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:

  • 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.

Comments

dcain said…
Here's what's in Rebecca's bag form Velo Voice. http://velovoice.blogspot.com/2013/05/whats-in-your-bag.html
Rebecca Olds said…
And here's what's in Mary G's Russian-doll-like panniers!
http://chasingmailboxes.com/2014/07/01/bike-commute-hoarder-2/
Thank you very much for the information provided! I was looking for this data for a long time, but I was not able to find the trusted source.
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