Wide load

Yesterday afternoon I was starting to think about heading home from work when I suddenly remembered we were almost out of dog food. The feed store is the only place that carries the food we give them, so restocking is not as simple as just dropping by the supermarket on the way home – you have to plan ahead. Luckily I had remembered in time; they're open til 5:30.

All the way there I debated with myself over whether to get a small bag for tonight, and go back with the car some other time for the ginormous bag we usually get – or – to bite the bullet and strap the ginormous bag on the back of my bike. It's only 33 lbs., but that feels like kind of a lot on that last mile or so – uphill, I might add, though only slightly.

Anyway, I opted for the big bag. It wasn't as arduous as I remembered it, which says a lot for my increasing strength over the last few years of getting around mostly by bike. In the beginning I would probably have ended up walking the bike up the last stretch of road like a two-wheeled shopping cart. It felt good to ride it home, and to arrive only a little more exhilarated than usual. It also renewed my appreciation of myself for having lost even more weight than that in the last year – what a great relief, to not be carrying all that extra weight around all the time! – and got me a little bit excited about continuing to lose the rest of the weight I have left to lose. Taking that big bag of dog food off the bike and riding up and down the road again, just for comparison, was very instructive. It really did feel ... lighter.

Although at the same time I have to say I also in a weird way really enjoyed the heavier, more grounded feeling of riding with the extra weight. Yes, it's harder. But it feels stronger, somehow, and more deliberate. Definitely slower, which I don't see as necessarily a bad thing.

I feel a little strange at having linked this page from that Slow Bicycle page, knowing that it may bring some new readers here looking for another bike blog. I like the idea of a Slow Bicycle movement, and of encouraging people to ride for transportation and pleasure and health and style and for all other reasons in addition to speed, sport, lycra, competition, or whatever other reasons will get people out on bikes ... but I guess I'm just not much of a joiner, and reading many of these pages in which mostly young-ish fashion-conscious women agonize over whether to get this kind of trendy imported European granny bike or that kind, in pink or red or classic black, wicker or wire basket, in front or back (what do you think???), or indignantly defend their right – nay, perhaps even obligation – to wear heels while riding ... No offense to anyone who finds herself in that category, but it kind of feels like just another cool persons' club organized around elitism and exclusivity, and that doesn't appeal to me very much.

But, whatever. I love to ride my bike, and am lucky enough to be able to ride it every day, and I do so. So while this is clearly not what you might call a "bike blog," I guess it's okay to leave that link.

P.S. If you're going to try to carry something the size of a 33 lb. bag of dog food on the back of your bike, I highly recommend this stretchy elastic cargo net:

It only costs eight bucks and it's super strong and versatile – you can take off the hooks and attach them anywhere to secure just about any kind of load.