That's what I call utility biking!

I was recently invited to a bachelor party for a friend who has a wedding coming up this July. Just to set some context, this is a party at my friend's house, it is on a Monday night, and the bride's father is invited. I don't think there will be a knitting contest but clearly this is not at the same level as a trip to Vegas.

Since this friend lives about 2 miles from downtown Minneapolis, where I work, I decided to bike to the party after work. The event is a BYOBBQ so I had to pack some food to grill and beverages. Fortunately, I have an old commuting pannier that did the trick.

I have the food supplies ready to go. This is 1 1/2 pounds of jalapeno peppers, 1 pound of beer brats, buns for said brats, and 3 cans of Great River beer.

What made this arrangement work was the soft-sided cooler that I could stuff into the pannier. I added a few ice packs for the trip to work, zipped it up, and stuffed it into the pannier. I didn't try to cool the beer instead waiting until I could put it in the fridge.

This is my version of a bike mullet: business on the left (work clothes), party on the right. It was a nice change to ride with a balanced load. I don't notice the imbalance riding with one pannier until I change the load and the second bag almost always makes it easier to ride.

The party was good: we gave the groom a good sendoff and there were no arrests or injuries. It was also another chance to prove that a bike is a great vehicle for everyday life and even special events.

You can see the weirdest things

One of the things I love about biking is how in touch with your surroundings you can be. If I drove to work, I would be in touch with: a) the interior of my car, b) anger management techniques. Note I am not anti-car, but anti-car-commute having had 40+ mile commutes in the past.

I was a bit surprised riding on the Midtown Greenway several days ago to see a curious, humanoid towering over a dumpster. See him? He seems like a he for some reason.

This building is used by a local theater group Bedlam. I haven't been to one of their productions but from the looks of it, you might be in for something fun and certainly non-traditional.

Why does this seem like something that would've been 'relocated' back in the college days?

Varied terrain, white knuckles

We received a bit of snow this week, at the very end of winter. This was forecast to be the storm of the year: 12+ inches of snow, 20mph winds, slow commutes, mass hysteria. It turned out to be a bit less than 4 inches of thick, sloppy snow, all of which made for a quite unstable riding surface.  The first couple of miles I ride are on street and the route was gross slush with hard chunks of ice frozen to the pavement. When it is like this I will usually ride on the sidewalk and stay as far away from cars as possible. The snow was so wet today that this wasn't an option unless I wanted to push the bike the whole 8 miles to work. I didn't leave early enough for that so I rode out in the lane in the tire tracks which were pretty clean.

I got through the white knuckle part and made it to the West River Parkway trail which had been plowed at some point during the storm.

I ride fatter tires in the winter but not "fat" tires and you can see the difference in this picture. The weaving dark lines are from what are probably chubby mountain bike knobby tires. They break through the snow to the pavement but in the process push the bike all over the place (notice the crazy weaving). The wide, straight, and light colored lines are from true fat tires - 4" wide wheels probably from a Pugsley or Mukluk. These babies go straight as an arrow; the rider was probably sipping coffee too. I might have to get one of those...

I passed some of the Minneapolis park staff plowing a narrow detour on the trail with snow blowers.Who can complain with hand grooming?

I made it to work fine, slower than usual but in one piece. Had I taken the bus or driven I would have wondered how it would have been and would have missed the exercise and fresh air. Despite the negotiating of the route and occasional trudging I didn't regret riding, just that a fatter bike might have made it easier.