rainy days

Today: Wet.

Yesterday, when I drove back to work after lunch, I brought my bike in the back of the station wagon so I could ride home after work. I stopped at the grocery store and had a chance to fill up those new panniers. It worked pretty well, though I think I’d like to find some kind of metal ring I can hook to my bike frame near the rear hub so I’ll have something easy I can hook the panniers’ elastic strap/hook thing to. On the right side, the gear side, the only place I can set the hook puts it very close to the spinning gears – close enough to make me nervous and to stay away from top gear.

Today I rode to work in a light drizzle, home for lunch in a steady shower, and back to work again in more drizzle. I’ve added a towel to my replacement-clothes pack in a plastic trashbag in the pannier, since it doesn’t close at the top. Boy, riding in a zipped-up raincoat is sweaty work.

In other news, I got the call – finally – that the trailer hitch has arrived at the bike shop, so I’ll get that over the weekend.

Next up: fenders. The cheapest good ones I can find are at REI. They’re selling decent road bike full fenders for about $30, which is about as cheap as I can find the ones of that type.