Changing Seasons

It's one of God's little jokes that when you have to wear mittens, you
have to get your handkerchief out of your pocket every few minutes.

I had to stop several times because I couldn't find my handkerchief. A
little after four p.m., I discovered that fuzzy gloves were now enough
and bungeed my mittens to the bottom of my empty pannier. (The other
pannier contained six stuffed chicken breasts, twelve ounces of duck
bacon (ham-cured duck breast, sliced thin and YUMMY), two pouches of
black ice, and lots and lots of insulation. Those last two items were
hardly necessary; when I filled up the empty pannier, I didn't even
look at the produce because it might get frost bitten on the way home.

After packing everything on top of the mittens, I realized that it had
gotten cold again, but it was after five and the sun sets at 5:30, so
I just rode fast. Got home before the end of civil twilight, but not
a bunch before. Rush hour is not a good time to try to cross Winona
Avenue.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

On 11/10/2017 10:52 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:

It's one of God's little jokes that when you have to wear mittens, you
have to get your handkerchief out of your pocket every few minutes.

I had to stop several times because I couldn't find my handkerchief. A
little after four p.m., I discovered that fuzzy gloves were now enough
and bungeed my mittens to the bottom of my empty pannier. (The other
pannier contained six stuffed chicken breasts, twelve ounces of duck
bacon (ham-cured duck breast, sliced thin and YUMMY), two pouches of
black ice, and lots and lots of insulation. Those last two items were
hardly necessary; when I filled up the empty pannier, I didn't even
look at the produce because it might get frost bitten on the way home.

After packing everything on top of the mittens, I realized that it had
gotten cold again, but it was after five and the sun sets at 5:30, so
I just rode fast. Got home before the end of civil twilight, but not
a bunch before. Rush hour is not a good time to try to cross Winona
Avenue.

Have you tried using a handlebar bag? They work very well for me. In
cold weather, I stock it with a few paper towels, easily accessible at
the top.

--
- Frank Krygowski

On Sat, 11 Nov 2017 18:12:45 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

Have you tried using a handlebar bag? They work very well for me. In
cold weather, I stock it with a few paper towels, easily accessible at
the top.

I used to have an excellent handlebar bag, and a box of "boutique"
paper handkerchiefs just fit. On the group ride from Albany N.Y. to
Warsaw, Indiana, I kept the box on the left side of the bag so that
other riders could grab a tissue as they passed.

I gave it up when I bought my Ed Kearney light. The light wore out
years ago and I decided not to replace it, since I hadn't been using
it. But by then I'd forgotten about handlebar bags.

I'm pretty sure that I once looked for the handlebar bag and learned
that it didn't make the move from New York to Indiana. I haven't seen
any bags as good in stores, but I've only seen handlebar bags while
searching for saddle bags.

But just enough bag to hold a few paper towels should be doable. And
I have an empty middle pocket in my windbreaker, which I'll be wearing
if I'm wearing mittens unless it's cold enough to wear my
wool-jacketing jersey, to put the used towels in.

I wonder whether I could manage a pop-up dispenser?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

It's kind of groggy out -- I found this half-typed post while shutting
down for the night -- but I'm going to click "send" anyway.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

On 11/14/2017 11:24 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:
On Sat, 11 Nov 2017 18:12:45 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

Have you tried using a handlebar bag? They work very well for me. In
cold weather, I stock it with a few paper towels, easily accessible at
the top.

I used to have an excellent handlebar bag, and a box of "boutique"
paper handkerchiefs just fit. On the group ride from Albany N.Y. to
Warsaw, Indiana, I kept the box on the left side of the bag so that
other riders could grab a tissue as they passed.

I gave it up when I bought my Ed Kearney light. The light wore out
years ago and I decided not to replace it, since I hadn't been using
it. But by then I'd forgotten about handlebar bags.

I'm pretty sure that I once looked for the handlebar bag and learned
that it didn't make the move from New York to Indiana. I haven't seen
any bags as good in stores, but I've only seen handlebar bags while
searching for saddle bags.

But just enough bag to hold a few paper towels should be doable. And
I have an empty middle pocket in my windbreaker, which I'll be wearing
if I'm wearing mittens unless it's cold enough to wear my
wool-jacketing jersey, to put the used towels in.

I wonder whether I could manage a pop-up dispenser?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

It's kind of groggy out -- I found this half-typed post while shutting
down for the night -- but I'm going to click "send" anyway.

We know you do a lot of stitching. I rarely do any, but I'm proud to say
I've made two of my own handlebar bags. They were challenging due to my
lack of skill, but they've worked out well. The first one is now looking
a bit ragged, but it's almost 40 years old.

Both of mine hang from internal rigid frames that I also fabricated, and
are at least a bit aero. (Well, it's a psychological help in severe
headwinds.) But I notice that Jan Heine and his randonneuring crowd
prefer boxy bags that plop on top of front racks. See
https://janheine.wordpress.com/2017/...packing-bikes/

--
- Frank Krygowski

On Wed, 15 Nov 2017 14:29:06 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 11/14/2017 11:24 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:
On Sat, 11 Nov 2017 18:12:45 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

Have you tried using a handlebar bag? They work very well for me. In
cold weather, I stock it with a few paper towels, easily accessible at
the top.

I used to have an excellent handlebar bag, and a box of "boutique"
paper handkerchiefs just fit. On the group ride from Albany N.Y. to
Warsaw, Indiana, I kept the box on the left side of the bag so that
other riders could grab a tissue as they passed.

I gave it up when I bought my Ed Kearney light. The light wore out
years ago and I decided not to replace it, since I hadn't been using
it. But by then I'd forgotten about handlebar bags.

I'm pretty sure that I once looked for the handlebar bag and learned
that it didn't make the move from New York to Indiana. I haven't seen
any bags as good in stores, but I've only seen handlebar bags while
searching for saddle bags.

But just enough bag to hold a few paper towels should be doable. And
I have an empty middle pocket in my windbreaker, which I'll be wearing
if I'm wearing mittens unless it's cold enough to wear my
wool-jacketing jersey, to put the used towels in.

I wonder whether I could manage a pop-up dispenser?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

It's kind of groggy out -- I found this half-typed post while shutting
down for the night -- but I'm going to click "send" anyway.

We know you do a lot of stitching. I rarely do any, but I'm proud to say
I've made two of my own handlebar bags. They were challenging due to my
lack of skill, but they've worked out well. The first one is now looking
a bit ragged, but it's almost 40 years old.

Both of mine hang from internal rigid frames that I also fabricated, and
are at least a bit aero. (Well, it's a psychological help in severe
headwinds.) But I notice that Jan Heine and his randonneuring crowd
prefer boxy bags that plop on top of front racks. See
https://janheine.wordpress.com/2017/...packing-bikes/

I made a couple of front racks, a bit similar to the UD-1 racks that
he shows and the "handlebar bag" just slipped over the upright portion
of the rack. The support legs for those racks attached to the canti
brake mounting studs and when I converted to caliper brakes I changed
to bags that simply attach to the handle bars with a strap.

The original mounting supported the bag no matter how much was stuffed
in it while the strap mounting does tend to sag down onto the front
fender or brake if you load it too heavy.

Velo Orange shows a "Decaleur Fork Receiver" that mounts on the stem
and a Decaleur Bag Mount that attaches the bag to it and (hopefully)
prevents the bag from resting on the front brake or fender.

I've thought of making one but the present strap on bags work so there
is not a great deal of urgency for the change :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Wed, 15 Nov 2017 14:29:06 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

We know you do a lot of stitching. I rarely do any, but I'm proud to say
I've made two of my own handlebar bags.

The problem solved itself: the last time I suited up for a ride, I
noticed that there wasn't a paper napkin in my left rear windbreaker
pocket, and I didn't want to reduce the number of Subway napkins in my
left front jersey pocket (why does Subway think you need ten napkins
to eat a sandwich? (not that I *mind*!)), so I went back into the
kitchen thinking I'd take a lightly-used napkin off the table, but
we'd had cold cereal for breakfast and there weren't any, so I took
two more steps and grabbed a paper towel.

And not too far down the road, I discovered that it was stiff enough
that I could find it with my mittens on. So I bought a roll of towels
at my first stop.

I'm still plotting to make a saddlebag, though. Been thinking about
that for years. Those I find in the stores are either huge or tiny.

I wonder whether I used up all the Cordura? (And I'm also wondering
when and why I bought Cordura.)

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/