When I Bike, I Always Carry… Do You?

Girl Meets Bike wrote an excellent list of “When I Bike, I Always Carry…” but I couldn’t leave well enough alone. I felt compelled to share with you my “must haves” and why.

1) Cash - now this isn’t new or earth shattering, but how many of you make sure you have a $20 bill to use as a shim? Not only is this a perfect liner between your tube and tire but it also means you have twenty bucks handy when you need to buy a new tire!

2) ID – make that ID attached to me. I have a shoe tag from Road ID as well as my ID in my Bento Box. If I go endo and separate from my bike I want to be sure that my contact and allergies are front and center. After all, just about every road rash cream has aloe in it – which, I am allergic to.

3) Cell phone – I learned this one from my favorite cyclist friend, Joe Felder. I carry an extra cell phone just for cycling. It has preloaded minutes and all my emergency contacts. If this one hits the pavement, I won’t panic the way I would if my Palm Treo (which contains my whole life) would and since it can only dial out as much as I’ve loaded funds into it, I won’t worry that someone is going to call Ethiopia on it

4) Mini pump - I used to love CO2 cartridges until I started flying with my bike in an Iron Case. Then I started to stress “Did I remember to get those cartridges off my bike? Will they explode in mid-flight? OMG, did I pack a pump?” Enough! Out with the single use CO2 cartridge and in with an environmentally friendly mini pump, nicely attached to my road bike.