Bicycle shopping: Foiled by cats
Today was the first time I failed to successfully complete a grocery run on my bicycle. My list today was quite small, but somewhat ambitious: one library book, two boxes of cereal, contact solution, eggs, cat food and cat litter. No matter how long I stood at my cart attempting to fit various brands and sizes of cat food and cat litter into my panniers, I couldn't get them both to fit. I eventually gave up and decided this would require a car run to get both from the pet store later this week. One point in favor of an Xtracycle... On the other hand, I hit a milestone today by getting up the entire hill to our house. If I'd had loaded my bicycle down with both of those items, I suspect I wouldn't have managed that feat.
I've now had a chance to try my messenger bag/handlebar bag combo a couple of times. Overall, I'd say it's about 50% successful; parts of it work well, but there's definitely some room for improvement. One problem I've noticed with it is that although the bag is fine, the map flap sticks out away from the bag too much and touches my knees at the top of my stroke. If I flip the bag around, I can curl up the flap so it's out of the way, but that curls the flap somewhat and obviously makes it impossible to read the map. And although the map is a cool idea, I haven't actually used it yet, as I'm relatively familiar with the area that's nearby and bikeable. If I did it again, I'd probably add a way to pin the flap to the back of the bag when I'm riding.
I've now had a chance to try my messenger bag/handlebar bag combo a couple of times. Overall, I'd say it's about 50% successful; parts of it work well, but there's definitely some room for improvement. One problem I've noticed with it is that although the bag is fine, the map flap sticks out away from the bag too much and touches my knees at the top of my stroke. If I flip the bag around, I can curl up the flap so it's out of the way, but that curls the flap somewhat and obviously makes it impossible to read the map. And although the map is a cool idea, I haven't actually used it yet, as I'm relatively familiar with the area that's nearby and bikeable. If I did it again, I'd probably add a way to pin the flap to the back of the bag when I'm riding.