I’m not sure if this belongs to the racing or equipment category. But, considering how many stories there are about people forgetting their shoes on race day, this was my choice.
I haven’t raced in several years and I used to do all my rides from home. Recently I’ve been driving to the start location of group rides, and fun races. I’m super cautious about packing everything and almost always carry this feeling that I forgot something.
So, here’s my solution. A lightweight caddy marketed for house cleaners and such. Cat not included.
The Thule RoundTrip bag is AMAZING:
It has separate compartments for helmet and shoes. Convenient pockets for bibs and jerseys. And different zipped pouches for small bits and pieces.
External helmet holder, shoe compartment, side pockets for bottles, electronics/sunglasses compartment and a massive main area. I could use some dividers in the middle but other than that, it’s fantastic.
Same, except dog instead of cat. A semi rigid open top “tote” with dividers and pockets. Mine are somewhat larger than the one you show. I have one for road/gravel and one for mtb. The ones I have are car seat organizers. Other larger options include trunk organizers and tool bag totes.
I have the same. I used to use the bigger bags like the Thule above, but it’s really nice to be able to just throw the Osprey on as a backpack and just ride the bicycle into the hotel. Also, I have big feet, and a lot of the bigger bags forced me to put the shoes on the inside (due to size). With the Osprey, the shoes easily fit into their own compartment which keeps them away from clean clothes, yet fully secure. The downside is that the shoe compartment goes inside the backpack, so with big feet it takes up a lot of real estate. As a result, I full up the shoes and the rest of the shoe compartment with things like electronics, powders, gels and foods, etc.
I keep two of these in my closet. One for MTB gear and one for Road. I might have to dig around inside a bit to find the right ones, but I haven’t had to search my entire house for a specific pair of gloves, warmers, headband, etc., in years, because I know they’re in their assigned compartment in one of these caddies.
I’m a too many specific places for things stress me out guy. like if I have a glove section and I need to put socks in it for some reason that bugs me.
normal drive to ride bag is just an old backpack, helmet and shoes in main compartment, clothes in the middle one, and electronics tools in the front pocket.
Race or traveling with bike bag is a LL bean duffel probably from around 1990
I do have a transition bag for triathlon that has 3 sections in the main compartment which I like only for tri race morning for that reason, all swim stuff in one, bike in another and run in the last. It does have too many other small compartments that stress me out though. Do scissors go with tools or do they go with extra race stickers incase I need to trim them?
