My freezer is full of soft flasks in just about every shape and size you can imagine.
While designing B01, I wanted to make sure we were intentional about every piece: the dial, the fabric, the features, and the flask included with every belt.
There are three simple beliefs that guided our flask design:
- A flask must be easy and fast to remove from or place in a belt (no stuffing, tucking, or squishing)
- You shouldn’t need two hands to drink all the volume out of a flask
- More flask volume is better, so long as it doesn’t infringe on either of the first two points
While a lot of belts are focusing on more and more volume, that extra volume can work against you. After a couple hours on your feet, runners like you and I face decision fatigue. Wrestling a stuffed-in flask out of your belt feels like a much bigger task than it did during mile one.
If drinking requires two hands, a full stop, or a little extra effort, it’s easy to put it off. From there, you slow down, fall behind on hydration, and the cycle repeats itself.
Photo: Jason Peters
During our original call with Hydrapak, we talked about some of their standard sizes that made sense for the belt—a couple 500ml flasks and a 650ml flask. One of the 500ml flasks they sent was essentially a hand flask without the strap—a size I hadn’t seen anywhere.
That 500ml short flask came with me nearly everywhere last summer. At one point, I even accidentally left it atop a mountain pass and left a note at the trailhead asking for someone to text me if they found it.
Eventually I got it back, just with a few extra bitten holes from a curious pika.
The idea of a hand-sized flask fit our first two priorities, but didn’t offer any more volume than the standard 500ml size runners are used to. So, along with HydraPak, we drafted up a slightly larger flask, reaching 575ml in volume.
Our 575ml flask is easy to remove from and replace in the belt, and it's not so big you can't drink from it one-handed—while still providing extra volume so you can go the extra mile.
Even better: I’ve been running all winter long with two bottles in the belt—one in the front, one in the back. It’s made desert long runs where water is hard to come by easier than ever. Almost 1.2L of volume, bounce-free, on your waist.
TL;DR: We co-designed a 575ml flask with HydraPak. It’s the perfect size that provides extra volume, without the inconvenience of bigger flasks. The belt even fits two of them, carrying more water than most vests—so you can carry what you need, without the fuss of a mega-flask.
As always, thank you for being here.
Morgan
Founder, Dera Running