Blog June 8, 2019

Commuting on a bike is awesome, but you do get stuck stuffing everything you need for an entire day into a single bag. Linguist Laura Welcher shares how she does it with Cool Tools.

Welcher’s bag is a Detour Ballard Market Pannier, a pannier that easily turns into a backpack. Here’s everything that’s inside:

Beauty kit

Pop-up hair brush

Bare Minerals Mini SPF 20 Concealer and Baby Buki mini kabuki brush.

Bare Minerals Lip Liner, Eye Liner, Liner Brush

Clinique Mascara, Mirror Compact

Aveda Lip Glaze

Artstar mini hair clasp

Bobby pins in assorted colors

Hair elastic (doubles as a way to keep the Mini Altoids tin securely closed)

Plastic spray bottle (empty — fill with water as needed for quick hair fixes)

Health kit

Emergen-C packet

Mini Altoids Tin

Band-aid bandage

Neo To Go single-use packet

Gas-X Thin Strip

Claritin

Asthma inhaler (did I mention if there is a cat in the room, it will find me?)

Spare contact lenses

Advil Liquid-gel ibuprofen

OB tampon

Toothbrush, travel tube of toothpaste, and a little bundle of dental floss

Bike tools

Novara “Never a Bad Time to Ride” reflective velcro pant leg strap

Plastic bike tire lever

Mini tire patch kit

Crank Brothers bike multi-tool

Spare AAA batteries for rear bike light

Other tools: Buck Metro Knife, Mini Multi-tool

Related posts:

Everything Else

Clif Shot Bloks

Hammer Vegan Recovery Bar

Drinkables: Teabags in individual wrappers (plastic wrappers are the most durable), packets of Starbucks Via instant coffee

BD Safe-Clip needle-nipper

Copaxone

Autoject

Prescription and doctor contact info, 1-800 number for advice.

Individual alcohol prep pads

Yaesu VX-8DR HT Radio

Garmin 620 sports watch with heart rate monitor

Nuun Energy hydration tabs

Washcloth

Run Guard anti-chafe stick, travel size

Deodorant, travel size

Tifosi Slip sunglasses

Nathan water bottle

AC charger, earphone mic, charged extra LI-ON battery

Nifty Mini-Manual

Diamond SRH519

LaFont Topaze prescription lenses and Jellies readers

Key chain with too many keys

Overstuffed wallet

MacBook Air laptop

Thule Gauntlet padded waterproof laptop sleeve

Free folding map of San Francisco bike routes from the SFMTA.

Planet Bike rear red blinking light, Serfas USB Headlight

Mizuno Impermalite women’s lightweight performance shell

Cards: Clipper, BikeLink, ZipCar, Commuter Check, SF Bicycle Coalition Membership.

It’s a ton of stuff with very specific uses, so head over to Cool Tools for the full explanation of why she brings what she does on a daily basis.

If you have a great go bag with a useful organization scheme and great features, let us know!

Lifehacker Go Bag Show