I've got, currently, the following necessities: Extra socks, Moleskine, drawing pen, bike pump, watercolor pencils, post-it note pad (2), kids' pool IDs, stress lozenges, USB memory stick (2), duct-tape pencil case, old container of dental floss, credit card, band aids, old driver's license (to identify me if incapacitated), cash, tube patch kit, old bottle opener (vintage!), binder clips, colored penciles, USB charge cable, coins, Leatherman.
How do you compare? With my pannier, the credit card, and my bike, I think I could go anywhere.
Last Sunday I had the pleasure of taking my first ride in the annual CAGA Tour de Belt. To my surprise, our Pennsylvania capital has patched together a rather green and traffic free loop of pavement and gravel. The Tour de Belt promotes the Greenbelt itself, and last weekend several hundred cyclists gathered to complete the circumnavigation in fine weather.
Police and volunteers blocked traffic for participants at several intersections, leaving me with that rare feeling (pipe dream?) that the general public might deem cycling sensible & beneficial enough to alter the paths of cars. Unfortunately, on most other days, I live with the dominant paradigm that leaves cagers gassing, paving, and idling, and pedalers dodging, blinking and whistling.
