Awesomely muddy

*Lack of riding, the beginning of night shift (and deficient brain cells because of lack of sleep) and a reveiw'ish last week of posts I thought another 'semi-review' would be some good blog fluff until I catch up on sleep and can produce some 'quality' posts.*

I used to ride with a hydration pack all the time. After getting into racing and ditching the pack for the shorter races I felt pretty free and lighter without it. Gradually, I was able to adapt to the longer races and found ways of carrying everything without the need for a pack. I hardly ever ride with one anymore. It has it's 'pros' and 'cons' of course.

Pros:

• don't have something heavy, bulky on your back
• less weight
• sweat wicks away better
• more exposure of your jersey (especially important if you are a sponsored rider)
• easy access to rear pockets on jersey
• you don't have to stop and take off the pack to find items

Cons:

• can't carry as much water, tools, gear
• your jersey can resemble sagging boobs - but on your back - saggy back boobs
  
• any tools, tubes, air that's on your bike can get covered in mud & dirt, for example......

My Awesome Strap, tube, CO2 air cartridge and tire lever after a muddy Fall ride. Perhaps there is a solution?



There is . . . check it out. Would love to get my hands on one for those muddy rides, i.e. Crank The Shield (should be given out at the beginning of the race - might be a cool piece of schwag kit instead of this lame hat).