One of the great challenges for many HarperRide cyclists is looking cool while training. One key element in looking cool is how one can be prepared for whatever comes his way as well as not appearing loaded done. While in recent memory (i.e., the past fifteen years), no one has shown up on the HarperRide with panniers, there have been all other manner of carrying one's spare tube, pump or CO2 cartridges, and tire levers.

Below, we will examine some of the different ways that HarperRide riders carry their spares...

On the left, Frank rides with a neat, clean look. His seat bag sits tightly between the saddle's rails. It is black, and it blends right in on the background of his navy blue Redline Racing shorts.

Frank's seat bag meets both size requirements for a cool seat bag. It is narrower than the saddle itself, AND it is significantly shorter than the length of the seatpost. The saddle bag pictured on the right, Jandd's Mini Wedge also displays both of these features.

Seat bag style can be determined objectively, and these bags represent it!

Though, the above seat bags represent the height of cool when it comes to seat bags, there are other options that are considered and used by HarperRide cyclists. One that used to be most popular, but today is less popular since it is not as functional, is the "no seat bag look." This requires everything to be carried in the back pockets of a jersey. While this is no problem on a warm and sunny day for a short ride, but it is more problematic when those pockets are being used to carry food or on a day when riders start with arm and knee warmers that may be taken off during the ride. Of course, no seat bag does look cool. It looks like you're racing!

Of course, like the rider on the left, you could bring a spare tire under the saddle. Then, you still need to care everything else. This Canadian rider on the HarperRide shows his love for Chicago hockey with his fanny pack. While fanny packs are typically the apparel of choice of tri-guys and women wearing lycra at the mall who think it's 1991, it is sometimes chosen at the HarperRide. Even HarperRide.net model Rich has used a fanny pack when riding!

On the right, you can see the "long bag," which can be used to store a folded tire. It sticks out from beyond the saddle, so it does look a little silly, but it is functional. In this case, it also carries the pump with some attached velcro straps.

In the early days of mountain biking, a very popular strategy for carrying spare tubes, especially when flats were more common due to the tire technology of the 1980s and early 1990s, was to wrap your spare around your hub. Then, it was right were you needed it to be when you had to change a flat in the heat of a mountain bike race. This tradition has fallen out of favor even with the off-road set, but it lives on during the Harper Ride. No, that's not a super-expensive, fancy new hub. It's a tube wrapped around the hub. Cool? Not really. Functional? Maybe not. Unique? On the HarperRide, yes.

However, you carry your spare, be sure you carry one. Remember between St. Patrick's Day and Labor Day, there's no stopping on the HarperRide...