Was a slow start to January (first ride wasn't until Jan 12 as it was icy just about every morning until then and I don't risk it in the ice anymore after a few slip & slide incidents). However, I'm at 274km since then (about 171 miles) and feeling good.

Tuesday though I lost one of my (expensive) Ortlieb Backroller panniers on the ride home somewhere. I usually only ride with one (left side), but brought the other one Tuesday morning as I was bringing in a new front fork for a buddy that I'd picked up for him. Riding home the pannier was virtually empty (just put in wet gloves and headband from the morning ride, plus my boxers/socks that I'd worn that day).

Got home and that right hand pannier was GONE. Suspect that there wasn't enough weight to actually open the clasps that hook and lock under the rack rail when I picked up the handle. Anyways, took a quick shower, grabbed my son and took the car out to re-drive my ~25km/15.5mi route (as much of it as I could along the roads; there were some bike paths too). No luck. Wednesday morning rode the exact same route; no luck. Pannier is gone.

Small silver lining: bike shop nearby "installed" the panniers for me so they could waive the local 7% provincial sales tax, and gave me another 10% off on top, so I saved a bit of money and get new Ortliebs. I'm going to sell my old one so that should hopefully help a bit too.

Pissed off more than anything that somebody would have stolen it off the side of the road or trail so quickly. It's gone; I've ridden the route multiple more times this week and never seen anything.