you can expect a cooling of between 15 and 20 degrees. In the desert heat every little bit helps.
Here is my results of testing the Spruzza, which are not lab certified by any means.
Readings off my skin and clothes were captured by using a dual laser infrared thermometer and seeing how much they cool down from using the Spruzza. Speed on the bike was about 15 to 20 mph with direct sun hitting me. Outside air temperature was 100F degrees. The water in the Spruzza was 70F degree water to start with.
Readings from my chest wearing a jersey started off
at 97F without misting myself and was cooled to 82F after misting.
The next reading had my jersey at 107F and cooling off to 83F after misting.
The final reading had my jersey at my chest hitting 103F and 78F after misting with the Spruzza.
Of course speed and the amount of misting will result in different results. Keep in mind too the humidity in my area is alway pretty low, at the time of testing it was at eight percent.
*speed and humidity as well as sun/shade while using can change results
Here is a special offer BONUS I am passing along. For the first TEN riders to contact David at
and purchase a Spruzza Mist unit, David will include a lid and tubing along with zip ties to attach to your own water bottle giving you up to 1200 sprays. This is a great offer you can't pass up.
With the cooling happening, your body is under less heat stress. Riding or training in hot temperatures will cause your heart rate to increase. This happens as your body will send blood to your skin helping it cool off. Spraying your head, neck and chest with the Spruzza, helps cool the skin making your more comfortable.
I have used and loved and have come to depend on these currexSoles to support and cushion my feet while both running and walking.
Needing and wanting to increase the comfort and performance of my running shoes I have replaced the liner inside with a currexSole insole, the RunPro with high profile to be exact. The majority of shoe manufactures simply just put a liner inside, as much of what they have designed is the outer shoe. Everyone’s foot, from the bottom, to the arch to the top is all different. First off, using the proper size to fit the inside of your shoe is a must. The toe end of the insole can be trimmed with a scissors if needed. I have found the best way to measure this is to use the liner that came in the shoe to give a good estimate of how much, if any needs to be trimmed for the currexSole insole to fit properly. The currexSole insoles are designed with dynamic arch technology, shock absorption as well as heel fit and moisture/odor control. They are not stiff like other insoles on the market. Much research and development go into currexSole insoles. currexSoles
SANREN Self Coiling Resettable Combination Cable Bike Lock with Mounting Bracket
This four foot, half-inch cable lock is just another way to slow thieves down from taking your bike. Not any lock is going to truly keep your bike from being stolen. It coils up nicely and comes with a bracket to attach it to your bicycle. With some bike carrier racks out there, you could even install the locks bracket to it, thus keeping the lock close by to use it. I like how the combination is set by you. It comes with the combination being all zeros (0000), but with a simple turn of the “set” ring inside you set the four digits to be something you will remember. As if we need another code, password or number to remember. Not with this. Simply make it your favorite number, a birth date, or pin number you have for a bank card and you will never forget it.
