Son of Bag Boy

I've flirted with trading my purse for a shoulder bag. I posted about it here. In another sense, I've sold already sold out to the bag brigade. I've become "son of bag boy." It's something that many cyclists might want to consider.

My v2 commute had "world class" shower facilities. I'd roll the bike in the back door, down the hall, and then get my stuff out of my locker and take a shower in a lockable private room big enough to bring my bike in. Now, there's no locker and no bench to put stuff on. Simply a tile floor and a shower, with an unsecured janitor's closet nearby.

Still, where there's a will there's a way and it has been warm enough this summer to buck up my will. The notion occurred to me that a moderately sized dry bag would work well to keep my towel, soap and clean clothes overnight in the closet, and would also work to hold my shorts and electronic goodies while I showered, rather than simply dumping stuff on the floor.

Before long, I concluded that a dry bag made for boaters would keep stuff dry for the shower, with the added bonus that it could keep stuff dry if I had to ride home in an unexpected downpour. Since the bag would be left in an unsecured janitor closet, low cost was an important factor, along with the water resistance and reasonable durability (plastic shopping bags really aren't very waterproof and certainly aren't durable).

I noticed that REI carries many such bags, as do places such as Cabelas. As it turned out, the sporting goods store near my house had just the ticket, for about the same as such a bag costs on eBay.

10 Liter Bag is Big Enough to Carry the Day's Clothes, a Towel, and Soap
It Can Also be Taken IN the Shower if Necessary
The Strap Will Serve to Keep the Bag Hung from a Shower Rod

BY THE WAY, I'm told that these bags will not keep stuff dry for too long if you submerge them in a lake for any extended period. I believe they will, however, keep things dry for any likely cycling event. Tub, basket, or inside a bag, this puppy will keep the contents pretty dry. Even in Texas rain. Who'd have thunk it. Boating stuff for my bike commute!

ONE LAST THING: I suspect that cycling bags suffer from inflated claims about capacity. My Arkel bag claims it'll hold 23 liters. However, I do NOT think I could get 2 of these 10 liter bags into it.