Loaded

Today I noticed that I've been riding with a lot of stuff in my panniers. It doesn't take long for laptop, clothes, Kindle, shoes, backpack full of various and sundry cables, cords, adapters and other junk to build up in your bags before you're really loaded down. I don't think too much about the load I'm carrying when I'm loading it, but today I noticed I was climbing really slowly. Then I looked back and saw that giant pannier stuffed and busting at the seams. Oh, yeah.

It's actually a good thing, though. I've got an over-nighter bikepacking trip coming up soon. With these summer temperatures, I won't need much gear. I'm just taking hammock, food and cooking supplies. So riding the Troll through the woods with minimal camping gear will feel a lot better than these recent commutes. At this point, the big debate is whether or not I'll throw it in a backpack or put on the rack and use my smaller panniers. Right now I'm leaning towards panniers for the sake of keeping heat off of my back.

The photo above is from my last bikepacking trip. It snowed that night. So we had a whole lot of cold weather gear with us. This trip coming up will feel a whole lot lighter.

Either way, this is one other reason I love bike commuting. It gets you (and keeps you) in shape for the real adventures.

Get out there.