On 8/10/2019 11:33 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:



Monday, 5 August 2019


Today was the third time in a week I rode to Kilainey's to buy our
supper.

On Tuesday, I used the flatfoot and went dressed in shorts and shirt.
On previouse trips I'd squashed the carry-out box bungeeing it to the
top of the detachable basket, so this time I detached the basket and
bungeed an Amazon box to the rack. This worked well.

I got tired of kiddy-bike pedalling before I got there -- the cranks
are forward, but not forward far enough that I can straighten my legs,
even when the seat is so high that only my toe-tips touch the
pavement. So on Thursday, when I came back from Sprawlmart and
decided to buy supper after putting my jersey into a bucket of water,
I hunted up an old jersey, loaded the pockets, and rode the road bike.

I can't carry stuff in the pockets of my jeans on my road bike. Well,
I *could*, but I don't like it. I could carry a purse, but I don't
like that either.

It was much easier to bring back a sandwich on the road bike. I
carried the Amazon box in a pannier, so I didn't have to un-bungee it
before I could put the sandwich in and re-bungee, *and* it didn't take
nearly as many bungees to do the trick, since I had anchor points well
away from the box instead of under it.

The last time my wife and I went out to dinner, it was on our tandem.
She had about half of her pasta dinner left over, so they gave her a
standard styrofoam takeout box. Luckily, they put the box into a plastic
bag - because the standard box wouldn't fit horizontally into the
tandem's rear rack bag (it sits on top of the rack) or into its
handlebar bag. But still, when we got home, some of the pasta sauce had
leaked out into the plastic bag.

Obviously, we need rational standards here! Takeout boxes should be
sized to fit bike bags, and vice versa!

Back when I had the old style Scott aero bars on my touring bike, I was
pleased to find that they made an excellent carrying rack for styrofoam
takeout boxes. Add a bungee cord or two and everything just worked.
Those were the days!


--
- Frank Krygowski