My bike is my primary mode of transportation. I’ve been biking regularly since I moved to Minneapolis for college 13 years ago and have spent the last eight years bike commuting. Over that time, I’ve figured out how to bike in fancy clothes, in the cold, with my dog, and with stuff. Here’s a photo essay of how I bike in these different situations. I hope they might inspire you to try the same.
Fancy Biking
This is a photo taken on my first day of a new job three years ago. Starting a new job was no reason to not bike.
Biking in a dress or skirt is something I do daily. I prefer to ride in what I’ll be wearing for the day, and that includes nice dresses and nice shoes.
This is me and my partner on our wedding day earlier this year, after the reception I hiked up my skirt so we could bike to First Ave and take a picture with the Hold Steady star.
Biking in cold
I’ve been biking through winter for several years now. This is what I wear on winter days where it’s not quite so cold. I have a pair of clear safety goggles that keep cold air out of my eyes. This jacket is my normal light jacket. I get really hot while biking, even in winter, so I wear this jacket down to about 20 degrees.
When it’s colder out, I’ll use real bike goggles and my thicker, bike-specific jacket.
Biking with my dog
One dog biking set up that we tried, which my pup, Rosie, did not care for. I liked the idea of having her on the bike, but after this failed attempt we settled on using the trailer.
I originally got a bike trailer so I could bike with Rosie. I’ve since upgraded to a nicer, dog-specific trailer. She also runs alongside the bike sometimes depending on the distance.
Bike camping with Rosie, photo courtesy of Patrick Stephenson.
Biking with Stuff
My bike and Linus bike bag for regular work commuting.
Sometimes the smaller things are harder to bike with, this is me with a fresh frittata bungee-corded to a cutting board and my rear rack.
I’m a city planner and this photo shows me carrying a registered land survey on my back on my way to get a signature.
I used this set up last winter for weekday grocery shopping after work.
This photo was taken the day after our wedding, biking home from the hotel. We used a bag my folks bought us with a bungee cord as an auxiliary pannier.
This is my weekly set-up for picking up groceries. I prefer the trailer because I don’t have to worry about balancing panniers on my rear rack. I’ve also been prioritizing shopping in bulk to reduce plastic waste and the trailer can accommodate as many mason jars as needed.
This summer, we got inflatable kayaks and are able to throw them in the bike trailer and bike over to the lake. It makes for an awesome summer evening.
Some friends gave me their trailer which is the larger version of the one I already owned. For now, we have two and use them both. In this photo, I picked up a container of compost and a bunch of perennials from a friendly neighbor.
This is a few years old, but I planned a group bike ride with yard games and managed to Tetris them into my bike trailer for transporting.
A little creativity on a bike will get you a long way.