When I joined Cycling News in 2019, the chance to use new, fancy, modern cycling technology was what excited me the most: Enve wheels, Dura-Ace groupset, Pinarello bikes, S-Works shoes. Pinch me, surely this can't be real.

But as time went on, and the fancy technology came and went like a tidal wave, the excitement cooled and turned to realism. These bikes are cool, but at over £10,000 they are out of reach for most of our viewers.

Today, the new excitement is in unearthing great products that are inexpensive enough that everyone can benefit from them. One example is the CamelBak Podium water bottle.

And now that I can get them at 42% off during Amazon Prime's Big Deal Days sale, I'm stocking up on more.

In these times when the world, or rather TikTok, is going crazy for the Stanley Cup, I'm here to tell you that there are better options.

In the fall of 2019, I attended a Rapha launch event and among the swag inevitably handed out at such events were two pink, RCC-branded Camelbak Podium bottles. I didn't think much of it at the time, but the bottles quickly became the most appreciated part of my cycling technique; five years later (almost to the day), they are still here, and I use them almost every day.

The RCC branding has been polished off thanks to regular dishwasher washing, and the Stabilo pink color has faded to a rustic finish, but this bottle has been fighting the battle.

Even better, after all these years, it still functions as intended. [The bottle's function is not complicated, so praising it for filling with water is like praising a purring cat, but you'd be surprised how often bottles fail due to poor tolerances between the bottle and lid or valves that have forgotten their intended function.

We all experience it at some point in our lives when we notice that our backpack water bottle is leaking, but that has become a thing of the past since I came to own a CamelBak Podium and its twist-lock cap. I genuinely and completely trust my CamelBak Podium in the main compartment of my backpack along with my laptop.

Despite hundreds of cycles of near-boiling hot water, the shape is unaffected, the screw-top lid has never leaked water, and it retains more water than my recent kitchen roof. The twist-lock caps, some of which can be disassembled and cleaned, are as watertight as the day they arrived.

But perhaps most importantly, the water still tastes like water, despite having left half an energy drink mix in the bike for days on end on numerous occasions.

Considering how long these bottles have lasted, the above price equates to a cost of £1.49 per year, and they are still going strong and will continue to improve.

I have since purchased two additional bottles of Podium Chill with additional insulation.

There is also a Podium Dirt bottle that has the same great functionality, plus an added cap that prevents dirt from the road and trail from getting on the valve and into your mouth. If you want to know why this is a good idea, read Will's recent tale of bacterial misery.

I have other bottles as well. The Elite Fly, for example, is lighter and has a higher flow rate, so I use it for more competitive endeavors, but for everyday use the Podium lives up to its name and sits in the top step every time.