Eighty Point Four

42.2 long, slow, all-road miles.  I toured this fine town under some crazy afternoon light due to an overcast sky and a sun that almost, but couldn't quite burn through.  And hey, there's now some hope that this thing could actually get done.

Loves me some mo' trains.

But the ride was more than just a sightseeing tour, actually.  I haven't commuted for a very long time and I want to start again.  I had to go in to work today to get a few things done and this was the perfect opportunity for a commute dry run.

One of the things that has changed for me since I last commuted is that on most days now, I have to lug a laptop back and forth.  I'm kinda burned out on panniers for now (lots of rackage, and fussiness with hooking and unhooking and having to mess with them when I get on and off the bus, how they affect the handling, etc).  Mr. Speare has been going on and on about the Ortlieb backpack solution, so I picked up a Velocity recently and gave it a try today.  And I'll tell you what, the folks at Ortlieb sure have their ergonomics dialed in, IMO.  I rode around with my computer and some other stuff in there all afternoon and it felt much lighter than it's actual weight.  And the waterproof part isn't even a question, of course.  The only thing I didn't like was that the corner of the rolled top is right in my line of sight when I turn around and look behind me, which kinda sucks.  I found that by taking one hand off the bars, I could rotate my shoulders and get it out of the way, for the most part.  But what a PITA.  Maybe some strap adjustment would help some.  We shall see.