My Bike-To-Work Pannier

I’m Brian, and this is my daily commuting bike pannier. I work as an advisor in a post-secondary school. Primarily I am a student financial specialist, but I also provide registrarial advising and services and prospective student advising. I live in Vancouver, where I have been for the past 18 years. I try to bike to work whenever the weather is nice. Unfortunately our offices are currently closed due to COVID-19, so we are all working from home, and I don’t have any reason to bike to the office!

In my daily commuting bag, I have:

• My helmet (which I wear when biking, of course).
• A pack of tissues for when my nose runs when it is a bit chillier out.
• A hat that keeps my head and ears warm and fits under my helmet, again for colder weather.
• A rag for when I need to make on-the-go repairs and get grease on my hands.
• An emergency bike pump for on-the-go flats.
• A mutli-tool, wrench, and allen wrench set for on-the-go repairs and adjustments.
• A front and rear bike light for better visibility by cars.
• A water bottle to stay hydrated.
• A smart watch to track my route speed and calories burned.
• Clipless shoes for my bike (to wear when biking).
• The pannier that it all goes in.

Not pictured would be a change of clothes, towel, and a lunch, but as I am not currently biking to work I didn’t feel the need to get those out for the picture!

The items reflect the place that I live (Vancouver), a livable, beautiful, temperate, active, connected urban environment. They also reflect that I try to live a reasonably healthy lifestyle, and don’t mind attempting repairs and maintenance myself. They also reflect my age, as I am much more safety conscious than when I was younger. I only started regularly wearing a helmet when I started biking to work – I almost never wore one growing up! Bicycle lights are also something relatively new to me, but I would never bike in low light without them anymore. The items also reflect a bit of privilege – I am able to live close enough to work that cycling is not a chore, and there are safe and accessible bike routes all along the way. Some of this gear is also a bit on the pricier side (although only relatively so, compared to what some spend on cycling). 15 years ago there would have been no helmet, no lights, probably no tools, and certainly some less expensive toys.

In regards to text technologies, the smart watch would be the primary one. It allows me to check the time, my speed, my heart rate, my location, and many other things on it’s small digital screen. It also allows me to listen to music or podcasts on the go and displays text information about what I am listening to, as well as allows me to communicate with others through texting (both typing or through talk-to-text), or by taking phone calls. It also allows me to make contactless purchases without having to get my phone or wallet out. The watch also serves as a method of tracking my location, so that my partner can check where I am when I am cycling, in case of emergency. It also connects me to emergency services – it can detect a fall or crash, and will initiate an emergency 911 call when that happens.

None of the other items have noticeable text on them beyond brand names, with the exception of the tissue package.The front and rear lights can be considered a text and communication technology, they are typically set to flash patterns of light to alert cars, pedestrians, and other cyclists to my presence. The flashing patterns serve as a communication in this regard. Beyond glancing down at the smartwatch, most text that is viewed when cycling is in the form of street signs that convey direction, location, and safety information, and are printed in high-visibility colours and formats.

This bag reflects that I tend towards digital literacies as opposed to printed literacies. Any written information I need or want while cycling is or can be conveyed digitally through the smart watch. If an archaeologist were to look at this bag in the future, I think it would show a connected world – both in the sense that many of these items were produced in other countries, as well as in the sense that the smartwatch is designed to permit an always-on, always-there connection to the internet and other people. It would also reflect this point in time where we as a society are beginning to question the role of cars in our lives, both for personal health reasons as well as environmental reasons.