Originally Posted by
Sir Lunch-a-lot
Please also note: while “leaving stuff at work” is a great idea, it is very likely that it will not be a viable option for me in the near future, and I imagine there are other commuters for whom this simply will not work. So, while I welcome some of those kinds of ideas if they are REALLY good ones, I am more so looking for ideas that do not involve leaving stuff at work.
For several years before I had a place to leave stuff at work, I had to tote everything back and forth daily. What I came up with was using two bags. I used a trunk bag for all the bike stuff and anything heavy. I used a small pannier for clothes, rolling them gently to avoid wrinkling.
As for the things you specifically mentioned,
-Emergency Poncho: Not required. If it's above 55°F (13°C) any sort of raingear makes me wetter from sweat that I get from the rain. I just ride. Below those temps I need a jacket anyway. My regular cycling jacket, an
Endura Gridlock, keeps me warm and dry.
Since you're concerned with carrying work clothes on the bike, I assume you're using bikewear on the ride. This stuff dries fast at work. I've never had it still be wet for the ride home.
-Shoes: I use regular cycling shoecovers. The
Endura Luminite Overshoes I use fold flat.
-Something small and compact to cover pannier: Ditch the cheap pannier and get waterproof ones.
Ortleib, baby!
-Change of clothes: Gently rolled and placed in the pannier, I've had no issues. Compressing them--either with hands or a vacuum--is a sure route to wrinkles.
-Shoes: This is a personal thing that also is dependent on workplace dress code. I can, and do, wear sneakers. When I had to tote them, I put them under the outer straps of my trunk bag. (My trunk bag, a nice Canadian
Arkel Tailrider, has outside straps for strapping things to the top. In the rain, the Tailrider's built-in raincover was big enough to cover the shoes too.)
-Books: For me, this is an occupational hazard. Before I upgraded to Ortleibs, I put them in my trunk bag with all the heavy stuff. The
Ortleib Sport Packer Plus panniers I now own have a nice internal pocket hanging on the inside back panel that's big enough for even very thick hardcover novels, or two thinner ones, or four mass-market paperbacks.
-Tools: Seat bag containing multi-tool with chain tool, 2 Pedro's tire levers, one tube, one patch kit, chain master links for each of the bikes (8, 9 and 10-speed), emergency cash, spare key to my building. Keeping the bike stuff separate means no cross-contamination (think grease) with work stuff.
-Water: Water bottles in the bottle cages.