So i like riding my bike at night in winter. I and my bike get covered head to toe in mud and various types of animal excrement. This invariably gets onto my mouthpiece of my hydration bladder and then as im blowing trying to get up a hill and desperate for a drink i end up swallowing it. Thus i end up getting ill for the rest of the week.

Ive seen the camlebak covers for their bite valves but ive currently got a 90 deg playtypus one. I imagine the next one will be another hydropak one as well.

So any tips or solutions to not getting a mouth of dirt?

Suck, spit, suck again.

did your wife teach you that trick?

Put the bite valve inside your clothes

Put the bite valve inside your clothes

Or tuck it inside the shoulder strap.

I have accidentally squashed it doing that and only noticed bia being wet.

It does wonders for your immune system

Stop at the top of the hill, wipe clean, drink , continue with ride.
Is that so hard ?

Is this really the kind of thing where you need to ask other people for help?

Tuck it into jacket/top/pocket/behind your back (under bag), or just wipe it off, or spit out the first mouthful, or use a bottle with a flip cap, it’s not rocket surgery!

just wondering if theres some knack that ive missed. Tucking it into the other strap doesnt keep it clean either plus it makes it harder to get out while riding.

Better (or some) Mudguards?

Sounds like your the sort of person that would be tempted to buy the Camelbak flow meter.

Thus i end up getting ill for the rest of the week.

<facetious response>Get your immune system checked out</facetious response>

plus it makes it harder to get out while riding.

I can only see benefits with that scenario 8)

plus it makes it harder to get out while riding

If the few extra seconds taken by untucking it from inside your top or wiping it off are that much of a chore then I suggest you just keep swallowing the animal poo and build up a resistance to it.

as im blowing trying to get up a hill and desperate for a drink i end up swallowing it

I think you maybe need to re-evalutate your drinking habits as well, you might ‘want’ a drink but it’s impossible to get that desperate for a drink on a single climb, either take a swig before you start, or take the extra time to wipe it off.

You really aren’t in need of that water right there and then, you can’t get dehydrated on a single climb*, you’d be better served by getting your breath back and then having a (clean) swig of water.

*Summer time Alpine passes notwithstanding, but I get the impression that’s not what you’re talking about.

amedias – Member

You really aren’t in need of that water right there and then, you can’t get dehydrated on a single climb

Dehydration doesn’t come into it, if you’re feeling raw on a climb.

Cut hole in face mask and feed hydration tube into it, seal with hot glue gun. Problem solved.

Dehydration doesn’t come into it, if you’re feeling raw on a climb.

true, but my point is, if the OP is having such a regular issue with swallowing poo that either having a drink before hand, or taking a few seconds to wipe the mouth piece might be better options as he’s not so desperate for a drink that he absolutely must drink right now and be damned if there’s poo in the way!

but then we’ve also offered other ideas like tuck it inside your top that would help too.

I just don’t get how this is such a big deal or difficult to solve, but now I’m starting to come across as more of a bell-end* than I want to 🙂

*It’s not that I’m not, I just don’t want to add evidence of it to the internet for all to see.

I just wipe it before drinking. You could try this I guess:

it was just an question guys and gals.

I do whipe it when i use it, however it appears to still get bits of grit etc in the valve its self (the hydropak and playtypus ones are worse for this than the camlebak one) which i cant whipe out. (required disasembly of the valve and a little brusk when i get home.

Ive seen the bite valve covers. Does anyone use them? are they any good?

I had a bite valve cover on my Source hydration pack. It wasn’t the easiest of things to take off and put back on again whilst riding along if I’m honest. I stopped using it but I never had the problem of dirty bite valves to the extent that you seem to be having it. I’m a licker and spitter (*giggles*)

My Hydropak bladder has a little black cap that stops dirt getting onto the mouthpiece. My cheap gelert one doesn’t. The cap’s really useful. But then I tend to save my drinking for when I stop at the top (or bottom) as I find it easier to drink when not huffing and puffing up a climb.

Tom KP

My camelback bite valve has a cover, came with it.
Whenever I go to drink it always seems to have popped open.
But I get proper muddy and I never seem to have a big problem.
Keep it in your closed mouth?

I don’t use a CamelBak and haven’t done since I got ill on Boxing day 2014 for sucking on filthy pipes. I use a water bottle (make sure its the type that has the cover over the mouth piece) behind a crud catcher mud guard. Plus two water pouches in each back pocket. The hard tail can hold a 1 litre water bottle & the full sus can hold 600ml and with the two pouches that’s enough for me to ride nearly all day in Winter and less hassle than a CamelBak (easy to clean just shove them in the dishwasher and that’s it).

You’ll be wanting one of these then.
camelbak bite valve cover

As above the reservior and the pipe and everything to do with it kills it for me

Have been using a collapsible water bottle the last 18 months. Take a swig when you stop & fold it up as you use it

Mudguards.

It’s a mystery to me why more people don’t use them, apart from not being cool.

1. You’re too old to be cool
2. You’re bimbling around in the mud on a bike, nobody thinks you’re cool anyway
3. Being uncool is way cool man

Mudguards? Bottle cages? I even hear bum bags are making a comeback! We’ll be digging out Ron Hill Tracksters and bar ends next 😯

Front mudguards are #puredeadenduro

Think the reason why some don’t use mud guards is that when going off-road in Winter it seems like you get covered in mud whether they are on or not.

I bought a front mud guard though because I hate mud hitting me in the face. Still doesn’t stop all of it but it stops a lot more than before.

Still on Group rides I’ve noticed those with full expensive mud guards are just as covered in mud as me with just an £11 Crud Catcher on the down tube.

.

Camelback tucked into jersy if not too cold to have the zip open, or into buff if too cold.

Having said that, for winter night rides I just gave up, necked a pint of squash before leaving the house, necked another pint at the start of the trail 20min later (and took a leak in the bushes). And was rarely dehydrated within the 90-120min or so of an average ride.

In summer I like the water bottles with a flip top if it’s muddy.

Care to recommend a good flip top bottle? All the ones I’ve seen haven’t looked much good for cycling

This do you, No?

Or will I get a Ban ?

This works for me:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/sks-shockboard-front-mudguard/rp-prod25802

doesn’t keep you completely clean, but keeps the mud and water out of your face and upper body. Doesn’t look too bad either.

So glad I happened across this thread….just ordered a bite valve cover on the back of it….didn’t kno w they existed 😆

grannyjone – Member

Still on Group rides I’ve noticed those with full expensive mud guards are just as covered in mud as me with just an £11 Crud Catcher on the down tube.

FWIW, my last shockboard cost me £7.50 and it protects enormously better than a crud catcher, which tbf don’t do much at all. Obviously you still get muddy legs and arse though.

Crud catchers are great until you want to deviate from a straight line and don’t go faster than about 5mph so you don’t get the mud that is flung forward coming back in your face.

Another option is to ditch the camelback and use a waterbottle with a cap

Shockboard and front fender help a little also