Category: cycling

A few recent discussions on other sites have covered the topic of essential gear for commuting by bike in the winter. They’ve covered the usual suspects of pants, jackets, footwear, lighting and tires, so I won’t duplicate that here. But one thing has been conspicuously missing from all of the roundups: panniers. Specifically, waterproof panniers.

I’ve had a pair of water-resistant panniers for years and learned the hard way one rainy day that “water-resistant” really means “leaks like a sieve when you least want it to.” The same goes for my “snow-shedding” backpack. And my raincover-equipped daypack is a little too small to carry all of my commuting gear with me.

When I started carrying my new ultra-portable PC everywhere last month, I knew I’d need something rain- and snow-proof for transporting it on those wet and slushy days through the tail end of the year. It’s one thing if my lunch and work shirt get wet in an unexpected storm, but quite another if I have to empty the water out of my hard disk.

After looking at various alternatives, I ended up buying a pair of Ortlieb TourBox semi-rigid waterproof panniers. Velotique was clearing them out and I may have gotten the last two. Most of the other models that I looked at had drybag-style roll tops, and I’ve never had much confidence in my ability to cinch them down properly. In contrast to drybags, the TourBox looks like a small suitcase—inside and out—and closes with a waterproof zipper. It also features a combination lock (to prevent casual snooping, not theft) and the best quick-release shoulder strap system I’ve ever seen anywhere.

It seems that it’s rained (or snowed, or slushed) virtually every day since I bought my TourBoxen four weeks ago. Having been drenched from both rain and road spray, I can verify that they are absolutely waterproof. I don’t think I’d take one swimming with me, but the handle the worst that the city can throw at them.

My only real issue with them is that I wish they were just a little bit larger. Not much, just a couple of centimetres in each dimension. As it is, I can squeeze my rain/cold gear, commuting lights, fully-loaded man purse, change of clothes, and lunch bag into a single 19-litre TourBox, but there’s not much room left over for anything else. That said, the squarish shape and full-open zipper make loading easy and efficient, especially for hard or oddly-shaped items that don’t much like more traditionally-shaped panniers.

Related: You can make your own waterproof panniers out of cat litter buckets. I first saw something like these about five years ago, but wanted something a little more office-appropriate. Seeing the relatively inexpensive Bikebins in the Winter 2007/2008 MEC catalog got me started investigating waterproof panniers a couple of months ago, but they disappeared from the MEC’s website after a couple of weeks and aren’t in the stores. I’m not sure why.

In a rare sign of semi-consciousness, the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority announced yesterday a $100 million region-wide initiative that included things like GO Transit improvements, bike lockers, bike racks on all local buses, and more. Naturally, none of this information appears yet on the GTTA’s “temporary” web site, so you’ll have to take my word for it. Oh, and they don’t have any funding for this vision, either. Still, it seems that a faint pulse yet beats in the Authority’s barely-warm body.

In reaction, Roger Anderson—Chair of Durham Region and past president of the Association of Municpalities of Ontario—is quoted in today’s Star as saying, “I understand the quick-win scenario, but if you’ve got $1.8 million to spend I think you can find something better to spend it on than bike racks.”

Maybe Chairman Anderson isn’t aware that his region is home to one of the best urban-parkland rides in the GTA in the form of the Pickering portion of the Waterfront Trail (the subject of an upcoming post on this site), including the grandly-named Millennium Square, where the picture at the top of this post was taken.

Maybe he’s not aware that Durham Council passed a resolution in 2004 to establish a regional Bicycle Plan, declaring in a subsequent newsletter that:

Cycling is a viable mode of transportation, which provides environmental, health and economic benefits. As a transportation alternative, particularly for short distance trips, cycling is environmentally friendly, promotes a more active lifestyle, requires less infrastructure than the automobile, and compliments the use of transit.

Maybe he’s not aware that the resulting study published in 2005 noted that, “There is some opportunity to increase “Bike-n-ride” behaviour by providing cycling-friendly public transit measures such as safe and secure bike parking and bike racks on buses.”

Maybe he’s not aware that some adults use bicycles for both recreation and transportation, even in Durham. Tellingly, a search for “bicycle” on Durham’s web site turns up a lot of links about kids (“Children like to […] try to balance on a 2-wheel bicycle”) and helmets (“Get into the helmet habit”), but nothing about bike lanes or other facilities other than the above-mentioned newsletter and study.

Maybe he’s not aware that he’s a dinosaur.

Maybe he’s just not aware.

Risa and I rode the inaugural Bike Train to Niagara Falls yesterday. We joined dozens of passengers in loading our bikes into the baggage car for the regularly-scheduled Saturday morning train from Union Station. Some, like us, were just tootling around town for the day. Others were staying for a night or two, heading into the U.S., or cycling all the way back to Toronto.

Two hours after we got underway, following a relaxing train ride through the Golden Horseshoe, we arrived fresh and ready for an afternoon of cycling around Niagara. We had a picnic lunch, rode along the Niagara Parkway to Queenston Heights, took a tour at the Sir Adam Beck Generating Station, and generally lazed about for the day.

The train ride back home was just as relaxing as the ride there. Both stood in stark contrast to the average frustrating summertime Saturday drive down the QEW.

There was no shortage of enthusiasm yesterday, with several of our fellow travellers lining up to take pictures of their bikes being loaded onto the train. It’s actually a bit of a sad commentary on the state of our transportation systems when so many people can be so excited about something as simple as taking your bike somewhere without a car.

For anyone considering taking the Bike Train, I’d really recommend that you stay somewhere in Niagara Region overnight or longer. We had commitments for Sunday and couldn’t stay for the weekend, but still wanted to show our support for the service by heading out for the day. Too many bike-friendly services have come and gone over the years without my getting a chance to use them even once. So with this year’s announcement of the Bike Train, I’ve decided to support as many as I can while they’re still around. With any luck, the Bike Train will avoid the fate of everything from the Rochester ferry to BikeShare, all fallen victim to my inability to purchase tickets or memberships in a timely manner.

And yes, I’m still planning to make good on my threat to ride home from Niagara Falls after another Bike Train adventure later this summer.