I Go Shopping

Wow, who have thought we'd be yakking about the mundane far extreme of the traveling spectrum, your weekly shlep into Safeway (or Wild Oats if you have the cash). I am hardly ever organized enough to do a purposeful shop, I tend to just happen to be in a store and suddenly want to buy that giant 15lb bag of organic carrots and four boxes of Gardenburgers on special even though I could return the next day. Also, I loathe the sterility of suburban Meglomarts like Safeway etc so I try and avoid entering them. Travel has unfortunately done that to me - give me a Mexican covered market with little old women selling a hill of beans and street food any day. So my point was, that with a single, decent pannier you always carry on your bike, you can carry an amazing amount. Also good to keep one of those drawstring backpacky bags in the pannier (Nike make them for $10) that fold to nothing, to cart overflow stuff like lettuces so they don't get squashed. A note about security: I own a single Bike Friday, so it is my sole transport. I have had to accept that fact, and not let paranoia about it rule my life. In 7 years of world travel have not had it stolen. In fact I am more conscientious about removing the nice Petzyl head lamp each time, which I use as a rudimentary light. I tend to quickfold the bike not even turning the front wheel, 90 degrees, letting it rest on its rear rack, leaving the stem attached, which makes it more compact and easier to cable the easily-quickly-released front wheel to the rest of the bike, and then to the bike rack. I find those U-locks awkward, they still get sawn-through, so I just use a cable combo lock. Folded, the bike tends to look like a mess and not wheelable-away so most thieves probably just move on. Finally, as to Trip Bower's questions about airplanes, contact Bruce Horn vial his email address in the BF home page Gallery, also Jeff Linder.
http://www.bikefriday.com, click on the big What Do You Do banner, look for their names.
Have a nice day - or in Aussie, avagoodone.

Quite often I go to the store after work to get a couple of things and
for some reason end up doing a whole week's shopping. Last night I
bought $60 worth of stuff and put it all in the SINGLE Ortleib pannier
hanging off the left side of my bike. I left the bag open at the top,
just loosely closed with the side straps. I rode back home, up a few
climbs and making sure not to tip over to the left when I stopped. I
weighed it when I got back: 34.5 pounds, including a half dozen eggs
and a bulb of garlic in the handlebar bag. Excluding my 4lb Apple
Powerbook on my back. And nothing squashed. For those who remain
unconvinced, and feel you still need the gas guzzler, here's what I
carried: 4 large apples, 4 large pears, 2 oranges, bunch of organic
bananas, dozen Roma tomatoes, bunch of carrots, 1 cucumber, bag of
spinach, box of Gardenburgers, bottle of de-alchoholised wine (what
for? beats me), loaf of bread, 2lb brown rice, 1 lb pancake mix, 2lb
couscous, 1 lb split peas, 3 lb 7-grain cereal, block of soy cheese,
large tube of yoghurt, large packet of tortilla chips, can of cooking
spray, .. and to get up the hill, a Zone Perfect Fudge Graham energy
bar, my personal favorite. OK, so I don't have kids ... in that case
sling on the other pannier!
GALFROMDOWNUNDER in MEXICO! See Lynette's
world-travels-on-a-folding-bike http://www.galfromdownunder.com

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I shop by bike too. But I shop 2-3 times per week instead of only once.
The supermarket I go to most often is only about 1/2 mile away.
Another one is about a mile away.

I'm single and typically don't buy a lot of stuff at one time, so a
medium sized messenger bag is usually adequate

http://pages.prodigy.net/rjmatter/gallery/bag.gif

I've found that whatever I can fit into one of those plastic handbaskets
supermarkets typically provide will fit into my bag.

The supermarket I go to most often has a $0.05 Save-A-Sack discount for
bringing your own bag so I always take advantage of that.

I also have a dedicated single-speed shopping bike with baskets

http://pages.prodigy.net/rjmatter/gallery/basket01.jpg

for when I need to carry a lot of stuff or am planning buying heavy
items like detergent or bird seed.

I inherited the bike from my stepfather. My mother found the front
basket at a garage sale for $1 or $2. I found the rear basket at a bike
shop's going-out-of-business sale for about $10.

-Bob Matter
Chicagoland Folding Bike Society
Dedicated to the promotion of folding bicycles
and enhancement of the folding bike experience.
http://www.geocities.com/rjmatter/

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The Bike Friday suitcase trailer makes an excellent trailer for shopping of
all sorts. I also use it for carrying around the Vermont Bicycle &
Pedestrian Coalition display and brochures to conferences in town.

It's good because you can lock it (if you still have a lock on yours), and
it's fairly weathertight.

Becka

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Becka Roolf, Director becka@VTBikePed.org
Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition
PO Box 1234 . Montpelier VT . 05601
802 . 279.7545 fax number available by request
----------------------------------------------------
Roads are for people, not just for people in cars.
----------------------------------------------------
Walking, bicycling, & multi-use trails: your best
transportation investment for a healthy Vermont.
----------------------------------------------------

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For those who've never meet Lynette in person keep in mind that
she's 5'0" and weighs well under 100 pounds.

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I spend summers living car-free on cape cod, where I
do summer research at the Marine Biological
Laboratory. To shop for a family of 4 car free, I
fill up one of those Burley kids's trailers with
groceries. I know a real trailer would work better,
but I was able to pick up one of these pretty
inexpensively on ebay. The funny part would be when
folks would want to peak at my 'kids' and find
groceries instead! This summer will be my first with
a bike friday, so I intend to use my suitcase trailer
instead.

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The Bike Friday suit case trailer works fine. I will be using mine on my
next tour. I am not convinced a so called " Real Trailer would work better.

Richard Clarke
Longwood Fl,
SatRDay (03)
NWT (00)

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End of Digest #701
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