Guest poster Don Blount deals with an issue that affects many of us from time to time…
I usually keep my biking gear in the same places.
Bike in garage.
Seasonal clothes in a closet and out of season items in a storage bench.
Helmet and a few other items such as my Garmin, spare tube and C02 cartridge, plastic bag for my phone, sunglasses and a pouch with key and money on the shelf of a bookcase in my home office. (I use the space that is available and that my wife does not object to me using.)
Of course this makes riding easy. Either the night before a ride I gather what I need and place them in an easily accessible place, such as my kitchen, or the day of a ride I can get what I need quickly and head out the door.
No rummaging, no searching, all aggravation free.
That is except when my system gets changed.
My mother-in-law was coming to visit for a week and would be staying in the home office, which has a day bed. So I moved my gear and other items out of that room and into my bedroom. It made sense, this way I would not need to go into my office during her stay.
And then the next morning I readied for a ride. Kitted up, prepared the bike and then went looking for the rest of my gear – sunglasses, a pouch with key and money, baggie for phone, baggie with spare tube and C02. And could not find them.
Tick, tick, tick. If I did not get out by a certain time I would miss my morning exercise window. After all, this was a workday and I could not just ride later.
I looked all over the bedroom as I was certain I had placed them in there. My wife looked as well and she could not find them. She even offered to go back into the home office and look to see if I had left them there. But we opted not to do that since her mother was still asleep.
Five minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes. Tick, tick, tick, slam.
The window had closed.
So I put my bike away.
I put away my helmet and gloves.
And I unkitted, if that is a word, and then I glanced beneath my wife’s dresser and saw a box that I had moved there the night before. Atop but toward the back of the box were the things I had been looking for. I thought for sure I had looked there. My wife looked there too. They were about two feet from the bed but you had to get down on your hands and knees to see them there. I looked under the bed, I looked under a bench but I had not gotten down to look on top and toward the back of the box.
Oh well.
Now, all of my riding gear is together in a corner of my bedroom. So the next time I plan to ride, I will be able to gather it all, without rummaging or searching and all aggravation free.
next time try putting the mother-in-law in the garage and bring the bike inside. should hopefully solve the problem
I can relate to this. Despite keeping all my gear in a box next to the back door I constantly amaze myself at my ability to phaff pre ride. I’ll lay out kit the night before, have my pouch pre filled with id, money, tubes etc yet i’ll always waster 45mins debatng the number of layers, checking tyre pressure, making coffee, checking cake money etc!!!
This is a must for folks riding at 5AM since I am half asleep as I am getting ‘kitted up’. By the time I am fully awake, I am already stretching and heading out of the house 😀
Those unexpected disappointments are the worst. I dislike when my ride times/days get modified…
Sarah
http://www.thinfluenced.com