I’ve gone through many iterations of my water carrying strategy for touring. This is the current state of things. It will probably continue to evolve.

On every bicycle tour I pack my Sawyer Squeeze filter and accouterments. Thus a resupply may be natural (a creek, a lake, a trickle from a rock face, etc) or man-made (a cafe, a konbini, a water fountain at a park, etc).

I prefer to use an insulated, plastic bike bottle as my primary drinking vessel. I opt for the Camelbak Podium Chill 24oz with Mud Cap. A bike bottle is easy to drink from, both on and off the bike. Having something squeezable means I can also use it to periodically blast a little dirt off the bike. Something with a valve cover to keep the cooties off is key. Plastic insulated bottles are pretty poor at insulation when compared to double-wall metal bottles. This bottle won’t keep cold water cold, but it will keep it cool for a bit, which is valuable on a hot day. I’m willing to sacrifice some of the internal volume for the poor insulation. Camelbak’s Podium bottles have high-flow valves and (the post-2019 versions) are easy to disassemble for deep cleaning, so I tend to default to them whenever I need a plastic bike bottle (insulated or not).

I will always carry a bladder, as this is an efficient way to add more volume. And if I’m going to carry a bladder, I might as well pack one with a hose, even if the plan is just to use the bladder to refill the bottle. For the past couple years my preference here has been the HydraPak Seeker 2L with HydraFusion Tube. I typically use a frame bag, and this bladder will live in there, but if I am travelling framebag-less I can put the bladder in a fork bag or front pannier. The hose is secured somewhere in the cockpit using the Camelbak/Fidlock magnetic tube clip. The bladder usually wears the Plug-N-Play 42mm Cap, which allows the hose to easily attach and detach. My filter kit includes the 28mm Filter Adapter, allowing the Sawyer Squeeze to output directly into the bladder.

Given my druthers, every evening of a bike tour involves a tea session. A tea session means a dozen or so steepings in a titanium gaiwan. Heating water for each steeping is a waste of fuel. Instead I will heat all the water at once, and store it in an insulated vessel to be decanted into the gaiwan when needed. Since water temperature is important here, I want a bottle with good insulation. For this I carry the Hydro Flask Lightweight 24oz (which remains my EDC when not on tour). Generally I carry this bottle empty, stuffed into a pannier rather than keeping it full and accessible while riding.

Before starting the day’s pedaling in the morning, I fill the Camelbak bottle and the bladder. If I am confident that resupply points will be plentiful, I’ll keep the weight down by only putting 1 liter in the bladder. If I am unsure of the resupply opportunities, or I expect the day to be very hot, I’ll put 2 liters in the bladder. Thus I usually start the day carrying 1.7 to 2.7 liters. If I need extra capacity I can also fill the Hydro Flask bottle. If I need still more capacity, the dirty bag in my filter kit is a 2L 28mm Vecto. Thus my total carrying capacity is 5.4 liters.

I can always stop by a store and buy a bottle or two of water if I need to bump that capacity up more. But if I know I’m going to have a 24-hour (or more) stretch without a water source, my preference is to pack a second Seeker 2L bladder. I prefer two smaller bladders over one larger bladder both for the redundancy – if one bladder is punctured, I still have a second – and for the greater flexibility in how the water weight is distributed around the vehicle.