journal features

new pannier

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Toronto, 2011.11.19

I've finally replaced the panniers I bought in 2005; rather than get two of the slim ones as I've been using, I bought a single fat one.

My old panniers were worn out. One had a torn zipper and a hole in the fabric and was useless, and with those sort of narrow bags you really need two if you're filling one halfway with a repair kit for flat tires. So I'd taken to wearing a backpack for the commute, and wondering why I was dealing with so much back and shoulder pain. Turns out that carrying 10kg of crap (repair kit including portable air pump; rain coat; change of pants for the office; lunch; etc) around on a 22km bike trip every day will do that.

The model I've bought isn't actually a true pannier in the sense of being a water-resistant all-in-one carrier, but is instead a more practical and roomier .. shopping bag. I'm looking forward to having more room and less back pain.

rand()m quote

Immature poets imitate mature poets steal bad poets deface what they take and good poets make it into something better or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique utterly different than that from which it is torn the bad poet throws it into something which has no cohesion. A good poet will usually borrow from authors remote in time or alien in language or diverse in interest.

—T.S. Eliot