Tag Archive | commute
More Bike Commuter Pants! Spring 2014 Update
It’s that time of year again – I am scanning the websites of my favorite clothing manufacturers, looking for anything that I would really want to wear in their new spring collections. Over almost three years of dedicated bike commuting, I have had a few tastes of functional clothes that reflect my non-girly persona, and […]
The Other Kind of Drinking Game
A recent one mile bike ride to the store left me soaked in sweat. It has taken until mid-July, but the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have finally hit that point where it is consistently, uncomfortably, hot outside. This is not a huge deal, nor is it a commute killer, but it does […]
Reaching out to New Cyclists: Downplay the Bad-Ass Factor
There are so many reasons why I ride my bike (for my finances, my physical and mental health, the environment, convenience, fun). It also makes me feel like a bad ass. Especially in the winter. Which is great – to a certain extent. Last week I realized that sometimes I play up the difficulty of […]
Professional Hair – With a Helmet!
There’s a woman with a consistently professional-looking bob cut who works in the same building I do. She rides a recumbent bicycle to work, and for the past year I have been wondering how her hair looks so polished when I know she always wears a helmet. I was too intimidated by her important job […]
In Defense of Fat Tires on Road Bikes
While on a ride with a bike mechanic acquaintance this spring, I noticed that his otherwise unremarkable steel frame bike had very large tires, approaching beach-cruiser proportions. Since it seemed a somewhat unusual choice by someone who knows a lot about bikes, I asked him for the reasoning behind riding huge tires on the road. […]
Review: Ortlieb Backroller Classic Panniers
At the beginning of summer I replaced my dysfunctional panniers with the Orlieb Backroller Classics. After six weeks of heavy use of the Ortlieb panniers, including a four day bike camping trip, I’m fairly happy with my new choice. As one friend commented, “I hear a lot of people complaining about their bike bags, but […]
Sexism in the Bike Lanes
I approach the sexist aspects of bike culture the same way I address the presence of black bears while backpacking: I deliberately avoid contact. My friends are a pretty progressive bunch, and I only patronize bike shops with a reputation of being welcoming to ALL their customers. So while I heard horror stories from other […]
Review: Selle Royal Respiro Women’s Saddle
Other women sometimes ask me how I like my bike saddle, so I thought I’d write a real review. After the first 10 miles on bike’s pre-existing (and probably original) saddle my sit bones were incredibly sore. It was clear that a new saddle needed to be my first bike update. At the time, I […]
Girls Biking to Work 