Pack Mule

Last night, I grimaced through extraordinarily uncomfortable bike commute thanks to an egregiously overstuffed backpack and a route that took me over 1000 feet of climbing.  Upon arrival at home, the relieving "thunk" of my backpack denting the garage floor vs. the relative ease of lifting my race bike (pressed into duty as a commuter on this glorious February sunny day) onto its storage hooks got me curious.  Time to pull out the bathroom scale...

• Rider weight (including shoes, helmet, clothing,...) = 144.0 lbs
• Bike weight (Velo Vie race bike festooned with headlight and taillight "ballast") = 16.8 lbs
• Backpack weight (laptop PC, clothing, supplies, ...) = 14.0 lbs

Perhaps in the summer, when lights are unnecessary, my 15.4 lb Titus could someday "tilt the scale" in favor of the backpack.  On that day, I don't think I'll take the same hilly route...