In the Bag
When I first started biking the whole routine was unfamiliar. I really didn’t know what I needed but I didn’t want to get caught off guard. I wanted to be prepared for anything. But I found it overwhelming to just get out the door…
I didn’t need all that stuff when I drove or took the subway, and I didn’t need much of it for biking. Over time I learned what I need and reduced it to just what was essential for my own lifestyle:
Most of the the clothing/makeup routine is just done at home like before. I keep a few spare emergency items at work. And I probably should carry some repair tools but they’re heavy to always carry. I figure I’ll just make friends with a fellow cyclist (one of the ones who’s prepared for everything) if I get a flat or take a Hubway bike home.
However, even though I have settled on my ideal bike kit, I still dream about an even better one…
Having a Xtracycle means I tend to overpack, then forget what I’ve packed and pack the same thing again. Cleaning out the Xtracycle bags can be quite an interesting experience.
Love your work. Your cartoons really capture my optimistic attitude that is sometimes fleeting in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
My everyday bike kit includes my Dargelos lightning vest http://www.dar-ge-los.com/product/lightning-vest (yes a total splurge but love it!). My dream bike kit includes the perfect bell, always audible but never obnoxious.
I think you still carry too much stuff.
the only thing I carry different from when I’m not on a bike is the bike lock.
You should come over to Europe and see how the Dutch, Danes and Germans do it, just get on a bicycle and ride. Why do American’s want to make some thing so simple, so complicated?
The medical term for it is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: a morbid horror that something might one day take them unawares.Also (probably) in Bikeyface’s case since she comes from Boston, the whole New-England Puritan tendency to plan and over-organise in case God catches them idling on parade: the box neatly labelled “Pieces of String (Too Short to Be Any Use)” and the sandwich made from left-over baked beans warmed-up re-heated three or four times already.
Also the US obsession with the gadget and the techno-fix to everything. Not for them the French or Russian habit of fixing things “provisionally” by lashing them up with sticky tape or a length of rope or strips of lime-tree bast, then leave them like that for the next ten years. Everything must have a purpose-designed solution even if there wasn’t a problem in the first place: cf. the cycle helmet, which continental Europeans seem to manage perfectly well without.
Myself, all I carry for journeys up to five miles is a cape and waxed hat against the rain (unless it’s a fine day), my chain lock and a mini-bike pump since I use Tyre-Slime – surely one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century – and all you have do with that if you get a puncture is pump the tyre back up again: no fiddling about by the roadside removing tyres and trying to find the leak then sticking on patches, then getting yourself covered in chain jam putting it all back together again.
For journeys over five miles it’s a canvas shoulder bag (ex-Czech Army, resewn) containing a pint water bottle and mug, a bread tin, a pocket tool kit, a Swiss knife and a couple of other small items; cape, hat and jersey rolled and strapped to the rear carrier. Lights are dynamo at the front and battery at the rear, both fixed , and my bike has a European-style ring lock on the back wheel so no need to carry the chain if I’m not leaving the bike unattended for long. Couldn’t be simpler.
Always ask yourself, do I really need this?
Yay! Always happy to see a new Bikeyface! So funny, and so true…