Sometimes you just need your bike to help you carry it with you and you don’t want the weight on your back in a pack. Okay, I guess it could be worse: you could be trying to carry a bag in one hand and steer with your other hand on the handlebar. Not a pretty picture! But how are you going to carry home that wonderful loot from the farmer’s market? Detours, a company located only 2 blocks from Seattle’s Pike Place Market has a beautiful solution! Actually, they have several great ideas of how to carry it with you on your bike.

As many city girl cyclists know, a pannier is not just for looks, it becomes a classic utility bag. It should be large enough to carry a bag of groceries or for the commuter, a change of clothes for work. It also should be tough enough to last for several years and stand up to the occasional road grit that flicks up.  If it’s stylish, that’s a plus and if it has some design features such as a shoulder strap for off the bike use, it will quickly become a favorite.  The Toocan is all that! How about a rain cover for when the skies open up? Remember, Detours is headquartered in drizzly Seattle…need we say more?

The Goodie Too bag is 6 x 4 x 2 inches and has a 48 cubic inch capacity

The handy Goodie bag can fit on a mountain bike or road bike top tube easily!

Detours also has a great solution for those who have had the problem of chocolate-covered energy bars melting in a jersey pocket against your sweaty back or who have wanted to carry along a camera to get memorable photos along the way.  For road cyclists and mountain bikers, the Goodie bag is just that: a top tube bag that is perfect for carrying all your goodies. The Goodie Too (shown here) is even roomier than the original; it’s large enough to carry a sandwich without squishing it! The Goodie bag is designed to keep your stuff handy without getting in your way and the slender bag fits nicely on the top tube just behind the stem. The Goodie bag fits onto various tube sizes quite simply with the MiniBug attachment system. It can be easily removed and put back on as needed.

Now that you have some extra room with a great top tube bag, maybe you want to make a batch of homemade on-the-go energy bars to share with the group on your next ride. Try Banana Oat Energy Bars or Pumpkin Energy bars!

Giveaway from Detours & Cycle & Style

You can win the Detours Goodie Too bag which fits on just about any bike’s top tube (thanks to the MiniBug attachment system!) or if you have a bike with a rear rack, you might want the beautiful Toocan with its colorful woven juice box design! The Toocan measures 15 x 13 x 7 inches and has a carrying capacity of 1600 cubic inches. Handy plastic clips with removable inserts easily attach this pannier to just about any rack.

We have the Goodie Too bag  in the Pea Green color with a pretty flower motif and it has a 48-cubic inch carrying capacity.

Comment below and you can give us a hint as to which Detours bag you’d like on your bike! When you comment, please use your real (first) name and e-mail so we can get a hold of you later. We can mail within the US or Canada. Contest will last until August 6, 2011!

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR DETOURS WINNERS: Kristina Rodriguez of Bronx, NY (the Detours Toocan) & Nancy M. of Springville, Utah (who one the Detours Goodie Bag filled with some goodies)!

Kristin is ready to fill her bags with her groceries.

It’s an American cliché that we use a quart of gas to go buy a quart of milk, which makes for rather expensive milk. But wait, there’s more!  In fact, 25% of all trips are made within a mile of our homes and 40% off all trips are made within two miles of our home. It is those short, little trips we make in our car that can be such a problem: lower fuel efficiency, more pollution, and worse for our growing waistlines as well.

3 bags of groceries easily fit into the paniers on Kristin's bike.

Are we really saving time? Try this experiment: bike to the closest local grocery store while your friend drives there and time yourselves. As a cyclist, you can take the easiest and quickest way there and stay off the higher traffic roads, and you just might get there first. My friend and I tried this little experiment and on the uphill mile route to the store, she had me beat by 30 seconds. On the way back, I had her beat by the same 30 seconds, probably because she was held up in some traffic. Even if a car can beat you by a few minutes, the difference can be surprisingly small for a two-mile radius.

Kristin is able to ride her bike full of groceries while wearing her everyday clothes, there is no need to get decked out in Lycra to make a quik trip to the local grocery store.

Perhaps you’d like to commute to work someday—here is a small step forward in reducing the constant use of your car. It can be the start of a car-diet. To start with, use your bike for just half of those short little trips you take from your home. Take the bike to pick up a few bags of groceries from the store. You’ll save money on gas, yes, but you also won’t be tempted to buy a lot of stuff you don’t really need.

On her way home to fill her kids up with Pop Tarts and oatmeal! That was easy and fast.

To increase the likelihood that you will use the bike instead of the car, have it within easy reach and ready to go. Have the items you need organized so they are within easy reach: your helmet, your jacket, a bike lock, and ankle band, if needed. You can gradually give your bike the “make-over” it needs to become an “errand bike.” You might start with just carrying what you need in a backpack, then add a front basket, and finally a rear rack to which you can attach panniers, which are side bags that can carry your groceries with ease.  If you have a bike trailer, you can use that to carry groceries, not just the kids.

Think like a grocery bagger if you are repacking the groceries into your panniers. Place the heavy items like cans of food, squash or potatoes on the bottom. Protectively, place easily bruised fruit or eggs on top. I admit, I am very precise about how I pack the groceries, but when I send my children to the store, they are often more quick than careful and they haven’t cracked an egg…yet. Be careful about what you put in the front basket, a sudden jarring from the road can bounce a loose item right out. If you overload the front basket, your steering may be affected. That said, I often carry a gallon of milk in my wire front basket—sometimes as much as two gallons and I just have to deal with the stiffer steering for a mile or so. Finally, if you just have a small amount of items, you can package it up in a bag and then carefully tie onto the rear rack with bungee cords.

Next time you go to the store, take your bike shopping!

Some Fun Facts:

• Sixty percent (60%) of the pollution created by automobile emissions happens in the first few minutes of operation, before the pollution control devices can work effectively
• Americans could save 462 million gallons of gasoline a year by increasing cycling from 1% to 1.5% of all trips.
• Just three hours of bicycling per week can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke by 50%.
• The average person loses 13 lbs. their first year of commuting by bike.

(Thanks to 1 world 2 wheels for these facts)