Mom, I got my camel back.

The camel finally came home to roost. I ordered a Camelbak running pack a few months ago from Bike Nashbar. I got a great deal on it in August, but have had to wait to have it delivered. When you live outside the US, all the great deals on the Internet get negated when you have to pay so much extra in shipping, if they offer it at all. Then you have to just hope that the product arrives. We prefer to wait until we know someone is coming down to visit and have them bring the loot in.

I got the Camelbak Flash Flo 45 oz. pack. It took a while to figure out how best to wear the thing and how to cinch it all down. Being a man, I did not even look at the picture instructions. Today, in my spare 10 minutes, I looked at them and saw they were almost totally unhelpful, but there was a drawing that gave me an idea about how to secure the straps a bit better.CamelBak Flash Flo

The pack is marketed to the running community. Or at least a very active community. But this thing has straps long enough to fit around my (very large) sister. I am not petite, but the straps are still very long for me. Just looping them through the tie down bungee still allowed them to flap. Apparently you are supposed to be smart enough to know to double them back on themselves and then use the elastic straps to secure them. There was one picture in the instructions that insinuated this.

I had to wear the pack much tighter than I first thought to keep it from bouncing. I think I will get used to that.

My iPod (20GB hard drive based) did well in the pack. It never skipped. But, my experience today caused me to dislike music in podcasts even more. I start my run through some very busy streets with lots of bus traffic. I have to turn the volume up a bit to hear the talking. But then, when the music started it really hurt. Normally that is not a problem because I run with the iPod in hand and I can adjust the volume while fast forwarding the song. Since I am not a contortionist, I was not able to fast forward the song, nor drop the volume. I had to run with the headphones in my hand. No worries though, the music was so loud that I could easily hear when the song stopped. PODCASTERS, I HATE YOUR MUSIC!! And I especially hate it when the level of the music is so much louder than the speaking part. When I got past all the bus traffic I stopped and dropped the volume in general.

I took it on a short run to give it a good try. I only ran 10K (6.2 miles) today with it. It will be a welcome accessory to longer training runs. Though, I think I will be glad to have it on any run longer than 5 or 6 miles. I only filled it about half full of liquid today and it was not too heavy.

5 thoughts on “Mom, I got my camel back.”

  1. Would it be easier for me to get stuff for you and then send it? Or is it pretty much all a wash for you?

    For some reason, the only music I have a desire to put in my podcast is transition music.

  2. Would it be easier for me to get stuff for you and then send it?

    Not really. We have all the stuff that we get sent to my parents. We just don’t trust the mail system since we have already lost some items. Parcel services are usually too expensive. The delivery costs more than the product.

    I now know why Mexicans pay the higher price for items here. Stuff is cheaper on the other side of the border, but if you don’t have anyone that can bring it in for you, you just can’t afford to have it shipped, or risk having it never arrive. We are fortunate in that usually we don’t have to wait more than a couple of months for stuff. This time was the exception.

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