A Little Utility With That Bike?

Two Celeste grocery haulers. Mine's cleaner.

Most of my rides are recreational, but I also find it handy and fun to be able to use my bikes for practical reasons. For me, that is mostly light shopping and runs to the bank and post office.

Recumbents aren't always easy to fit with bags that carry enough to do much more than a sandwich run. I have a Carradice saddlebag mounted to the back of my Burley Canto's seat. The link shows a Carradice Barley, just because I thought it looks quite handy. I think mine is a Junior, but special ordered with side pockets; anything bigger would rub the tire unless the bag were supported or the tire fendered. On my EZ-1 I just slip a small backpack over the seat and secure it with a bungie.

Those bags are fine for a post office run, but when you really want to haul the groceries, nothing beats a trailer. Mine's a BOB Yak. I haven't done any reasearch on trailers and I realize that double wheeled trailers can have some adavantages, but I wanted one of these cool single wheel trailers from the first time I saw one zipping through town with a load of packages. I haven't regretted it. Not only does it haul the goods, but it is even fun. The BOB seems like a perfect match for a recumbent. Once you have a BOB axle on the bike it takes about as long to attach as it takes to put your helmet on. It runs stable and secure, though bounces around a bit while empty (you hear that more than feel it).

The summer before last I delivered my mother's groceries to her apartment each week with my BOB. It amazed me what a load you could haul up even steep grades that way. I can get most of the way to her place on the rail trail but there is one 16 percent grade on the way from the trail to her apartment. I won't claim that it was a breeze to get up that but it was an easier pull than you would think. Seeing me humping up the steep driveway on that weird bike pulling a trailer full of groceries was very entertaining for the folks in my mom's retirement complex.

The weather was warmer today (low 40's), so I took the Burley and BOB down to the International Food Store which conveniently sits right off of the Mon River Trail. Before stopping for groceries I rode on down the trail a couple miles. The riding was mostly fine but things did start to get a bit squirrelly in the slushy snow as I got further from town. The single track on the left is me on the way down (well, upriver actually).