Heavyosity
Yesterday I rode into the garage all loaded down with groceries and Mr. A said, "Wait a minute – don't put any of that stuff away yet." He ran into the house and came back out carrying the bathroom scale.
"Stand on here and check the weight, and then pick up the bike," he said.
In this way I learned that my average daily load coming home from work weighs in at a staggering 75 lbs. Of this, 37 lbs. belong to the bike itself (according to the company Web site), which means I'm going around town with almost 40 lbs. of stuff stuck to the bike or stashed in my panniers pretty much every day. That's basically a whole big bag of dog food's worth of stuff! And what that means is that when I'm also carrying that bag of food, I'm moving over a hundred pounds worth of stuff up my road, in addition to the weight of my own body (which number I'm going to decline to mention right now).
Two thoughts. First, I am apparently stronger than I thought. That's cool. Also, I think I could stand to ponder some ways to lighten the load a bit. I'm not riding across the country!
I guess in a way I've come to think of the panniers the same way some people might think of the trunk of a car. More than just a space to load up with groceries or luggage, it's also a place to store all the extra stuff you might need someday while out and about: a mini bike pump, cargo net, bike lock and keys, Allen wrenches of various sizes, a neon-green waterproof jacket (that can probably go back in the garage until winter – but then, it makes such a great emergency flag!), a few nylon reusable shopping bags (neatly folded into its handy interior pocket, one bag is small enough to hide in my closed fist), the little surprise I keep meaning to leave on a friend's doorstep, three books I need to return to the library, an extra headlight (because my front light has been known to behave erratically), plus of course the messenger bag which fits perfectly into one pannier and is likewise loaded with wallet, cell phone, camera, emergency snack, test kit, notebook, sunscreen and all the other additional stuff one might expect to find in a big red messenger bag .... plus whatever groceries, bottles of water, etc. etc., not to mention any cool, useful or otherwise salvage-worthy debris I might happen to notice lying by the side of the road ....
Blah blah blah – the list goes on. The point being, I now have something to do this weekend, something satisfying: unload some of that weight. Silly to feel such a need to carry so much stuff around with me all the time ... though it is nice to know I'm pretty much prepared for anything.
"Stand on here and check the weight, and then pick up the bike," he said.
In this way I learned that my average daily load coming home from work weighs in at a staggering 75 lbs. Of this, 37 lbs. belong to the bike itself (according to the company Web site), which means I'm going around town with almost 40 lbs. of stuff stuck to the bike or stashed in my panniers pretty much every day. That's basically a whole big bag of dog food's worth of stuff! And what that means is that when I'm also carrying that bag of food, I'm moving over a hundred pounds worth of stuff up my road, in addition to the weight of my own body (which number I'm going to decline to mention right now).
Two thoughts. First, I am apparently stronger than I thought. That's cool. Also, I think I could stand to ponder some ways to lighten the load a bit. I'm not riding across the country!
I guess in a way I've come to think of the panniers the same way some people might think of the trunk of a car. More than just a space to load up with groceries or luggage, it's also a place to store all the extra stuff you might need someday while out and about: a mini bike pump, cargo net, bike lock and keys, Allen wrenches of various sizes, a neon-green waterproof jacket (that can probably go back in the garage until winter – but then, it makes such a great emergency flag!), a few nylon reusable shopping bags (neatly folded into its handy interior pocket, one bag is small enough to hide in my closed fist), the little surprise I keep meaning to leave on a friend's doorstep, three books I need to return to the library, an extra headlight (because my front light has been known to behave erratically), plus of course the messenger bag which fits perfectly into one pannier and is likewise loaded with wallet, cell phone, camera, emergency snack, test kit, notebook, sunscreen and all the other additional stuff one might expect to find in a big red messenger bag .... plus whatever groceries, bottles of water, etc. etc., not to mention any cool, useful or otherwise salvage-worthy debris I might happen to notice lying by the side of the road ....
Blah blah blah – the list goes on. The point being, I now have something to do this weekend, something satisfying: unload some of that weight. Silly to feel such a need to carry so much stuff around with me all the time ... though it is nice to know I'm pretty much prepared for anything.
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