I've been keeping my hands busy with some do it yourself bike projects.  Here is my handlebar camera mount.  There are plenty of versions of this mount out on the internet.  This is my take on it.  I used a 1/4-20 thumb screw that is 1 1/2 inches long, two wing nuts, a washer, and a standard rear bike reflector seat post bracket.  This worked out very well since my handlebar has a bit of a rise.

I've also made my own grocery pannier bag.  This took a lot longer than I figured it would, and I can see now why companies charge the amount they do for these.  Without a heavy duty sewing machine, these are a pain to make.  Especially if all you have is a sewing awl.

This is how they bags are attached to the rack.  I sewed the middle bar of a tri glide buckle  to a free bag we received from the Chicago Botantic Garden.  Membership has it's priviledges!  I then sewed about eight inches of webbing to the back of the bag.  The eight inch length loops over the rack bar, down through the tri glide, and then doubles over.  Very secure.

Here you can see some of my horrible stiching.  The top right was my first attempt.  Pretty painful.

This is the loop that holds the bag against the rack legs.  My stiching steadily improved with more practice.

To give the bag shape, I sewed two lengths of webbing vertically inside the bag.  These straps hold a three ring binder cover very snuggly.  I haven't tested this out yet.  So far it secures very well to the bike rack and I have enough heel clearance that I don't hit the bag when pedaling.  It is a pain to take off, but I don't plan on taking it off very often.

The rack bag or trunk that I've been using has been very useful.  But it's always on the verge of coming off of the rack when loaded up, and more than once it's flung itself off my bike.  The velcro isn't enough to keep the bag on the rack.  After a few other semi successful solutions, I cobbled this together.  My rack has a track that runs down the middle of it, that's designed to accept rack bags of the same make.  A clever design that is both easy to use and very secure.  I cut out a piece of acrylic, beveled the edges with my dremel, drilled some holes, and sewed it to the bottom of the bag.  It's a bit off center, but it works.  Using the plastic track and the velcro, this bag isn't going anywhere.

Hopefully these little hacks will make my next ride to the grocery store or down the bike path, a bit more enjoyable.

The gear freaks among you may have noticed that I'm sporting new tires on my bike.  After far too much time was spent on internet research, I picked up a pair of Panaracer RiBMo tires in the 26x2.0 size.  These things are a lot bigger than I thought!

I've managed to put about 60 miles on them so far.  Finally, the tire howl is gone, replaced with a smooth quiet roll.  Cornering on asphalt is greatly improved compared to the Jones XR tires I had on.  Expected, but stil it was nice being able to lean way over again.  The tires are rather stiff though.  Pumped up to 65psi, they don't really give to bumps and high frequency vibrations are sort of evident.  The sidewalls on these tires are very rigid, so it's to be expected.

On the bike, the tires have a pronounced peak down the center.  It's even apparent when the tires are still rolled up in their packaging.  I'm quite pleased.  So far it feels like I'm going maybe 1mph faster.  The tires are fairly lightweight too.  Need to rack up some more miles.

Some reviewers complained about the wording on the sidewalls.  Eh, it's not that big a deal to me.

We went for a ride today.  It was more or less a test ride for my new hydration pack.  Yes, I have crossed over and become one of the Camelbak nation.  Sort of.

Take one Yoda backpack, a shoe lace, and a MSR Cloudliner 2.5L Hydration Bag and you've got a hydration pack that is out of this galaxy.  As I am in training, I think it's appropriate that a master keep me company.

The comments that I overheard on the trail varied.  One rider asked her partner if it was a dog on my back.  Eliza heard a couple of others say it was a kid on my back.  Yoda was also quite popular with some teenage girls at SuperDawg.  Too bad I was at the counter collecting a SuperDawg and a Whoopskidawg while Yoda was working his magic.  Most people didn't say much though.  What I did get a lot of were smiles and puzzled looks.

There are still a couple bugs in the design.  I need to add a sternum strap.  Yoda's arms are a bit too wide apart and feel like he's going to fall off my shoulders.  The MSR Cloudliner doesn't seem to be as good as a Camelbak bladder.  The cap on mine is ridiculously hard to get off.  The bite valve is also not as good as the big bite valve on Eliza's Camelbak.  The backpack itself needs a bit of work too, but for now no changes are really necessary.

And if you're wondering, I sewed a shoelace into the top of the backpack pocket to hold the bladder upright.