Storage Space – we all need more. Or, want more. I guess if we were runners, that might be another drawer in the bedroom, but alas we are cyclists. Most of us probably have more than one bike and there is always the peripheral stuff that goes with it. That extra set of wheels, those old handlebars, that set of pedals, those tools, maybe an indoor trainer…. it can seem to take on a life of its own. Especially nowadays when there are so many standards. That extra wheel set does not fit all your bikes, so you now have a few extra wheelsets. The non-cyclists reading this are wondering. But as a cyclist, you know … there is an infrastructure. Sometimes cyclists are ‘one trick ponies’ and just ride one bike or terrain. Even cyclists that only ride one type of terrain often have more than one bike. My experience has been that most who ride bikes like multiple kinds – road bike, mountain bike, gravel bike, time trial bike, tandem, unicycle … choose as many as you like. N + 1 after all. We also know that there are different types of bikes in each broader category. Take the newest category of gravel. All-road, gravel, monster gravel … keep dividing it up as you like. Add tools and gear for each and it can expand exponentially.
Couple that with the fact that most cyclists are outdoor people. Meaning that they might also own other things including kayak, climbing gear, hiking gear, fishing gear, camping gear … and the list goes on again. Add it all together and the location to store all these items needs to be larger and larger … or at least more efficiently stored.
By now you have the picture. You probably are experiencing it now – where to store all the stuff that you use as you enjoy your outdoor pursuits. There are many great ideas and space saving contraptions. Just do an internet search on the topic.
Many years ago a ‘new’ sport took hold. I was speaking with some friends I raced with. The sport that was making its mark was roller blading. In the near future you will read about my roller blading experience, but that is another story entirely. My riding buddies at the time were also ice hockey players. They had real skills on skates. I asked them if they were going to start roller blading in addition to skating on ice (hockey) and cycling. Well, I could see that neither was going to … but Randy had the best answer ever, “Not only do I not have the time for another sport; I do not have the storage space!” Excellent answer. Made me laugh then. Still makes me smile.
That is our life. Any outdoor person. Bikes definitely. We have stuff to be able to do what we love. I do not really want an entirely new infrastructure just to have the stuff for the new sport. Not that I have the time for the new sport anyway.
What about you? Do you have enough storage space? Lets put numbers to it – like your blood pressure. Percentage is what we will use. We will use 2 numbers separated by a slash; just like blood pressure. So a number might be 200/50 or 50/125.
The first number is the space you have. Is is enough? Is it more than enough? For example, for me, I have enough space. Of course, I want more but that is the next number. For now, what do I have? I have enough space. I have it efficiently organized. It is enough. So I would say I am at 100 (I have 100 percent of the space I need). If you have half the space you need you would be at 50 (50% of what what you need). Or you might have twice the space you need – so you would be at 200 (200% of what you need). Make sense?
My first number is 100. I have 100 percent of what I really need. That might change in the future.
The next number is what do you want? Well, that number for me is 50. I am at 50% of the space that I would like to have. If you have twice the space you would like to have then you are at 200 – surely no one is there. So – my numbers are 100/50 (have 100% of what I need but have only 50% of what I would like to have). Tell me your numbers…
