Time to make like a pack animal again and retrieve the comestibles from the grocery store. This is actually one of the rides I look forward to every week, as it means 1) I get to eat the rest of the week and 2) I prove that a bicycle is actually a useful vehicle that can be used to do things that we normally only associate with using cars (or big SUVs) to perform. I have 2 40 pound buckets that used to contain kitty litter that I use as panniers on the back of the bike, and I also have an ’80s vintage ALICE ruck to carry things that won’t fit through the hole in the lids of the bucket panniers. Between all that I can get a full week’s groceries for a family of 3 adults home in a single trip. I usually go with Mrs. the Poet and she carries home the bread so it doesn’t get squished, but I have been given the list and the money and told to get the groceries by myself and not had any trouble getting it all home without squishing the bread. It just takes a lot longer to pack when I don’t let Mrs. the Poet carry the bread home. The kitty litter buckets will swallow a gallon of milk or a 10 pound sack of potatoes with ease, the biggest “problem” being to remember to pack the left side of the bike first so it doesn’t fall off the kickstand because it got too heavy on the right side and unloaded the kickstand. I think the cure for that would be a 2-leg kickstand that doesn’t require the bike to lean against the stand like a regular kickstand, but I don’t have the time to build or the $ to buy such a thing at the moment, other projects are way ahead of that on the list. But yes, I can bring home the bacon, and the milk, sugar, potatoes, yogurt, cereal, ground beef, 500 count box of cookies, frozen pizza… all on a single bike trip without a car. And with tie down straps I have even brought home a 24 roll pack of toilet paper with all the other “stuff”.
The only live link I have on an actual non-racing bicycle story is this LifeStyle link from LA. Bike ride set in Covington for teen cyclist killed in accident If you’re in the area this is a WoaB Approved Ride 😉 Not that anyone needs my approval to go on a bike ride…
I had several links to stories that were behind paywalls, which I count as “dead links” when I’m filtering. If I can’t click on the link and read the story, for all intents and purposes it’s a dead link. Sorry for all the riders whose stories end up this way.
Billed @$0.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 