BailOut
07-26-2008, 08:22 PM
I bought a used B.O.B. Yak trailer off of CraigsList earlier this week. It hadn't been used much but it had been left outside for several years so it had lots of rust everywhere and the decals had begun to photodegrade.
I sanded it down and painted it bright yellow for visibility, replaced all of the washers with new ones, buffed out the plastic bushings and then installed the quick release axle on my wife's 14 year old Schwinn Crisscross.
A cooler I've had for 15 years fits it perfectly, and an even older duffel bag fits on top of that nicely, and includes an inside pocket good for holding cargo straps, spare inner tubes, etc.
I did some dry runs with it the other day and it did fine, so today was the acid test. Not only would this be my first time using a bike trailer but it would also be my first time bicycling the grocery run.
The total trip is just over 20 miles. My first stop was our local and organic food coop, 10 miles out, where I picked up about 15 pounds worth of stuff. I then headed in the general direction of home and stopped by Trader Joe's where I picked up another 25 pounds of stuff. Then to Best Buy to get a new camera which went into my hydration backpack, and then to Whole Paycheck to finish off my list.
Unfortunately, this was a big shopping week, the biggest I've had in months. Lots of staples ran out, my wife is working from home for the next week and wanted a bunch of canned stuff, the laundry soap was gone, etc.
This meant that by the time I was finished shopping I was way beyond the 70 pound limit of the trailer... by at least 30 pounds.
I figured it might be ok if I took it easy so I tried to load it as cold stuff in the cooler and other stuff in the bag, but it was so unstable that it was falling over in the bike rack. I took everything back out of both containers and loaded the heaviest items low and forward. This did alright for the first few hundred meters, but before I had even gotten out of the parking lot I had to skirt a rock and this caused everything to wobble to a failure point. It all went over and gave me yet another scratch on my lower legs (a common hazard of mountain biking).
It was hot as heck, a midsummer day in Reno, high noon and not a cloud in sight, and there I was on the hot asphalt pulling everything out so I could disassemble everything to get it back upright again. I figured I would distribute the weight as good as I could between the two containers, then haul the bag back inside the store to have them hold it until I could return for it.
Out of nowhere a car pulled up with a young couple in it and after telling them what I was up to they offered to watch my things while I took the bag inside. Then the fellow driving asked where I live and it turns out I'm within a mile of their home. They then offered to take all of my groceries in their car and let me bike home with an empty trailer. As much as my heart was in it I knew the smart thing was to take them up on their offer so we exchanged names and cell numbers and arranged a meeting point near my home in 35 minutes (it's about 7 miles away).
They had a short errand to run so when I was about 1 mile from my home they passed me, and once I approached my subdivision they followed me home.
I invited them in for some organic lemonade or soda but they waved me off, saying that they still had lots of errands to run and that they needed to swing by their home to pick something up, which would already delay them. It turns out that the fellow works part time at one of the reputable bike shops in the center of the city and he asked me to participate in one of their organized, free-for-all road bike events on a Sunday morning. When I joked that I may not be the best candidate for that considering how poorly I load a trailer he shook his head and said, "You were out there with no experience and no support on a very hot day. That takes guts, and until you over-loaded your plan and route were solid. We can use folks that aren't afraid to try.".
He then gave me some "SHARE THE ROAD" car window stickers and a card for the bike shop. I thanked them for their help again and promised to "pay it forward".
I learned 4 valuable lessons today. First, the 70 pound limit on the Yak is to be respected. Secondly, if I have a huge grocery list like this one again I'll bring the car instead of biking it. Thirdly, bike people stick together and help each other out. And lastly I learned that the quick-release axle saves a few minutes at hook up time but it means lots of time spent on the road putting one leg of the trailer back on (next time I'll put it right on the bike's axle, or perhaps I'll buy the catch pins and lanyards from B.O.B. that are meant to help this issue).
Today's trip wasn't quite the experience I was hoping for but we live and learn. :)
I sanded it down and painted it bright yellow for visibility, replaced all of the washers with new ones, buffed out the plastic bushings and then installed the quick release axle on my wife's 14 year old Schwinn Crisscross.
A cooler I've had for 15 years fits it perfectly, and an even older duffel bag fits on top of that nicely, and includes an inside pocket good for holding cargo straps, spare inner tubes, etc.
I did some dry runs with it the other day and it did fine, so today was the acid test. Not only would this be my first time using a bike trailer but it would also be my first time bicycling the grocery run.
The total trip is just over 20 miles. My first stop was our local and organic food coop, 10 miles out, where I picked up about 15 pounds worth of stuff. I then headed in the general direction of home and stopped by Trader Joe's where I picked up another 25 pounds of stuff. Then to Best Buy to get a new camera which went into my hydration backpack, and then to Whole Paycheck to finish off my list.
Unfortunately, this was a big shopping week, the biggest I've had in months. Lots of staples ran out, my wife is working from home for the next week and wanted a bunch of canned stuff, the laundry soap was gone, etc.
This meant that by the time I was finished shopping I was way beyond the 70 pound limit of the trailer... by at least 30 pounds.
I figured it might be ok if I took it easy so I tried to load it as cold stuff in the cooler and other stuff in the bag, but it was so unstable that it was falling over in the bike rack. I took everything back out of both containers and loaded the heaviest items low and forward. This did alright for the first few hundred meters, but before I had even gotten out of the parking lot I had to skirt a rock and this caused everything to wobble to a failure point. It all went over and gave me yet another scratch on my lower legs (a common hazard of mountain biking).
It was hot as heck, a midsummer day in Reno, high noon and not a cloud in sight, and there I was on the hot asphalt pulling everything out so I could disassemble everything to get it back upright again. I figured I would distribute the weight as good as I could between the two containers, then haul the bag back inside the store to have them hold it until I could return for it.
Out of nowhere a car pulled up with a young couple in it and after telling them what I was up to they offered to watch my things while I took the bag inside. Then the fellow driving asked where I live and it turns out I'm within a mile of their home. They then offered to take all of my groceries in their car and let me bike home with an empty trailer. As much as my heart was in it I knew the smart thing was to take them up on their offer so we exchanged names and cell numbers and arranged a meeting point near my home in 35 minutes (it's about 7 miles away).
They had a short errand to run so when I was about 1 mile from my home they passed me, and once I approached my subdivision they followed me home.
I invited them in for some organic lemonade or soda but they waved me off, saying that they still had lots of errands to run and that they needed to swing by their home to pick something up, which would already delay them. It turns out that the fellow works part time at one of the reputable bike shops in the center of the city and he asked me to participate in one of their organized, free-for-all road bike events on a Sunday morning. When I joked that I may not be the best candidate for that considering how poorly I load a trailer he shook his head and said, "You were out there with no experience and no support on a very hot day. That takes guts, and until you over-loaded your plan and route were solid. We can use folks that aren't afraid to try.".
He then gave me some "SHARE THE ROAD" car window stickers and a card for the bike shop. I thanked them for their help again and promised to "pay it forward".
I learned 4 valuable lessons today. First, the 70 pound limit on the Yak is to be respected. Secondly, if I have a huge grocery list like this one again I'll bring the car instead of biking it. Thirdly, bike people stick together and help each other out. And lastly I learned that the quick-release axle saves a few minutes at hook up time but it means lots of time spent on the road putting one leg of the trailer back on (next time I'll put it right on the bike's axle, or perhaps I'll buy the catch pins and lanyards from B.O.B. that are meant to help this issue).
Today's trip wasn't quite the experience I was hoping for but we live and learn. :)