From my first few overnights I learned travel on the bike can demand a lot of water – not only do you have to stay hydrated riding throughout the day, but boiling water for dehydrated backpacking meals is the fundamental cooking method.
With my 1980s cycling background I found myself going pretty old-school here, putting traditional bottles in stout steel cages inside the frame. There’s a lot of innovation in this area that I didn’t take advantage of, like placing the bottles on the legs of the fork or behind the seat. I just have a comfortable habit of reaching down for that front bottle on the frame, without even really needing to look for it, so this seemed simplest.
One innovation I did take advantage of is a Wolf Tooth (Minnestota represent!) B-Rad bottle cage relocator. This moves the back bottle of the pair down a few inches toward the bottom of the frame opening, which opens up more space above it for a frame bag and lowers the center of gravity. These bottles are also a shout out to my local bike shop Grand Performance here in St. Paul.
But little bike bottles don’t provide enough water capacity for a trip. Here pragmatism kicked in, and rather than spending a lot of money for a stylish electrolyte-capable hydration transport system, I went over to the local Target and picked up a very cheap 1/2 gallon water bottle.
This gives me 40oz in the two bike bottles and another 64oz out back.
Holding the big bottle on is another Wolf Tooth accessory, a Morse Cargo Cage. These are super clever devices you can use to carry just about anything Nalgene-bottle shaped.
Wolf Tooth includes the straps. I have two other types of elastic straps, some from Voile and G3, and I have to say these are the cleverest design. It’s a subtle thing, but the tips of the straps flare out slightly to trap clips that control the free ends of the straps.
The Pragmatic Cyclist 
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