I’m back for day two of Bike to Work week, see Day 1 here.
Today I wanted to run through some of the logistics or how I get my stuff and me to my office without a car. It took a little refining of process and a few small purchases of gear but I have a pretty lightweight way of commuting. Luckily, my ride is short enough that I can wear the same clothes (except shoes) to ride in and work in.
The Gear
The bag is key. I have a Timbuk2 Commuter from about 2002. I also have a
WaterField Designs laptop sleeve and cord organizer ( Cable Guy) that help me keep everything safe and secure in the bag. The bag is pretty good is snugs up nice and tight on my bag and it can eat up a surprisingly large amount of stuff. The cord organizer and laptop sleeve are the best I’ve found and keep me less paranoid about my lappy and the cord organize keeps the bag tidy.
My shoes are my regular old cycling Specialized Carbon something or other road shoes that are now 4 years old. If I get a real commuter bike someday I’ll be able to ride platforms and won’t need special shoes, but for now I’m clipless with Speedplay pedals on the commute.
Helmet- I ride whatever helmet is handy, but I try not to use the Giro Prolight, because commuting in a $200 helmet seems crazy. This week I’ve been riding my Rudy Project Sterling, but it’s not terribly important which helmet you wear as long as you are wearing one.
Ankle straps are a bit of gear I knew I would need to pick up when I started riding in. I think I picked up these cheapies at Academy Sports when I first started riding in to work. They serve two purposes, they keep my non-drive side pants leg out of the drive train and they add a little bit of reflectivity that can’t hurt.
A tiny thing that makes s huge difference is my Niteize S-Biner. I think I have the smallest one that they make. It hangs on my bag and I use it to hang my helmet to my bag, it’s really bad for a helmet to get dropped around and banged on things, so I just hook my helmet on to my bag with the s-biner as soon as I take it off and I don’t drop it. The other thing that it helps with is reducing the number of things I have to carry. I have to open, and walk my bike through three doors to get it to my parking area and it helps to have one last thing to schlep.
The last thing I have for bike commuting is an interesting paradox. It is probably the most important thing (and most expensive) that I have, but it is the least used. Lights… I have Blackburn Flea front and rear lights that I picked up at Wigs Wheels in Anniston. They are incredibly small but surprisingly bright little lights that I can throw on my bike in less than five minutes. The lights attach with a strap that is grippy on one side and Velcro on the other. They aren’t the fanciest lights, but for my short commute they give me the piece of mind that someone should see me if I get caught out after work. The handiest part is that they are USB rechargabke with integrated battery, and they even come with a solar charger.
Ok this post got a lot longer than I intended, so I’ll try to catch up with my process in a bit.