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.

Reason No. 6 to ride your bike is your community.

Tooling around town or on the bike paths, you get to know the community in a way that you just can’t in your shiny SUV.

I’ve found more little markets and great eateries that I never noticed before. I’ve also found lovely streets and parks to enjoy on the days where I can just meander around.

Slow down, see more – what a concept!

Reason number 4 to ride your bike is that you save $$$.

Using a bike instead of a car just one day a week, the average American would save $609 in gasoline, maintenance and depreciation costs per year, reduce emissions by 24 pounds per week, and burn an extra 1315 calories at a 12mph pace! (Bicycling Magazine)

Reason No. 2: Burn calories, not gas.

Yup, we’ve got the tree hugger perspective here. You are doing something good for the planet, two fold. 1) you are taking care of yourself, which means we’ve one more person on the planet to help cure the common cold and 2) every pedal you push saves that much more of our natural resources. (anyone else hear Emily Katella asking Chevy Chase to save our “National Racehorses”?)