So last year I bought a DoggyRide for JoJo – for those of you unfamiliar with what that is, it is one of those carts that attaches to your bike that you put a kid in, only this is for dogs. There are multiple openings that she can stick her head out, or I can zip the whole thing up and she just lays down and enjoys the ride. There is a strap with a clasp inside that I attach to her harness which is supposed to prevent her from jumping out, although she did jump out the 1st time I took her on a ride. Sure, she looks cute in it, but what ELSE can I use it for?
Well, today I needed to go grocery shopping, which I HATE doing – so why not combine it with something I LIKE doing, riding my bike? I hooked up the DoggyRide, grabbed my Ortlieb panniers and off I went. It is about a mile to the nearest grocery store, so that’s not bad at all, although I do have to cross a fairly busy road on the way, which makes me a little nervous.
Luckily, my grocery store has a bike rack! How awesome! 🙂
As I was shopping I wondered how much I could actually fit in the DoggyRide? I kept grabbing things off the shelf that I needed and before I knew it I had a full cart. When I got to the check out and looked at my cart, I started to get a bit nervous – what if it didn’t all fit? YIKES! There was nothing I could do about that so I bagged everything I could in the bags I brought with me and in my panniers – I knew I’d have to make some adjustments when I got back to my bike.
I am all about reusable bags and try to cut down my use of plastic whenever possible, I only had to use 1 plastic bag on this trip to put my cleaning supplies in – WAHOO!
After I paid, I went back out to my bike – starting to have a little more doubt, but I was determined to make it work. I started loading the heavy things into the DoggyRide 1st – attempting to balance it out. It can hold up to 100 lbs so I was not worried about how heavy everything was, just that I would have enough room for everything. After rearranging some things slightly I had the DoggyRide filled to capacity! AWESOME! The only things I had left were the panniers which contained some of my cold foods. I swapped some things around to even them out and attached them to my bike – I DID IT! I couldn’t believe I actually fit an ENTIRE cart of groceries in 2 panniers and the DoggyRide!
The next test was could I ride home pulling all that weight? At 1st I pushed my bike a little to get from the sidewalk back on the road – it was HEAVY and hard to get going. I thought ‘Oh crap – this is not gonna work.’ but once I got on my bike and started to ride it was so easy! It was only the slightest bit harder than pedaling if I wasn’t pulling all that weight. How awesome!!
So I would call this a successful trip! I found a new use for an expensive piece of gear that doesn’t get a ton of use, got a little exercise, got groceries, and reduced my carbon footprint a bit! I’m all for that! 🙂
I will definitely be doing this way more often, although I still hate grocery shopping. 🙂
On a funny note as I was riding back to my house, I saw a person I passed on the street smile and look into the DoggyRide, expecting to see a kid. He got a strange/ surprised look on his face when he didn’t see one so I said, “No kid, just groceries!” He laughed and said, “That’s one way to do it!” 🙂 You should see their faces when people look in expecting a kid and see a German Shepherd!! It’s HYSTERICAL!! 🙂
blisters and bug bites 
[…] excuse I can to sneak in a ride! If you have been reading my blog for a while you know I started biking to the grocery store. I have been biking to work for a few years now – not every day, sometimes I wake up too […]
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