Video review: ‘Crunch’

Video: Get to know my latest read-aloud, Crunch, by Leslie Connor.

Product reviews: Jersey and trunk bag

A recent ride between Santa Rosa and Sebastopol, via the Santa Rosa Creek and Joe Rodota trails, was an occasion to utilize two items in my cycling gear collection: my new Xingrass women's bicycle jersey, and my do-it-yourself backpack rigging for the Topeak MTX Trunk Bag. Here are my reviews of the jersey and the trunk bag.

Xingrass short-sleeved women's bicycle jersey
I really like the colors and the pattern of this women's cycling jersey. (I love damask and paisley patterns, and rich colors like dark green, blue, and brown.) I ordered a size Medium, according to instructions to use the sizing chart and to order by chest, height, and weight. it fit as expected, very comfortable to move in.

Topeak MTX Trunk Bag
As a cyclist, I often rely on my Topeak MTX Trunk Bag. I just slide it onto the MTX Quick Track rack, it locks into place, and I am ready to go.

The panniers are great to fold down and stuff with groceries (or books purchased at a local store or found in a Little Free Library).

This is my second purchase from Topeak; the first trunk bag did not come with the panniers, and my husband and I (both Topeak trunk bag users) have found that the central pocket of the trunk bag seems to have less carrying space in the model that has panniers.

One design concern of mine is the single carrying strap that comes with the Topeak bag. I have a smaller frame, and the bag gets heavy to carry when I am walking around.

The single carrying strap does not relieve the weight when I carry the bag by the handle, and when the bag hangs free, the weight just bears down uncomfortably on my shoulder. I end up carrying the bag two-handed.

My solution, or "hack," was to take a second carrying strap with me. I shortened one end of each strap so that the shoulder padding falls to the right location, and I attach both straps to the trunk bag I'm using for a makeshift "backpack." A backpack is much more comfortable, plus I prefer "hands-free."

I can't use the water bottle pocket when I convert to a backpack, but I can put my bottle directly into the trunk bag. The water bottle is upright inside it, when I wear the Topeak trunk bag as a "backpack."

Santa Rosa CityBus : Young people ride for free

Young people can ride Santa Rosa CityBus for free, through the Unlimited Rides (UR Free) pilot program, which operates through Dec. 31, 2022.

Our family’s ‘third’ place: parks and community garden

Shelter-in-place affects the way that we can work in our community garden

I’m taking a course in Sociology through Santa Rosa Junior College, and a recent discussion assignment asked, “Where is your ‘third’ place?”

Bicycle theft, a close-to-home social problem

For a Sociology class, I was asked to describe a close-to-home social problem, characterize it as “rural” or “urban,” and identify “objective” and “subjective” aspects of the problem. For this assignment, I described bicycle theft as an urban problem.

Multi-use paths, closed to bikes but not pedestrians?

With parks closed in Sonoma County to prevent spread of COVID-19, the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition raises a fair concern: why are multi-use paths off-limits to cyclists, but still available to pedestrians?

Bay Wheels bike rental

Jonathan and I recently took a multi-modal San Francisco trip. On Saturday, Sept. 28, we rode down into San Francisco aboard Golden Gate Transit’s Route 101.

With bike helmets strapped to our backpacks and having packed our reflective vests, we were all set to try Bay Wheels Bikes rental via the Lyft app. This photo was taken at the Steuart Street at Market Street station near the San Francisco Ferry Building.

Handling the bikes felt unfamiliar at first. The step-through frames had cargo baskets in front so they were weighted and balanced differently from what we were normally used to: which is diamond-frame with rear trunk bag with or without rear panniers. But as we rode, we became more used to handling the rental bikes.

We discovered that bike rental works best when used for short, maybe 15-minute, rides, and we grew accustomed to using a station-map to check for bikes or spaces to dock.

We were able to slip easily along the San Francisco waterfront past a glut of pedestrians at the area’s most “touristy” attractions. We also felt safe biking in the San Francisco road-way due to “critical mass;” there were a lot of other cyclists in the bike lane.

The experience was not without its stressors: the final dock where we stashed our bikes failed to register ride’s-end, so our Lyft apps continued to show an escalation of time and ticking meter of supposed bike-use. It took 48 hours, but eventually the matter was resolved to our satisfaction.

Altogether, our SF bike-rental experience was interesting, fun, and educational. We will consider Bay Wheels Bikes rental for another San Francisco trip.