Ouch, my pride hurts!

Oh, why is it that stupid stuff keeps happening to me? Or is it that I keep happening into stupid stuff?

I've had my share of spills since I started cycling. There's the inevitable trail crashes while mountain biking, and the falling at intersections while learning to ride clipless pedals...c'mon, I'm not the only one, right?

Well, Friday morning I had a fall during my bike commute. Yes, a fall. I didn't crash into anything. I just...fell down. I was not seriously injured, thank goodness. But I feel really stupid about the whole thing. So embarrassed that I am writing about it for the whole internets to read. Luckily, only a few people read this blog.

The commute in pictures post

I rode to work this past Wednesday. I thought I'd take along a camera to try and take some photos along the way. Trying to take photos while riding with my iPhone is tough and it doesn't take very good pics when on the move. Plus, without any manner of wrist strap, there is a large enough probability that I could drop my iPhone and I'd rather not do that.

My wife had our Panasonic Lumix, which would have been nice with its wide-angle Leica lens (it's the ZS1, not the LX3, but still pretty good), especially for "panda" shots. I need some more practice with those. These pics were taken with an older Olympus Stylus. The main plus with this camera is that it is small and basically flat on all sides - it has no odd lumps or lens protrusions - so I could carry it in my shorts pocket without it being annoying. This camera is also supposed to be shockproof up to 5 feet, but they probably didn't test dropping it from a moving bicycle.

Here's my panda portraits. You might recognize my new Twin Six T-shirt (October T-shirt of the Month).

Grocery run

Tonight I made a grocery run on my bike. I've picked up smaller items with a messenger bag before and also picked up takeout when I had the milk crate on my rack. With my new panniers I figured I could get two grocery bags worth no problem. The panniers are a bit tapered at the bottom, so I anticipated that I might have some issues fitting the grocery bags directly.

My list was fairly short but I was getting some bulky items including milk and cereal. I did my shopping and went through the self checkout so I could bag my own groceries in an attempt to get everything to fit without having to repack once I got to my bike. Milk and the cereal box turned out to be a tight fit. I had to strap the cereal on top of my rack otherwise I got both bags inside the panniers.



Here's the packed bike after getting home.



Here's the spread: milk, Lucky Charms, Eggo waffles, box of mini donuts, 5 chocolate milk boxes, apples, and Clementine oranges.

Short ride to work (Bike Commute #2)

Made a short ride today. I dropped off our van for service and rode to work from the dealership. This was also the maiden voyage with my new panniers. I loaded them up nicely with my clothes for the day, and there is plenty of room to spare. The major problem with the rack mounted crate was I couldn't swing my leg over the back when mounting/dismounting. Obviously this is no problem with panniers. I took pretty good care to mount the panniers as far back as possible, and I didn't notice any foot strike issues.

I also tested out the iMapMyRide iPhone app. Here's the route into work:



Officially, I'm calling this Bike Commute #2. I've yet to recount my first few unofficial bike commute rides and what I consider Bike Commute #1, but I will get to those soon enough.