Commuting - ohh. what leaked?

Did my once a week ride to work today. As I pulled my change of clothes out of the backpack I was met with a smell. Oh oh. It seems part of my lunch leaked onto my pants. Oh, not my entire lunch...just the pickles! Yechhhh....

Rinsed them off and wandered down to the coach's offices ( I work at a high school) to see if someone had a blow dryer. "Well, we've got better than that." Coach led me down to the trainer's room where they have a washer and dryer! Cool! Got my stuff all cleaned up, hit the showers and was back at my desk smelling decent. Definately going to double-wrap my stuff for next time.

Anyone else have leaky items on their rides?

Sheldon
OCR2

Never had a leak and don't carry stuff that might in my bag. But I do have this worry that someday I'll forget to pack my work clothes and will need to be at the office in my stinky bike wear.

Al

I ride with panniers and keep my lunch in a separate compartment (and it's usually frozen), so leaking hasn't been a problem.

I have a set of clothes (shirts, pants, socks, underwear, and shoes) in my desk drawer in case of something drastic happening: Leaks, wet clothes, forgotten clothes, bike spray from the unexpected rain shower on the way to work, etc. Haven't had to use 'em...yet.

lucky there was a washer/dryer available..never been through that either

I always pack my clothing in Space Bags. You know, those things you see being hawked on late nite television.

They work (it is essentially a giant baggy). I've ridden through torrential downpours and had small lagoons form in my pack. Clothes stayed bone dry. Added benefit is the ability to reduce the volume of the package.

Wally-World usually has em.

Like you, just pickles on my commute (but my clothes are on my back and not in my bag)... :D

...and the occassional beer leak on a ZooBomb... :eek:

I use a Nashbar trunk bag on the rack. One of those rubbermaid type plastic containers fits perfectly inside. It's big enough for a couple of sandwiches, a portion of spaghetti, etc... Enough room left for shorts, underwear and t-shirt (not a dressy job). These days with the almost daily Florida rains I keep a zip-lock bag for my wallet and cell phone. I rode about an hour after work in pretty heavy rain a few days ago and the clothes in the bag were dry. I guess I must sheild it from the rain a bit.

When I was commuting I had two panniers. I carried my change of clothes, rain gear, wash cloth, deodorant, etc. in one pannier. My lunch, bottle of water for work, riding home clothes, and anything "unimportant" in the other pannier. That way if something leaked I could take care of it when I got to work and have all day for things to dry.

I had a bad experience with a banana when I used to commute with a backpack. Since I've been using panniers, lunch is always in a separate compartment. I've also found that the panniers aren't stuffed full like the backpack was, so everything is better off - lunch is in better condition, clothes don't get creased at all etc.

I simply put my lunch into a reusable vinyl lunch bag with a velcro closure, and set it on top of my clothes for the day, in front of my work binder, in my backpack. Never once had a leak. K.I.S.S.

Please tell, you didn't mention just how you had packed your lunch.

I had a jar of Icey Hot in my camel bak. The temperature was warm enough to turn the solid into a liquid and it leaked out of the jar over everything! Yuk!

I simply put my lunch into a reusable vinyl lunch bag with a velcro closure, and set it on top of my clothes for the day, in front of my work binder, in my backpack. Never once had a leak. K.I.S.S.

Please tell, you didn't mention just how you had packed your lunch.



Not packed well enough! Since I only ride to work once a week, I don't have saddle bags or anything, just use a back pack. The lunch was like I always take it; in a Vons plastic carry bag, with the condiments in plastic bags of their own. In the future, I'm going to just make sure the clothes are in their own bag or bring them to work the day before.

Sheldon

Now I see that there's some fresh raspberry juice in my bag, too! A mess in my messenger bag... :p

I made deviled eggs for a July 4th bar-b-q. Mmmm... Deviled Eggs! Having not carried eggs in my panniers before, I picked up a 18-pack at the Grocery store that's 4 miles from my girlfriends house, thinking that even if a couple break, I'd be okay. Made it all the way to her house with no egg incidents...

...only to kick the panniers as I was hopping off of my bike. Fortunately, I thought, the spillage from the two eggs that broke was contained by the egg box. Unfortunately, I thought wrong, and after my morning ride across town the next day (around 12 miles) I pulled out my lock to find it was covered in egg whites. Yech. What a mess. Found out my Panniers will hold water, though, when I went to clean them out...