What's in your pack?

[SadieKate]

Great news on both items. Got to go pick up some Loreal tonight - Brazilian Bronze -- so I'll see what they have in Revlon lipstick.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Saturday. You can check out what is in my hubby's pack but bring rubber gloves. He once pulled out a ClifBar that was about 3 yrs beyond the expiration date. I don't go near his pack.

[MomOnBike]

Hmmm, lipstick. It never occured to me. I might just start, especially on those "bike dates" with my husband.

Right now, though, I have high SPF lip balm in my bag. My doc recommened it after she did a biopsy on my lip recently. Now I just have to remember to use the stuff.

I actually have two bags. One is a hip bag I wear in front. It works nicely on the recumbent, on the upright it goes over my right hip. It has the afore mentioned lip balm, wallet, the cell phone (when my daughter lets me have it), clip-on shades for my glasses, and a bit of change. This bag also carries the garage door opener. It gets used on every ride.

The big messenger-sized bag goes on the back of the recumbent seat and has my cable, lock, & tubes. It also carries library books, mail, and 'most anything I pick up on the ride.

[bentforlife]

that rides on the back of my recumbent seat. This is what I currently carry with room to spare. Tire pump, 2 water bladders, several types of snacks, blood sugar meter, cell phone, spare house key, spare tubes(like the hint about cornstarch), 8 ft cable, lock, medical information and emergency contact information, sunglasses, sun block,tire tools, other tools, some money. I'm thinking of adding handi wipes and a small first aid kit. I have room to spare even with all that. I have one water bottle holder on the side of the seat for power aid or the like. Recumbents do have advantages.

Donna

[MomOnBike]

Sometimes I wonder about the advantages of the big bag on my 'bent when I'm tired and grinding up that last hill to my house.

Still, I like the ability to haul around just about anything.

I've been known to leave the big bag off sometimes when I'm feeling lazy. It all depends...

[Dogmama]

Lipstick and earrings? I have to wear all that stuff during the week. On the bike, it's big-time SPF sunscreen, period. You ladies crack me up! Don't you leave lipstick rings on your water bottles?

[Veronica]

No - this is the lipstick that doesn't come off until you wash it off.

V.

[Trek420]

Veronica says "Custom ones are wicked expensive."

I thought all Tandems were custom. There are stock tandems? Shows what I know. I thought there were too many variables like "short captain, tall stoker, tall captain and stoker, short both...". Who knew?

Back to the bags. My theory is two kinds or riders; the cool ones who carry little to nothing, just what's in the rear pocket and snear at us with even an under the seat bag and then there's the riders with everything but the kitchen sink ...oh look! She DOES have the kitchen sink in the rear trunk!

And we may think it looks geeky to carry that much but my oh my are we glad you are there ;-)

Like on a recent ride (see "bonehead move of the day" thread) where a rider fell and broke her wrist one of our members had a rear rack with one of those square trunk'y bags. I thought "30 miles? With a bakery in the middle? You won't need all that".

But when she pulled up to the scene, I had 2 bandaids, those handi wipes and Aleve with me but she had a full professional first aid kit....

[jobob]

oh look! She DOES have the kitchen sink in the rear trunk

I resemble that remark

[Trek420]

but jobob, Trek420 also said "my oh my are we glad you are there ;-)"

because I believe it was you who came to my aid on the Diablo ride "oh look, I just happen to have an extra pair of full finger gloves"

OT again, I've often thought this, I believe there's a book in this forum, "the wit and wisdom of the TE women". You'd have to get permission to quote, and TE permission to use the name but Spazz, you write. How about it? There's nothing better out there for information

[fasteryet]

I go for the combined lipstick and SPF chapstick - Almay tinted chapstick. It has just a little color, and feels good. But it does leave a little color on the water bottle, so I only use it on special occasions. As for the pack, I have an under saddle bag that has a spare tube, plus a few instant patches, a small multi-tool, a little baggie with first aid stuff, a latex glove, a Clif or Luna bar, a handiwipe, and my Epipen. Cell phone and tiny wallet with ID and money go in my jersey pocket.

[lkrider]

Among other things, I always carry two spare tubes. I put them in a sandwich bag and sprinkle cornstarch in the bag. Work it around the tube, seal it up nice & tight & cram in it the seatbag. When you need it, it will slip easily into the rim and doesn't get caught so easily between the rim and the tire.

What a terrific hint. I always took the tubes out of the box, but worried about them getting messed up with all the other junk in my bag. THANKS!

[lkrider]

Is it something about tandem riders(I also ride a tandem part time- simple Burley Duet-nothing fancy(nor is my wedding ring), but it is fun)...I am usually a minimalist, makeup wise, but for some reason adopted a habit of lipstick for rides...bright red for big rides is my good-luck charm. I tried nailpolish once, but it was too obvious and bugged me the whole ride. Lipstick on the water bottle...yeah, but it's MY water bottle.(and here's the practical side of it...protection from sun.)

[MightyMitre]

This is the best pic I could find at the mo.http://www.ralphoverweel.nl/images/l...-microfoon.jpg

It's Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel who's a fantastic pro Belgium rider. She's won various of Olympic medals as well as being the top Belgium domestic rider. She's always know for wearing full make up and painted nails when she races - and it certainly doesn't seem to slow her down! I think she currently holds the womens 1 hour record on the track but she won't be defending it as she finally retired at the start of January.

She's a very interesting women. Several years ago when she was just hitting the big time she developed an eating disorder, the idea being that she was going fast at her current weight, but imagin how much faster she could go if only she lost a few more pounds.

Finally she went down to about 7st and I saw a photo of her in her team jersey and the arms and collar were seriously loose and she looked ill. In the end she'd lost so much weight, her performace went down hill and finally I think she had to take a year out to recover.

Basically, she then set up and organisation to share her experiences with others and make sportswomen aware of the pitfalls of weight loss - especially as 'lighter means faster' is ingrained in the sport, with some coaches being irresponsible by putting pressure on riders. Once she was back to a healthy weight she was flying again.

Anyway, can't see myself in full make-up. Don't even wear it during the day but good for those who want to, and can find stuff that stays on!

[lkrider]

Thanx for the pix, and the background (I guess putting in perspective what is important) but whew...makeup or not, I will never look that good!

[annie]

Back to the bags. My theory is two kinds or riders; the cool ones who carry little to nothing, just what's in the rear pocket and snear at us with even an under the seat bag and then there's the riders with everything but the kitchen sink ...oh look! She DOES have the kitchen sink in the rear trunk!

I've witnessed a kitchen sink being pulled on a trailer behind a bike, and a barbeque grill ( a large one!) and a portable bar, complete with beverages, a canoe, (NOT all on the same bike) plus more weird things that I can't think of now. There's a group that ride RAGBRAI every year and they haul everything with them. Just amazing. They do it partly for the spectacle............ they must be the most photographed bunch there. Still, they actually ride with all that stuff......... when they were younger they used to ride from Colorado to Iowa before RAGBRAi and then ride RAGBRAI. They don't do that anymore.

Back to the lipstick...after seeing just what some people carry with them, a little lipstick doesn't seem like much. We - the women I ride with - have a little quote. "You can always do lips." Doesn't matter how sweaty or dirty or helmet-haired you are, throw on a little lipstick and you're set. Vanity, yep, but all in fun.

annie