What exactly is in that bag?
Riding home today up a really steep back road I got to wondering about exactly what I had in my handlebar bag. Much of the time, my bike IS my car, and like a car, it tends to accumulate a certain amount of random extraneous stuff.
So when I got home I took everything out of the bag, laid it out, and took a photo.
Here's what I found:
The contents, roughly clockwise from the yellow jacket:
So, what have you got in your bag? You might be surprised. I was.
Do tell.
So when I got home I took everything out of the bag, laid it out, and took a photo.
Here's what I found:
- A light rain/wind cycling jacket
- Thin long sleeve wool shirt from Rivendell
- Wool Ibex cap
- Random receipt
- Bag of mixed greens for dinner
- Plastic bag holding my empty plastic food containers from today's lunch. There's an apple core in there somewhere too
- My handlebar bag itself, which was holding all this stuff
- Inner tube
- Disposable latex gloves for changing flats and other messy repairs on the road. I always seem to ignore that I have these and just get my hands dirty. Don't know why.
- Package of salami I picked up on the way home from work
- A screen protector for an iPad that I bought today
- Receipt for screen protector
- Stainless coffee mug
- Old hardware store receipt
- Comment card from a public event last September that I wrote but never turned in
- A pamphlet promoting discounted helmets that was given to me recently
- A small bungee cord
- 2 zip ties
- Plastic bag with tp and a couple of ibuprofen left over from last summer's brevets
- My wallet
- Small toothbrush and nearly empty toothpaste tube. They're mine, but I'm not sure how those got in there...
- Very small "bug" LED light
- Quart of yogurt also picked up at the store
- A fork, from lunch
- Saddle cover, in case of rain
- Mini bike pump
- Energy "blocs". I bought these last summer, never opened the package. I was out yesterday riding around and wishing I had a little something to perk me up, so last night I threw this back in my bag, but I'll probably never consume them. I'm not really into synthetic food.
- Sunglasses
- iPod
- Another latex glove
- Eyeglasses case
- Circle of plastic that I put under coffee mug lid to keep coffee in (and a rubber band to keep the top on, all put in a plastic bag)
- Another plastic bag
- My tool kit (contents include patch kit, allen set, assorted wrenches, tire levers, some nuts and bolts, probably a couple other odd items)
- Cycling gloves
- Pen
- 2 "collision cards" that are intended to be used in case of an accident. I'm a little superstitious about those and I'm not sure I really want to hang on to them, but probably will.
Thats 40 odd items, depending on exactly what you include. This isn't necessarily typical; more frequently I'd have more clothes and less groceries. Like a car, its good to clean up once in a while. I kept all the junk out when I packed the bag back up. Here's the bag packed back up:
So, what have you got in your bag? You might be surprised. I was.
Do tell.
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