I am proud to announce that, so far, no one has killed me during my new rush hour commute. The prize for the best attempt goes to Fucko in the white car who, on Friday, made a U-turn from the outside left turn lane while I was in the inside left turn lane. He seemed confused as to why I honked at him.
During my first five years at Danger, my bike gear ritual was fairly simple. I wore my Helimot leather pants every day, along with a weather-appropriate jacket. I left a pair of shoes and a pair of jeans at work; when I got into the office, I’d grab the jeans, go into the restroom, change, and store the leather pants (and my bike boots) in the corner of my cubicle for the day. Reverse these steps for leaving work at the end of the day.
This worked very well when I was a programmer and only really ever wore jeans and sneakers. These days, though, I’m wearing nice jeans, other pants, or even sometimes — gasp — a skirt. I even have a couple of different pairs of shoes that I wear. So I needed a new gear routine.
Now, I leave the TourMaster soft luggage on the SVS all the time (I’ll need to figure something else out when the rain starts, but for now, this works perfectly). In the morning, I deposit my purse into one bag, and my shoes and any blazer/jacket into the other. If I’m wearing a skirt that day, that goes into the bag, too. My new FirstGear HT overpants go on over my jeans (or a pair of shorts, if skirt).
When I get to work, I take off the jacket and overpants and lay them on top of the bike temporarily. I take my purse out of the bag, put it on the ground, and shove my overpants into the newly-empty saddlebag. Shoes and blazer come of of the other bag; jacket (mostly) goes into it. My Daytona Ladystar boots won’t fit into the saddlebags during the day, but since I park in a badged-entry underground parking garage, I don’t worry about leaving them alongside the bike. I’ve got bigger problems if my coworkers resort to stealing my boots.
So now when I go upstairs to my cube from the parking garage, I’m wearing my clothes for the day, and am only carrying my helmet, tankbag, and purse. I could probably start leaving my tankbag on the bike during the day (for the same security reason as the boots), but I like keeping my helmet in my cube so that I know it hasn’t been kicked or knocked about accidentally.
Anyway, that’s my new routine. It’s working really well. I’m very pleased with the HT overpants, though the knee armor confusingly wants to wander up my thigh a little bit. I don’t mind much since it still covers the actual kneecap, but apparently my lower thigh will be more protected in an accident than my upper shin. *shrug*
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