on good friday, unlike many of you, i had need of pursuing gainful employment, just because. at the end of a publication week at the newspaper, there are a number of loose ends that require to be taken care of. these predominantly concern pixels and websites along with numerous other associated bits and bobs which, in themselves are quite insignificant, but collectively, they make a notable difference. all this was pretty much taken care of by lunchtime and though there were other jobs to do, i opted once more to play hookie and head off to debbie's for an end of week coffee.
as you may well be aware by now, this consists purely of a mere 30km round trip, a distance that at the very least, loosens up tense muscles, in this case, lubricated by a fine cup of froth. as luck would have it, the coffee arrived accompanied by a pancake liberally spread with strawberry jam. sheer indulgence. but this scoffing took place mid-journey in the confines of the coffee shop and not as a punctuation to the bike ride, where food and drink would have been handed from the roadside.
the humble musette is one of those essential items that, were it not to exist, would have need of being invented and pretty darned quickly at that. there is good reason why the design has scarcely altered throughout the history of cycle racing and that's because its form and function are pretty much in complete harmony. in other words, it gets the job done efficiently at apparently amenable cost. this might raise an eyebrow or two amongst those who have spent a pound or two on a boutique musette, for surely were professional teams to spend a similar amount on each item, they'd be less than happy when the riders empty the contents into their pockets before throwing it towards eager bystanders.
yet though we are keen to make use of these boutique items for our own infrequent carriage purposes, it's very unlikely that you'd throw it in the direction of the sheep on uiskentuie strand when empty. but watch any one-day classic or grand tour and you're unlikely to witness many climbing to a mountain summit still with a full musette about their person. and there's a very good reason for that.
the darned thing is a veritable liability when exposed to climbing effort. around once a month i have need of acquiring a 3kg bag of jumbo porridge oats, a purchase generally carried out after the sunday ride when i will not be riding in any other direction other than home. though the route is hardly awash with summit finishes, there are at least a couple of short, sharp hills that engender a few minutes of standing on the pedals. during those brief periods, a musette containing 3kg of porridge oats has a distinct tendency to swing round and impede smooth progress. it's hardly life threatening, but it's certainly a bit of a nuisance.
and that is where rapha's excellent packable backpack steps into the frame, for i can only imagine the sniggering from the rest of the peloton were i to undertake the sunday ride with an empty regular backpack across the full distance, not to mention the inconvenience.
rapha's packable backpack folds down to the size of one of their leather essentials cases and easily fits in a jersey pocket for those porridge moments that must surely feature large in everyone's velocipedinal life. according to rapha, even in this state, the pack is capable of containing a standard iphone or credit card. yet, when released from its compact and bijou existence, it has the ability to easily swallow a padded jiffy bag containing an oversized a4 folder. it might even be possible to hold both the folder and its envelope along with the bag of porridge, but i confess, i didn't actually try because several days separated each instance.
if the backpack's carrying capabilities are viewed as impressive, the fact that these are achieved within a lightweight fabric that makes toilet paper look overbuilt are even greater. within the backpack when opened out is a separate compartment large enough to hold a sandwich or two or perhaps a spare pair of track mitts. there's a full-width zip across the top to keep everything inside even on vertical downhills and like the edges of rapha's brevet bar pack, the top can be rolled over and fastened in place with a couple of poppered straps. though rapha underline the fact that it is not suitable for carrying extremely heavy weights, there's no specific upper limit mentioned.
the sturdy yet flexible straps are both comfortable and effective in use, particularly when time comes to stand up and climb. though doubtless raising one or two eyebrows within the peloton, i indulged in over-exaggerated movement during the climbing process, purely in order to gauge the limits of the adjustable straps. you will be happy to know that the only extraneous movement was from yours truly.
though ostensibly forming a part of rapha's city riding range, the packable backpack is versatile enough to span every range offered by imperial works. professional riders may wish to acquire one on the off chance that their directeur sportif has no space left in the team car and needs his ipad carried to the end of the stage, while the bona-fide city rider can doubtless find a myriad of daily instances when one of these would prove essential. whether you need black, navy, chartreuse or pink is entirely down to how comfortable you are with ostentation. each colour features a reflective central stripe on the back.
everybody needs one of these at some time in their career.
rapha's packable backpack retails at £50.
saturday 15 april 2017
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................