Hi guys I've been reading the forum for a while and you all have been so helpful in the preparation of my bike for the daily commute I began today. My girlfriend and I started ridding to work for fitness reasons and to save money on gas and maintenance.

Our commute is 13 miles each way and it took us 65 minutes to get to work because we were being extra careful and wanted to take it easy to avoid problems. We had a backpack each with our stuff and that was OK, but I realize we'll need a better way of carrying stuff on the bike not our backs.

Do you have any suggestions that won't slow us down too much or look out of place?

Thank you for everything