Who would have thought—rain, sleet, and snow—all on the same ride? Well, maybe in January, but not on March 26th!
Sheesh, it was a wet, cold, and lonely night out there. Not a bit like last week when I enjoyed a lovely spring ride in the company of a backpack-clad fellow commuter all kitted out in Broadmark Capital gear.
As he spun along on his unencumbered rain bike he couldn’t help but comment on me and my Clampett-size load of crap:
“You sure ride with a lot of stuff.”
I gave the usual cargo bike explanation: “Laptop, rain gear, U-lock, some work clothes, shopping bags for grocery stops, spare hat. You know, just in case.” It all felt pretty reasonable. The only extravagant item on that nice spring evening seemed to be the rain gear.
So in an effort to cut 30 or 40 seconds off my commute, I planned to leave that superfluous rain gear in the garage this week. Good thing I never got around to it. Considering how cold my hands were in summer-weight gloves, I can’t even fathom the misery of a ride without rain pants and jacket.
Sometimes my laziness serves me well.
And the bag of rain gear? I think it’s earned a free ride in the sideloaders all summer long!
Anne & Tim
Tim King
Anne
cfdgirl
Tim K
Car Free Days 
Indeed, recent years have gotten me into the habit of taking raingear no matter when, no matter what the forecast. I’ve never regretted it; can’t say the same about leaving it behind. It has been interesting and fun lately, hasn’t it? Ready for snow? Me I’ve got some freshly made fat studded tires to try out, so bring it on! Also, in case you were wondering (and as another example of saying no to hydrocyclophobia), here’s how Easter went: http://tinyurl.com/yod3br We missed you folks, but we’ll do it again. Rubber side down!
an update: My saddle dried out fine, but I had two rear flats this morning from crap I must have picked up in the rain last night. I pulled one staple and three pieces of glass out of my Big Apples. So far they’ve been pretty bomber but I have to say my confidence is shaken. One disadvantage of full coverage fenders and the sideloaders… it makes “sweeping” your tires for glass a little less likely to happen.
Sorry we missed the cargo ride. Memorial day for sure!
No tire is totally invulnerable, and the Big Apples are better than most. Where they truly excel is in comfort and low rolling resistance. If you start to find that you are riding routes that put you in the path of too much debris, some sort of flat prevention system would be recommended (I use several).
haha no doubt, what gives around here?? Caught me totally unprepared. It was a cold ride home!
One more for raingear in sideloaders all summer 🙂
Gosh the weather has been the pits! I was womdering how you guys were doing. 2 years ago I got cought in a hugh rainstorm in Snohomish, I was so wet I was pouring water
out of my shoes, (nd then I still had to bike back to West Seattle) never again! I always have all my rain gear, cell phone, metro bus ticket in my pannier. I always wonder about the people I call “weight-weenies”. You know the folks that have nothing on their bikes or themseleves. Do they only ride when it’s fair?