Bake Sale Hauling.

I had to do a bit of shopping yesterday on my lunch break. I am participating in a bake sale today, and had to buy some supplies and a few other groceries as well. It was quite a haul so I thought I'd document it. A year ago - before I bought my bike and became interested in the idea of utility cycling, I did not know that such a feat was even possible. Today with the help of a couple of grocery panniers, it's no big deal. Over at EcoVelo Alan wrote a post yesterday about how indispensable grocery panniers are to the utility cyclist. If you needed more proof, here it is.

This is everything I carried with me on my bike. One pannier is my personal stuff (basically the contents of my purse), my work stuff (Kindle etc.), and my bike stuff (U-Lock, bungees, set of gloves in case it gets chilly etc.) and the other pannier was the groceries. I'm proud to report that the eggs got home in perfect condition too!

On my way home I was even asked by a passenger in a car about my panniers. You can see my earlier post about these panniers if you'd like to know more about them. Did all that extra weight make my commute more challenging? Yeah. I was moving a bit slower than usual and I arrived home a bit sweatier than I normally would but it wasn't that big a deal. Carrying the weight on the bike instead of on my body makes it quite doable. Give it a try!

This post is an entry for the "Let's Go Ride a Bike" Summer Games. (Learning Experiences - Carry a load on your bike.)