Haulin' with the Raleigh Lady Sports

This morning the 25F temperature didn't stop me from riding the new-to-me Raleigh over to the market to pick up some things for our Thanksgiving meal. Other than making pumpkin pie, we generally don't do the traditional type of dinner, but instead usually pick a theme of "easy" food to prepare. Some years it's Mexican bar, some years it's Italian, and this year, it will be "Sandwich Fixin's." I know it sounds lame to those who count on Thanksgiving as a day to indulge, but for us it seems to work. Getting to ride the Raleigh to the store was the first real ride we'd had together, and things went pretty well as a whole. The ride is smooth, and it doesn't have the weight of the Pashley, so it feels a bit livelier or sporty to pedal. This can also seem squirrelly in some sense, until I get used to the lightness of this type of bike again. The latest addition to the Raleigh Lady Sports was a large wire basket from Wald.

As you can see, the basket really is huge and carries a ton in it. I did this purposefully because I was unsure as to whether or not I'd like to add a rear rack to this bike, but wanted the bike to still fulfill its purpose as "bag hauler." After obtaining the necessary groceries, I was concerned that it might not all fit in the basket, but I managed to cram everything into two large reusable bags.

 These bags will hold up to 40 pounds a piece, but I wasn't sure that the Wald basket would be able to handle the weight of all the food, nor was I certain the the fork of the Raleigh was up to the challenge. Total weight in these two bags was likely around 20-25 pounds (bags held 2-12oz cans of evaporated milk, 3 pie tins, jar of mayo, mustard, large jar of pickles, large can of black olives, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, 1/2 gal of milk, whipped cream, lg sour cream, loaf of bread, a bag of soft rolls, bag of hoagie rolls, 4 containers of sliced meats, and 4 containers of sliced cheeses), but I didn't want to kill the bike on our first adventure out together.

I think I was more tense than necessary, but we managed to make it home just fine, with all groceries remaining in their proper place. I do think, however, that a rear rack may still be in order, simply because there will be times when more than two bags will need to be carried. For now, the Raleigh (who is yet to be named) has performed superbly and I'm happy to have her join the family.