Originally Posted by
cyccommute
In my experience, anything "folded" in a pannier...especially an undivided pannier like the Ortliebs...is going to end up rolled in the bottom anyway. Might as well start with it rolled to begin with. Of course, you could fold the shirt in the trunk bag as well.
'Denver' is a key element in your commute. It's bone dry. Clothes don't wrinkle as fast. In the Mid Atlantic you get a 90% humidity day and wrinkles set in quick.
As for shoes and stuff, that's just not an option to leave them at work for me. One, sometimes I'll want them to go out to other places in. Two, I don't trust the cleaning crew here. Things are known to disappear.
Also if you get the right pannier (18 liter for me) the full set of clothes and shoes folded as a group packs just tight enough to keep them from shaking to the bottom of the bag but not so tight that they introduce creases on the fold lines. Works perfect.
Nope. There aren't any grocery stores along the way and I don't carry a lock except on Saturdays. On the other hand, you have to have one pannier that is almost empty to carry a gallon of milk. I'm not in the habit of carrying around an empty bag just in case I need to drop by the grocery store. Most people that I see carrying two panniers on a bike have them stuffed so full that they couldn't put a postage stamp in them, much less a gallon of milk.
This happens to me all the time. I can't count the number of times I've stopped at the Home Depot to pick something up on the way home. (Oddly...a gallon of milk has happened exactly once, so that's an odd example I gave. But the size was relevant) Plus the eBay packages. That 2nd bag comes in SUPER handy.
You are correct about it being "what's right for you" but most people don't think of what they really need to carry. I see the same people riding to and from work on a daily basis carrying almost as much stuff than I would carry on a weeks long tour. That says to me that they really haven't thought through what they really need to carry day in and day out.
I'll give you that. I see people show up to work with a super full backpack and a roller case on a handle and I'm like "YOU DROVE HERE!? Your car has a trunk to fit all that stuff if it's for later. What could you possible need to fill two bags with for a day in a office building?" I mean i'ts none of my business so I never ask...but I have wondered. And I see it EVERY SINGLE DAY.
For the bike though I don't put anything on it that I don't need that day. I just can't do that in a trunk bag.
Thank you. I try not to be around when that train comes through, however. It's a two mile coal train going right through the heart of Denver (that means it is is sloooow) and I can spend a lot of time waiting for it. It gives you lots of time to set up the shot, however. Those are the pusher engines and it took 10 to 15 minutes of waiting for them to come by.
I love trains. But getting stuck behind one that size on a regular basis would probably get old pretty quick.