Bike commuting in comfort

I've been flirting with bike commuting for a while, but the relationship never really developed into anything long term. This year gas prices and a rising concern for the environment in which I love to play, have prompted me to commit to driving to work only one day out of every week. This translates to a lot more biking than I've ever done before. I don't live very far from my office (about 5 miles), but the way is mostly uphill, and I usually have a fairly heavy load to slog up there- including my laptop. I herniated a disc in my back a couple of years ago, and though I have an awesome commuting backpack that is quite comfy, all the weight has been starting to tweak me out.

I turned to panniers as the solution, and bought a pair of Seattle Sports rain rider panniers based on the review on bikecommuters.com that praised the construction, durability, lightness, and waterproofed-ness of the panniers. I know it doesn't rain very often here in Salt Lake, but with my entire academic career contained in my laptop, I just can't afford to lose it to a surprise September downpour. Sure I back up my hard drive weekly, but not daily, and losing a week's worth of work: not an option (not to mention the cost of replacing my only machine). I've logged a number of miles with my panniers, and though it's been predictably dry during that time, these suckers are amazing. I can carry surprisingly large loads (I brought them along for a recent trip to the library and managed to squeeze numerous reference books in each- I'd guess about 25 lbs or more and they didn't even seem the slightest bit perturbed by the experience... wish I could say the same for my calves on the way back to my office!). Getting all the weight off my back has been a life saver and certainly means that I'm less likely to wimp out and give up on my resolution.

The panniers I got are an updated version from the ones described on bike commuters. The only differences I can see are an additional buckle strap which does come in handy during the rare occurrence of a light load and a waterproof zipper pocket. This is particularly useful for holding wallet, keys, bike lock, or anything else you want to get at quickly and without digging through your stuffed pannier.

Overall, these are an excellent purchase for a bike commuter or someone wanting to go on a long bike trek who requires a light and waterproof pannier. Though they aren't sold on backcountry.com yet.. I'll keep on suggesting it 'till they are!

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This comes in that? A picture post

I've never actually seen Under Armour in it's packaged form (this is the internet folks, if I haven't bought it I don't know what the packaging looks like) but I've seen it on people, mostly football players. I was reading the Snaz and they were talking about the packaging from this little base layer not only being Super Sized but that it isn't recyclable. So essentially -

This:

Comes in this package (which doubles as a great storage facility for dog food):

But the packaging won't do this:
Leaving the only option for it to end up in this:

If that's the case then I'm not really stoked on this:
Shouldn't they pass some regulation on the size of packaging and waste exceeding that of the product? More weight requires more gas to transport, and more resources to build not to mention more in the land fill which leaves me more empty thinking about how Under Ar-more should do more to make less.

Read the rant at thesnaz.com

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Go Klean and Think Outside the Bottle

You may have missed the Fast Company cover story a couple months ago that talked about the incredible impact upon the earth that is bottled water. The article contained some disturbing data about our love affair with bottled water but the one statistic that has stuck with me the most since reading it was this (in bold below):

Americans went through about 50 billion plastic water bottles last year, 167 for each person....our recycling rate for PET is only 23%, which means we pitch into landfills 38 billion water bottles a year--more than $1 billion worth of plastic.

Which means that of those 167 bottles per person 129 will be tossed. I doubt that I've drank more than 15 bottles of water this past year but I still feel responsible to do my part. Here's my challenge to you for 2008:

First, stop buying bottled water, especially for camping, climbing, skiing and other outdoor adventures. Get yourself a Backcountry.com Klean Kanteen and refill it with a water filter or with water from the tap - GASP! - Believe it or not tap water quite often is the same quality of many bottled water brands.

Secondly, if you compete in any outdoor events this coming year (cycling, trail running, triathlon, ultra, trail clean up events) demand that the race directors either eliminate bottled water from their race or that they become 100% committed to recycling every last bottle that is distributed. If they won't do this, don't give them your money. They don't deserve it.

Lastly, insist that your employer not offer bottled water but perhaps an alternative like filtered tap water or a 5 gallon water cooler. Have them take the pledge to think outside the bottle.(- via Treehugger.com)

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