tetris bike pack attempt #1

Sit back and let me tell you a little story.  A pretty princess named Elisa was riding her bike home from a lovely dinner with friends.  She is looking quite smashing in her purple jeans, brown boots and tunic.  Decided to stop and pick up some groceries from a friends house where she had left them.  Uses key, opens door…and sets off alarm as she has forgotten the super secret code.

With that situation taken care of, she gather her things, plays a bit of shopping bag Tetris to make it all fit and struggles to make it all stay secure on the bike.  About 7 combinations of straps, bag and rack placement it is all snug and ready to go.  Oops, nowhere for her (adorable, handmade) handbag to fit.  “Oh geez”, she thinks “there is also the vegetable oil and books I need to get home.  Where on earth will these fit?”.

Another 10 minutes of struggling she gingerly carries the bike down the stairs and out to the street.  Princess Elisa sets off toward home, working to keep the bike upright.  She encounters a big scary monster…a beastly Birmingham hill.  Attempts to stand up…only to discover that this makes everything wobble to and fro.  Sits down and cranks harder.  Up she goes.  One hill and then another, each getting steeper and more treacherous.

Home is in the distance.  Pulls up, and hears a CRASH!  The strap has come off, groceries are now all over the sidewalk.  Eggs broken, books scattered, spirit broken.  Picks it all up, praying for the safety of her eggs and heads inside.  What is that sound?  Why isn’t the bike rolling properly?  Oh wait…that is the strap wrapped around the chain.

Elisa, not feeling very pretty or princess-y, picks up the back wheel and struggles in.  Upon inspection, the eggs have gone the way of Humpty, all is covered in egg juice and the chain is thoroughly tangled with the strap.  Oh, and egg juice down her new Purple pants!  Say it isn’t so.

Cleans up, fixes chain and strap and immediately takes photos and tells Twitter (isn’t that what everyone does?). Laments that car free living is not as glamorous as she had hoped.

Poor poor little princess Elisa.  She needs an Xtracycle so badly.  But will have to get a cargo net in the meantime.

Anyone else had an experience like this?

photographic evidence:

packing attempt #2, slight strap variation

strap entanglement

trying to untangle took a while

What was left of the carton of eggs