Live.Bike.Work.

This is what traffic SHOULD really look like

risa — Mon, 17 May 2010 19:33:13 +0000

(sigh.) A perfect world if you ask me. Although it looks like a giant clusterfucky-free-for-all, I assume one just gets used to it.

Review: Field Notes Brand Graph Notebooks

risa — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:49:25 +0000

My love of graph paper is growing, as are my ass and my gratitude for good design. My perfect graph paper would be something between French ruled paper, with excel spreadsheet headers, a table with alternating colored rows, and metric grids in light blue, that old mimeograph purple, maybe some chestnut brown and red on the margins. I know, it’s like LSD-lover’s graph paper & it exists in some other dimension where things can be four sizes, colors, and shapes at once. In any case, I have decided that since graph paper is a huge part of my thinking process, to start reviewing it for any other notebook/pen/paper/office-supply GTD-er obsessed with writing things by hand, making lists, and keeping track of the little things that bring joy to life that you don’t already add to your Evernote account.

On that note, let’s get to it: the good, the bad, the brown:

Praise
• Design. Mr. Draplin could design a plastic hot dog cozy and I would probably buy it. The guy has a feel for the way things should be made that makes my soft spots, such as the ones for unions and American denim, squeak out a little cry of joy at holding a piece of craftsmanship instead of just keen design work. Like I say people, craft reigns supreme, I don’t give a shit how awesome your Google sketch-up house is if you can’t use a belt sander.
• Size. It’s perfect. Fits nicely with my Moleskine Calendar, and singly slides into any pocket, shirt-front, back pants pocket, kangaroo pouch, etc… Its 48 discreet pages, so making notes about the Rabbi’s sermon won’t attract the eyes of your nosy Sabbath neighbor.
• Color, type, paper. Perfect harmony. And if you think it’s easy to hit that Holy Grail, then go ahead and try it. Harmonizing simplicity in design and execution in craft is perhaps one of the most difficult achievements in design and def. in life. Ah, the brown color! It’s glorious. The light brown graph lines- I could swoon, they are so comforting. My eyes love these pages; my hands love the covers. My heart loves them as objects. My butt loves sitting on them.
• Other killer stuff. Colors subscription. If you have the money- drool worthy like everything Draplin & Coudal Partners do.

Meh.
• Because it is only 48 pages I can’t create and track projects over much time in one book, maybe just about a month. So I can really only use these for short trips, like my recent trip to Phoenix, not ongoing stuff over months.
• At $9.95 for 3 books they are 3 bucks+ each. If I were to use two of these a month, that’s 8 packs of 3 per year = $80 a year just in notebooks, not to mention addt’l cost if I need them shipped. And that’s just one kind of notebook. I use 4 kinds.
• Because I would need over 20 graph notebooks a year, they would need to be organized in a way that I could to go back to them to harvest ideas and glean plans that I am ready to unleash on the patriarchy. I started numbering them but then found i had projects in one that i wanted to carry-over so I would need to copy projects across 20 notebooks. It’s much easier to organize 4 Leuchtturm 1917 graph books than 20 Field Notes.
• Hipster factor. Blech.
• Why the fuck can’t anyone make graph paper with a smaller grid? Speaking of, 3/16 x 3/16 is a grid shape that is visually appealing but I wonder why that particular measurement was chosen? Anyone know? Metric-phobic?
• No pocket in back cover. I like them. It’s where I keep my business cards so I don’t have to carry one of those d-bag card cases. I could tape a pocket on the inside back cover but why ruin perfection? Especially when I have adorned it like so?

Here are two pics of pages from my notebooks, recent one from Phoenix and otherwise. These pics taken with my iphone so don’t bitch at me about image quality. You get what you pay for and since this information and my love for graph paper is FREE, I am sure you will be supportive.

Sketch for turning East German Military Bags into Bike Panniers

The blank Field Notes book with the Pabst can above I used on my trip to Phoenix as a journal. I did this because 1) it’s a lot lighter to carry than a bound book 2) more flexible since you can bend the crap out of it and 3) if I lost it, it’s not like I would have lost the last year of work. I found the notebook unusually inspiring. I assume it’s the design. Good design = good thoughts. Who knows but whatever it was, it worked for me. I had it half-filled before my flight left home.

When you order from Field Notes, as I am sure you will, I suggest getting at least one mixed pack. You will find a use for them. And they make awesome small gifts to add on to another gift, like a bottle of second-rate bourbon for the jerk that drank your Maker’s. Their pens are fine too, though I like a more liquid-y ink, there is nothing like staring at someone while clicking your Field Notes Brand ballpoint pen. It feels like you can write tickets and assess fines. Overall, I would say a very worthwhile investment for short trips and ideal small projects less than one month long where you’d like to have an archive of each individual project. An additional boon is the rugged sex appeal, which I also have, or so I keep telling myself.

The GTD-part: Though I have only shown pages with sketches or random notes, when I want to get stuff done, my note taking method is specific and focused: I put on a little soft rock, put a little Sanka in the percolator, and sit just to the left of my IBM Selectric at my large metal desk as the percolator heats up. I sit with my calendar & project cards and decide what actions I will commit to that day. Then i get my graph notebook out.

On the right hand side of my graph paper book, I write the day of the week, the date, and sometimes the time and weather. (It’s so I can remember nuances about my life because I’m halfway to my grave at this point.) Under that, I write the things I need to do that day that are the next actions on my projects or just regular-ol’-crap. Looks like this:

Tuesday – March 16, 201

Everything I write begins with a verb & more importantly, I try to put no more than 5 big things on my to-do list in any given day so that way I have time to sit in the tub at night and read Monocle. But let’s be honest, I work on projects until my eyes give out.

Now then, during that day…. I’ll take notes from calls, tape receipts if I mail stuff, or note stuff I need add to the next day on the left-hand page. If there is still room on the left-hand page, I might finish that page with a few short sentences about my day, before passing out. I try to write five sentences about each of my days. I forget about 5 out of 7 days that I want to do this but you know what? I’m human and tomorrow I can try again. The cool thing is that if I need to look over any day of the last five years of my life, I can find exactly what I did that day, who i talked to & about what. This has saved my ass when say, arguing with my cell phone service provider.

Anything undone at the end of the day get circled and copied to the next RIGHT-hand side page. I know some GTD-ers will cringe at that since i supposedly committed to my list, but listen pal, if a nice lady asks me to have a drink after work, I do. The list can wait, trust me.

I’ll post pics and more detailed explanations if there is interest.

Well, it took me the better part of fall-winter

risa — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 06:04:34 +0000

to put this jersey review up because I have been plagued with mechanical issues on both of my bikes that have taken the better part of the last two months to fix. I have learned a lot from the humbling experience of coming home every night and trying to work on my bike and having it break on the way to work the next day. I will have some more posts that have come out of the humbling experience soon enough, but right now let’s talk about wool, sexy, soft merino wool—

I tried two merino wool jerseys this year, an Earth Wind and Rider Chicago Bike Polo Jersey and the Cutter Classic Merino Wool Jersey. I ordered both from Bonktown. I have one winter riding jersey and thought I’d get something that was more commuter-friendly, less racy, and most certainly, wool. So here is how is my verdict on each.

The Cutter Classic Merino Wool Jersey came to me first.

Check it out, sexy, no?

It felt like a baby’s bottom right out of the package and the color is like slate skies reflected off postmodern buildings. Reflective piping on the forearms help with visibility; I am positive these have helped cars see me, so nice work Cutter! The green accents are delicious and the full-length zipper is smooth, a well thought out compliment to the material and workmanship. The zip allows you to not only vent after you have worked up a lather, but you can wear this jersey over an undershirt or base-layer for minimal warmth, get to work, unzip, and get your work shirt on in a snap instead of forcibly peeling yourself out of a typical jersey or sweating to death in your gym shirt. It is very lightweight and stows easily in a bag; it fits in the front pocket of my L.L. Bean Continental Rucksack. It is not as warm as some winter jerseys and it is already pilling at common friction points but it is eye-catching, comforting, versatile, and practical with good pockets, (including one that zips). Like most good merino wool it doesn’t hold stink so it does not require frequent washings. I washed it by hand once when it soaked up a bit of knuckle blood and the blood came out with gentle hand-washing. I’ll buy any garment that resists human-bloodstains. The sizing was not too Euro-trim and since I am way-too-fat for anything remotely Euro-fitting, except maybe the Chunnel, I felt like the fit was good. RealCyclist.com carries them, they are currently on sale, and you can find them here:

Next I tried the elegant, hand-stitched Earth Wind & Rider Chicago Bike Polo Jersey, also from Bonktown.

Blinged-y bling-blinger bling bling!

This jersey is insanely gorgeous, but the wool felt a tiny bit itchy, though the garment was breathtaking to behold. The stitching is a work of art in itself; I felt that this jersey belonged in a case, not being pulled over my bloody knuckles so I could go see District 9 on a rainy Saturday. It was much warmer than the Cutter Classic jersey with classy wood buttons to boot, but in the end I sent it back because I felt like I was wearing the jersey equivalent of spinners on a Lincoln Navigator. That jersey was SO blingy that I felt slightly embarrassed. It basically had way to much fine workmanship and color for me to feel at all normal cruising to the market to buy oranges or riding to a movie. This jersey looks, feels, and is expensive. If you ride a classic frame with original parts, you will want this jersey. If you are fat and going to see a movie, like me, pass on it and get something with street cred so at least so the 12 year olds on BMX’s don’t kick your ass for being such a fancy pants.

In the end I kept the Cutter Classic. It didn’t yell out, “I just spent one hundred bucks on this shirt” and it feels so good against skin that I wear it for training rides on my road bike now as well, ditching some of my stinky performance fabric. If I wasn’t so fat right now, I’d try a pair of the Cutter knickers too; they look equally amazing and everyday-go-to worthy but I doubt they make them in my size. I am surprised that Dickies even have pants in my size right now. Maybe next week I’ll do a review of all the different brands of boutique bacon I ate in 2009 as a way of explaining what happened this year.

Stay tuned and before I forget, I need to give credit to the two guys who helped me fix my bikes: Barum of The Bikestand in Santa Barbara, and this guy, to whom I owe many, many coffees. Alex, I promise that I will buy you many, many coffees once I don’t need to buy bike parts every single week. (If you commute and aren’t a master mechanic, this is where you go when you need to know how to fix something just to help you get home or to a shop. Please support him!)

Gear Review: L.L. Bean Continental Rucksack

risa — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:30:10 +0000

Let me say right now that I am surprised how good this bag is considering it costs $40 and I basically bought it for the parts. I was going to rip it apart and make the bag i wanted. Here were my needs and wants and how this bag stacked up against them:

I wanted something that had some old school cool. I didn’t want a bag that looked like i loved the Matrix even though it’s a perfect metaphor for the delusions of capitalism. I still wear tube socks with colored stripes for chrissakes.

I wanted a backpack to give my left shoulder and my heavy Timbuk 2 bag a break.

I wanted pockets on the outside big enough for a) a Holga and b) Moleskine notebooks and c) bananas. I am serious about that part. See how long a banana survives in a courier bag.

I wanted it to be as lightweight as possible. I don’t need expedition weight and water-proof- I am not carting file boxes through Philly in the rain.

I wanted it to have some kind of back padding and some kind of back support. almost impossible to find in a lightweight bag.

I wanted a waist belt for heavier loads that was wider than 1 inch
I needed it to be able to carry a lot of stuff: swim fins, lunch, water bottles, shoes, wet towels, and maybe have room for some produce on top.

What I got was the most sensibly organized, rocking bag ever– that has a padded, out-of-the-way-won’t-get-crushed- pocket for my iPhone, outside pockets that hold things I want to access perfectly, safely, extra straps for lashing a yoga mat on top and side straps for long tube-like-things that you could pass through the backs of the side pockets- think Alpine rucksacks for skis-or- carrying a magazine there for your subway ride-all in a pack that was lightweight, retro-cool, super-affordable, and has a rocking guarantee, padded back, a thin internal frame sheet and comes in three groovy-ish colors. I felt good about putting a patch on my bag too- something i would not have done on a hundred buck bag.

The side pockets have expanding collars and toggle closures for over-sized items or proximity to pick-pockets. The waist belt is a good two-inch wide piece of webbing. The trade-off is the cordura is lightweight because it is not the heavy duty kind. So what? Don’t they have a killer guarantee? If the seams shred, I’ll have my bag parts finally and get another rucksack. Yes, but what about carrying stuff?

On a very typical TJ’s/Pet store run i was able to carry the following things in this bag without ANY discomfort, collapsing frame, shoulder pads, cracking collar bones, and straps ripping. I only suffered a minor myocardial scare:

an 18lb bag of charcoal, a 2 lb bag of cat food, 3 big cans of cat food, a bag of cheese sticks and so help me, one big fat steak= total weight: 23+ pounds with personals and all of it fit inside bag. For $40, as much as i hate to give LLB any props, i have to say this bag is the best day-today backpack i have used.

(For reference I also own a Gossamer Gear backpack, a Gregory fast pack, a hand-made Osprey pack and have used REI and military-grade packs extensively so i am not exactly the type to swoon over LLB.) Most of their products smell like cheap knock-offs, IMO, but this bag they have been selling for forever, and at the same price since that time.

Isn’t just so freaking cute too?

Winter Commuting, Part Uno

risa — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:09:11 +0000

Now is the time to winterize your bike, while it’s still hot and last year’s goods are on sale. It’s a two part process- winterize the bike and winterize you. I live in a mild climate with good weather year round and hardly need fenders and winter parts but there are always days where I need full body, limb, and face coverage so if I need these things, there is a good chance that you do too.

The basics for fall/winter commuting are pretty simple: fenders, lights, rain gear, warm clothes, and possibly a pedal swap. If you are in your first season of clipless pedals and you live in an area that gets lots of fall rain and thousands of pounds of slippery leaves fall because of that, you might consider getting a pair of platform pedals with toe clips and keep the straps loose for winter. If you need to get a foot on the ground fast, clipless pedals I foul weather, slippery conditions, and commuter traffic can kill the buzz of playing out in the rain on your own terms.
I am a fan of fenders year round to keep gutter filth off my ass and I use SOMA Euro Trip Fenders. They have their plusses and minuses, the main plus being that since they are plastic they do not dent or bend like metal fenders and they do not make that metallic rattling sound (a good fender shouldn’t anyway). The minus us that the hardware is a bit fragile and putting a rear rack on with the fenders can tear the hardware to pieces, as my local shop boys found out when they tore the crap out of mine. Which is also why you should carry your own multi-tool- it saves you over-hormonalized boys in too-small and too-tight pants on mail-order bikes from trashing your delicate hardware just because you forgot one allen wrench and you are so anxious to get your rack on that you don’t wait until you get home. They also do bend and sort of stay that way, like they have been trained, like early-80’s bangs trained with hairspray, and it’s a bit of a battle to get them straight once that happens. The real plus is the hardware comes off the fender instead of breaking, so you if you hit a door frame, your hardware releases instead of rips off- I bought them because I am clumsy like that. You can see them here: http://store.somafab.com/euro.html
I think next time I think I will get Planet Bike fenders which are a ply-something compound so not-metal but with attached hardware from someplace like REI.com, where I can pretty much get clothing and gear in one stop. You can check out REI’s good selection of Planet Bike stuff here in their cycling category page. I like buying from REI because they take good care of their people, are responsible stewards of fun, and also because Planet Bike also donates a lot of $$ to bike stuff- so you do a lot of good with one purchase.

Need a jacket? Check out the REI Jacket Sale and Clearance!

Lights need to be brighter this time of year, not because it gets darker early, but if the weather sours, so does visibility. Spend good $$ on a light- it will save your life. REI has a healthy selection of light here although they don’t carry Knog lights, which I like, whatever light you choose for winter needs to be really water-resistant. I will say this now so you don’t have to write me an email later saying that you wish you knew how much you were going to spend on batteries, so if you commute more than 5 miles each way almost every day, year round, get a rechargeable light. I sm sure that you love a nice helmet strap as much as anyone and the added boon of the light attached to your head, should you go that way, is that your light follows your eyes. If your winters are hell- put one light on your head, one on your ride can call me when you get home safe. I like the NiteRider MiNewt Mini-Plus Light.
Rain gear has two purposes: to keep rain off you & to keep all of the crap on the streets off of you. So if you ride to work without rain gear on the day after a storm, unless your city drains like magic sand, you will get soaked from standing water full of all the junk that didn’t make it out to your local rivers and lakes yesterday. In rain I wear a GoreTex shell that is black, which is a bad idea. No one can see me but luckily I am super-fat, so they can see something approximately the size of a Mini but with two wheels, so I have gotten away with it thus far. This year I may slap some reflective tape on the back and call it a day but get something that is bright. Like annoyingly bright. I’d say more about this but these guys have nailed it. Showers Pass make some ultra-deluxe rain gear and " target="_blank">possibly the sexiest urban cycling jacket ever (and matching cap!) and my favorite place to shop for weather gear is www.teamestrogen.com. They have rocking sales.
What do you do about your shoes? Well, I spent good money on a jacket and I just slip my feet into a couple of plastic bags like he kind from your produce aisle. I am not keen on big ol’ shoe covers for rain. And here we don’t get “rain,” we get “torrential monsoons” once per year, so I can live with it, but rain down my crack will ruin my day. I wear inexpensive Sierra Designs rain pants, available from any outfitter worth their salt.
Warm clothes = layers made up of modern fabrics, silk, or wool used together to create a barrier that traps heat and releases moisture. You do not want to ride in the rain only to stay dry and freeze in your own sweaty mess. You do need to have a base layer on if you expect to be comfortable. I wear a merino wool undershirt, then arm warmers, then a long-sleeve Merino wool or fleece-lined jersey. On the bottom I wear cycling knickers or fleece-fronted knickers and a pair of Dickies over those that I roll up over my shoes. The Dickies dry fast. And I feel less like someone wearing tight fleece pants in traffic. I wear some nice argyle socks and show a little ankle or calf. It keeps it real when the air hits my skin. I wear full-finger gloves year round when commuting and in winter I put liner gloves inside them. I wear a beanie under my helmet that I bought from the kid’s section in old Navy five years ago. I wear a fleece tube around my nose and mouth to keep my nose from running down my face. Wear the sturdiest freaking shoes you can find with soles like motorcycle tires. Logger boots work, as long as it works and allows you to wear some plastic bags and argyle socks, it will work.

Winter Commuting, Part Due

risa — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:08:38 +0000

Keep a thin vest or jacket stuffed in your bag this time of year as well, you never know. My favorite layer is an Icebreaker merino wool hoody with thumb holes on which I spent and ungodly amount but my hoody returned the favor when it saved me from dying of hypothermia in the Italian alps. Merino wool does not hold stink, does not itch or shrink, and is the softest, nicest thing besides a bunny. www.altrec.com, and www.backcountry.com are the two first places I would check for Icebreaker stuff but first study their product info and learn about Merino weights because you will spend $$$ on merino but it is so worth it. For winter you need the heavier weights, 200-300 weights. Or just enjoy their gorgeous website and learn about their manufacturing practices and ethics and learn about layering merino wool.

Altrec always has some killer deals on rain jackets, Deuter panniers, backpacks, and probably the most packable, tiny, amazing vests and jackets this last year, Patagonia Micro Puff Vests and jackets and the Altrec outlet has jackets and gear from 25%-80% off. A good place to shop for those layers like technical long-underwear, beanies, gloves.

If you commute in Chicago you will be lucky enough to warrant the “Lobster claw” gloves and spiked tires. Of course, this might also a good time to switch to the bus. If you are new to commuting, extreme cold weather commuting is serious business and should be undertaken with caution. You need to stay as hydrated as you do in summer and be aware that a flat tire would cause you to be exposed, in the dark, or in foul weather, for long enough for you to have frostbite and other bad things happen to your tender human tissue so don’t so it unless you are seasoned. That is my advice and you can take it or leave it, but I grew up riding bikes in 115 degree weather without a water bottle, a helmet, a apotch kit, a cell phone or a parent, and I am fine. Or so I claim.

Wash all road salt and grime off your bike as soon as you get home. Keep some crappy towels by the door for this. Wiping your bike off right then gives you a chance to look it over for any parts that saw their last ride home and mourn them accordingly. Have a place to drop your clothes and bag that is just yours. Have a hoody that you can put on while you clean your bike and get out of your rain gear. I have a small milk crate I jacked from WaWa for this purpose and in it or nearby it are towels, a hoody, & Crocs . Hang your gear up in the exact same place every day. Tell your spouse I said so.

Next morning take your now-dry off your sacred- bike-stuff hook and put the dry towels, etc. into crate again, and crate goes outside front door or some safe place. So far no one has stolen my dirty towels and worn-in Crocs from my crate outside my door so I tend to let things hang out there.

Come spring, have your bike fully serviced if it saw a lot of winter action, after you wash your winter clothes, keep them in their own marked bin so you can take inventory of your cold weather clothing needs next august, when everything goes on sale again.

Outfitters that I have purchased from and trust:

Checking out “Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Bettter”

risa — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 23:45:17 +0000

I started looking into this book about the same time i found myself picking out a new paint color for my 1996 Bianchi Volpe by tweaking hexadecimal colors on web-design sites, super-charging my Media Center PC, instituting pleasing rituals for work and play, imaginging a tech career eventhough my working-class background prepared me to me factory-fodder, and discovering 43 folders & hPDA’s, and my first attempt to learn WP in the same glorious rush- which was last month, by the way.

In coming across mentions of Lifehacker on different sites for web design, development, productivity, etc. no one mentioned there was a book. But eventually, i pieced that together and when i got 1) paid and 2) a 40% coupon from Borders’ i bought it. Better late than never. I could have purchased “Getting Things Done” by David Allen but I end up agreeing with many of the critiques of GTD and figured i coudl just pick up the gist on his website and from others. we’ll see- in any case stnad by for a review of “Upgrade Your Life,” my own personal hPDA solution that i am currently using, and some festish-driven bits on Manhattans To-Go In A Custom-Made Flask, pens and Moleskine notebooks.

10 things you can do to make bicycle commuting a super easy transition in your complex, multi-faceted, high demand, no-margin-for-error life

risa — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 05:02:50 +0000

1. Use a dry cleaner that will deliver your clothes to your work. Your clothes laundered or dry cleaned and have them delivered to your work every week.
2. Have the foods that you will eat often delivered to your work either through a CSA program or internet delivery.
3. Don’t try to commute on a Monday morning. Instead, drive in to work on Monday with extra clothes and food for the week and run errands that day. Tuesday through Friday you only have to ride your bike there and back! Easy!
4. Do a trial run. Ride your bike to work on a day off. See how it feels. Make sure your bike works. Make sure you know the way, which leads me to # 5.
5. Plan your route. When I moved to Philadelphia I got tired of waiting for the bus and decided to ride my bike to school. Too bad I didn’t even know how to get there by bike; I missed every one of my morning classes and almost got slaughtered on unsafe roads. Google maps is your friend.
6. Make sure you have basic safety items: a helmet, a rear blinking red light, a front light, a jacket, a phone or phone card, some cash, a tube repair kit and pump, or a bus /metro map and a couple tokens. You may not even normally ride at tonight but if you need to stop to change a flat tire you don’t want to be riding home in total darkness. Which leads me to #7.
7. Make yourself visible, even in daylight. Just buy a couple of tiny lights on your bike and forget about them. It’s not rocket science.
8. Pack extra food or keep some at your desk. You will get hungrier riding a bike then you will sitting on your ass in a car. I like Pro Bars more than most other foods.
9. You are going to save money from not having to buy gas or transit tickets so take yourself out for a good breakfast on the way to work on day a week or a nice lunch. Dream about something killer you want or want to do and…
10. Stuff your saved money into something you really want to do.

Let me put it to you this way — most of my colleagues drive fairly new BMW’s. I own a beat-up old Volvo with a lower-rate of insurance and no monthly payments. I commute on a $50 craigslist bike that is also a classic Bianchi that automatically stops at all coffeehouses.. They spend about a hundred bucks on gas per month commuting from other cities because they say they can’t afford to live in town and THEN they complain about the parking. I live in town and spend $30 a month on gas and never complain about parking. They go on long-weekend vacations to Tahoe. I go to places like Italy and Austria for 23 days. Clearly, commuters win.

Carrying Stuff 101: Ask Yourself…

risa — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:54:18 +0000

How much and what kind of stuff will I be schlepping?

Some work clothes+ Personals +lunch+ gym.

L.L. Bean Continental Rucksack

Small amount of personal things + shopping.
You are a perfect candidate for a rack and panniers or really great seat bag. Don’t worry- i’ll add some links later so you can see some of the nicest ones i have seen.

One day nothing, the next day a lot. You are a perfect candidate for a personal bag that you carry on you and a rack and panniers. This may sound like a lot until you realize that you could pretty much survive doomsday and beyond with just what you carry on your bike. Soon to follow are my recommendations for some light weight and heavy duty options.

Almost nothing. Nothing says classy like a canvas saddlebag on a classic bike. Of course, almost no one has a saddle to which you can actually attach a bag or classic bike. You are the ideal candidate for a handlebar basket or bag.

Only really heavy, jagged, granite like-things. Xtracycle or BOB trailer. Check back for my feature on my buddy Bill, who carries around all of his tools and a custom-made box on his B. O. B. trailer.

Will I be schlepping stuff year-round?
If the answer to this question is “yes,” and you live in an area where it rains or snows in whatever you decide to schlep your stuff and needs to be waterproofed. Notice that I did not say “water resistant,” I said waterPROOFED. I feel the same way about this that I feel about leak-proof lunch containers-that you should trust me on this one. Don’t worry – i’ll get you some links to killer waterproofed bags. Just not right now.

Will I need to pick up or drop off stuff before or after work?
Whether the answer to this question is “” yes or “no” you really should have a way of carrying something extra on your bike- just in case.- so add a front basket.

Do I also need to prepare for additional activities, like going to the gym, a knitting club, a dinner party?
For you I would recommend a personal bag for your personals, and one pannier or a basket.

Do I need to schlep in some nice clothes for work?
If you need to take nice clothes for work you can use any bag you want if you incorporate something like an Eagle Creek Pack-It, available from lots of places i will find for you tomorrow. I have the small one. You can even fit that one in a laptop bag! You can put a pair of slacks, dress shirt, nice socks, and even a light cardigan in one of these and they will keep your clothes nice, clean, and flat until you get to work. Otherwise, just use a small stuff sack if you wear a sack at work. I also carry a very small toilet kit to freshen up at work. You may not thank me but your co-workers will.

Do I schvitz like mad, no matter what the season or weather?
If the answer is “yes,” to this question and you need to make sure you have somewhere to shower or wash at work. If you don’t have a place to shower, get one of these ultrafast, quick-dry washcloths & Dr. Bonner’s tea tree or peppermint oil soap. Put some super hot water and a few drops of soap on the washcloth and rub your whole body down, rinse cloth, wipe down, repeat wash and rinse. This spa-like treatment of hot-peppermint rub-down is the most amazing feeling after getting grimy and sweaty on a bike-I kid you not. If you have a place to shower get a dedicated toilet kit for your commute. I have one from L.L. Bean that I just love , and an ultra fast drawing backpacking towel.

Now, for an “apropos of nothing” story.

Oh my God Honey, I forgot to pick up the kids.
Once I saw a triathlete wearing a skin suit, leaning over his carbon handlebars in a full aerodynamic drop flying past me with one of those wee half -bicycles hitched to the back of his insanely expensive machine. On that wee half-bike-thing sat a young kid, whose face looked like he was on the best carnival ride, ever. When you see competitive athletes training with their kids in two or whole families in Italy where every member of the family is either on a bike or being carried on a bike- I have seen that it’s entirely possible to schlep your kids without an SUV. I hope to do a whole section on schlepping wee ones but for right now let me just say that it is entirely possible and in some cases much easier than driving to schlep the wee ones by bike. Even if you just do it on the weekends consider how much of the planet’s air you can save for your kids simply not using a car two days a week.

Feedbag 101

risa — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:00:07 +0000

When some folks decide to start commuting by bike, there is some anxiety over what to do about eating becuase it’s yet another thing you have to do and we know how that can suck. If you are like me, and prefer whole foods over prepared foods, saving the earth to raping it, eating well as opposed to eating pure shite, then you will want to pack your own food.

BREAKFAST
There are two important things you should know about me: I eat almost all of my meals at work, & I’m a food/ food-quality snob. On days I do not work out, I will eat a hard-boiled egg, a piece of cheese, a handful of organic almonds, and either a small glass of juice or piece of organic fruit and about 4 Advil, just in case. Before I leave for work in the morning I’ll grab a hard-boiled egg, a small piece of wax-wrapped cheese, and a piece of salami from the refrigerator and tuck these in one of the smash-free outside pockets of my amazing, shockingly-amazing-For-L.L.Bean backpack. There couldn’t be a simpler or smaller breakfast to have with some boiling hot, strong coffee from a good thermos. The total cost for a mostly-organic breakfast like this for an entire week is under $15. The boiling hot coffee not included. I am not cheap about that stuff. If you really need java on the road, you probably need to get one of these, and maybe a little more sleep.

Oatmeal and cereal people-this one’s for you: If you can’t drive to work a few times per month and stash several containers of milk and a container of oatmeal in a shared fridge, have granola shipped directly to your work and bring in a smaller SIGG bottle of milk each day. I really do not advocate bringing in single servings of oatmeal and breakfast items because, how do i say this nicely? –um, Individual serving packages of oatmeal with flavorings are crap. If you are riding your bike to work you need nutritionally dense food. Of course, you can ignore my advice, but you will feel like your bike gets heavier week after week, instead of lighter. Trust me. If you want maple flavored oatmeal? Add high-quality maple syrup to your oatmeal. Not only is maple syrup and ideal sugar for your body and your brain but when you add high-quality maple syrup to high-quality organic oatmeal it tastes like FOOD = good. For some extra potassium, slice of banana or add-in some dried banana slices.

LUNCH
The Bento box approach to lunch inspires me. Small, perfect, leak-proof containers with colorful foods and diverse flavors inspire me. Small, perfect, leak-proof containers with colorful foods and diverse flavors that you can take to the beach and devour while reading a magazine on a yoga mat inspire me. So if you want to be able to ride to park on lunch and eat under the shade of a tree and read an issue of the New Yorker for 45.7 out of your allotted 60 minutes, I will show you how to make it easy and enjoyable. The two most important things to consider if you are going to carry lunch on your bicycle: leak-proof containers and weight. I’m not kidding about the leak-proof containers. I once opened my courier bag to find a client contract, my calendar, notebooks, my phone, and the outside of an empty Tupperware container saturated in butternut squash soup. Not only did I ruin everything in my bag, but I lost the last bowl of one of the best soups I’ve ever made.

So here is your motto for packing your lunch: make it light weight, make it colorful, make it leak-proof, and most importantly make it the night before. What is an enjoyable thing to do the night before is drudgery in the morning. Making my lunch the night before is actually part of how I relax when I get home. I’ll put on really loud music, have a Manhattan, wash my lunch containers, and cook my food for the next day while practicing my German on the cat. He doesn’t care and I get better food than you can buy for lunch tomorrow. This means I can’t come limping home at 11 o’clock every night and expect to get this done but pal, that’s why someone invented happy hour.

I’ll put up some pictures of lunches I’ve made so you can get some ideas about how I pack my lunches and what kinds of foods I’ve made for them. Things like orange-maple-Sesame seed marinated chicken drumsticks, salad+ sprouted nuts and micro greens, or colorful sautéed vegetables- remember that you need dark, colorful veggies and fruits to help your body offset the demands of riding and whole grains whenever possible. As the main part of my lunch I have to pack some type of protein, a small amount of fats, or i will eat five Twix bars and a small container of yogurt (kid size) to help me get through the afternoon boredom. (Definitely pack something sweet or chocolate and small fruit like grapes and Kiwis stuffed into any gaps in your lunch container so you can quell any sugar cravings because they will happen once you start riding.) With lunch I drink either black tea with milk and sugar or a few tablespoons of frozen concentrated raspberry juice in the bottom of a thermos that I’ll mix with water at work. A lunch like this requires no microwave so I can take my lunch to the park or beach. Most of the time, I just take my lunch out of my bag and eat it at my desk beauce i have this fantasy that i will work through lunch and leave on time. It’s still a big fantasy.

If you need containers stat- try citizenpip.com –I found these on Google- so I can’t say I have done business with them or know if their claims are true but their products are freaking adorable and they have $4.99 flat rate shipping until 9/15/09 and free shipping on orders over $100.00.

I’ll get back to this post and add some more links for Food Goods when i am not more interested in making some espresso and watching The Daily Show.