Steely Dan

I've only been doing this bike commuting thing for a dozen years now.

And yet I still made an EXTREMELY costly and stupid mistake yesterday.

My pannier was apparently not properly affixed to my rear rack. It fell off somewhere along my route without my knowing. Wallet, phone, and keys, gone.

New phone - $800
New panniers - $100
New house keys - $350
New car keys - $225
New wallet - $40
New outer shell - $75
New bike repair kit - $50
New clothes - $100
The value of all the time wasted cancelling every credit/debit card and having to redo (and also remember) every single autopay account I have attached to them, along with going to the DMV to get a new ID - who the F knows?

There goes the summer vacation fund. "Hey kids, this summer we'll be hitting the road and going to the McDonald's drive-thru!!!"

All because I must not have completely/properly attached my pannier in my haste. ARGHHHHHHHHH!



The worst kind of anger is the kind you can only turn inward on yourself for your own monumental stupidity.


I know, I know...... It's only money....... Which is totally true...... But I'm still pissed at myself.

Jim from Boston

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

I've only been doing this bike commuting thing for a dozen years now.

And yet I still made an EXTREMELY costly and stupid mistake yesterday.

My pannier was apparently not properly affixed to my rear rack. It fell off somewhere along my route without my knowing. Wallet, phone, and keys, gone...

The value of all the time wasted cancelling every credit/debit card and having to redo (and also remember) every single autopay account I have attached to them, along with going to the DMV to get a new ID - who the F knows?

There goes the summer vacation fund. "Hey kids, this summer we'll be going to the McDonald's drive-thru!!!"

All because I must not have completely/properly attached my pannier in my haste. ARGHHHHHHHHH!

The worst kind of anger is the kind you can only turn inward on yourself for your own monumental stupidity.

I know, I know...... It's only money....... Which is totally true...... But I'm still pissed at myself.

I commiserate with you, and cringe at how you feel. A pannier would seem to be a highly visible and unusual debris on the road, and with ID would hopefully be returned to you.

I know when I have found a wallet or an I-phone I hasten to locate the owner, since I know how distressful it is. And I too have had to retrace my routes on occasion, riding on the wrong side of the road looking for the item.

There was a thread about lost keys to which I replied.I have a Topeak trunk bag with drop down paniers on rear rack rails and held in place by a clasp. For a while the bag would slide off the rails, and I got an elastic cargo net to secure it in place. Before that I would conscientiously check to make sure it is in place. Now, I sometimes strap my back pack under the cargo net, and I occasionally will reach behind to make sure it is there.

I’m not posting to criticize you, but like all reports of accidents, we readers may wisen up.

I too lost a bag, I call my “clutch bag” containing necessary items, in particular spare eyeglasses. It fell out my seemingly secure saddlebag unbeknownst to me, and contained no personal ID. Shortly after I arrived home, I received a message.

bpcyclist

So sorry this happened to you. I have a kind of OCD about losing critical items such as these and have to go through a whole big production of verifying and reverifying that I have them--multiple times on each ride and each time I leave my place. It's all a bit much, really, and probably not worth the tradeoff. Sure, I always have my stuff, but I spend so much time stressing and freaking about the possibility of losing everything that it is just quite unpleasant much of the time.

Anyhow, so sorry you are having to deal with all this. Hope the vacation fund gets re-capitalized soon...

wolfchild

The lesson here is that, you should never ever carry important personal items on a bike inside panniers....I always carry personal items like a cell phone, wallet, house keys, car keys, credit cards etc on person inside my pockets and never on a bike. All other items such as: extra clothing, bike repair kit, food etc I carry inside my backpack. I only use panniers for doing grocery shopping and not for carrying important personal items.

mcours2006

Sorry to hear that. Perhaps someone picked it up and will return it to you. There's that hope.

As a rule I always carry my wallet and phone either on me or in my backpack. Like you found out, losing all the documents and cards in my wallet is more than the hassle of losing anything else on the bike combined. The phone is there so I can hear it if it rings. My panniers are used for everything else.

I did lose a saddle mounted camera one time. I went to turn off the camera after arriving home to find that it wasn't there anymore. I rode back half way to see if I could find it. No luck. The next day on the way home I spotted it about 1 km from my work, right up against the curb of the sidewalk partially covered by leaves. I turned it on, and lo and behold, it still worked. I got lucky.

alan s 

That’s a tough one. I’ve lost stuff, and it sucks. I always wonder what kind of lowlife finds it and doesn’t have the heart to return it. I’ve also found plenty of stuff, and always return it if possible. Once I forgot to zip up my bag, and several items bounced out. On my return home, I rode the route slowly and sure enough, at the place I drop off a curb, I found my underwear. Someone must have picked up the other items.

As for the Topeak bag, I added a small bungee cord that goes on under the back of the bag to provide extra security, as the clip is not much to hold the bag on the rack. I know it works, because if I forget to remove the bungee, the bag only slides back a couple inches and stops.

rseeker

I feel for you, that's really painful. I recently lost a lower-priced but high-sentimental-value item. As best I can tell, it fell out of my pack pocket while riding. I'm usually paranoid about checking zippers on my pack -- like take it off three times to be sure paranoid -- but wait, am I really really sure? -- but I recently added a big Jogalite safety triangle to the back of my pack, mostly blocking the outside pocket and the wasit strap running up to the grab loop at the top of the pack. This change is apparently enough to disrupt my routine that I've been leaving the pocket open, and twice recently I've gotten home to find it unzipped. That or senility. Or both.

The item is a Swiss Army knife I've had my whole life. It's been with me on every outdoor trip including my big trips to the Grand Canyon, and well everywhere. It's been part of my daily carry forever. Lately though I've been stashing it in my pack because I've been going places where it's better not to bring "weapons". Between those two changes, I guess it bounced out. Unintended consequences.

I hope you get your stuff back. With the wallet in there, it sounds like it's still possible.

Koyote

"A stupidly expensive lesson of stupidity"

It's still pretty cheap compared to my first marriage. So don't feel so bad.


Seriously, though, this is one of the reasons why I prefer to carry cargo on the front of the bike - I'll know immediately if anything happens.

Give it a little time before replacing everything...Perhaps someone found it and will contact you.

frankenmike 

That really stinks man. I drove off from a trailhead with my camelbak on the roof once, never found it. It contained all my expensive gear, some of which was irreplaceable(i.e. not made anymore). Your story makes me thankful I am able to commute using just a messenger bag. Condolences friend...

ups

Ugh! I am so sorry. That stinks.

I've just started commuting in the last few weeks. Even with panniers I wore a hydration pack to keep phone/keys etc on me. (I am a little anal retentive about those things though).

Hope you stuff turns up.

HerrKaLeun

That stinks.

I always put key, garage door opener and walley in my toptube bag for accessibility. And I would see if that fell off.
Phone in pant pockets. And always check over if it is still there.

The dangerous part is when going into bathroom one has to remember taking wallet etc with

wolfchild

Wear clothes that have pockets and keep your personal items in there, problem solved.

Moe Zhoost

Bummer. I felt really bad for losing a tool roll last year (left it on my car's hitch rack and drove off) and that was a minor thing compared to yours. How did you not hear/feel the loss of the pannier? I've had a number of fall-off events while riding and I was able to hear almost every one.

I hope the finder contacts you. Since you lost your phone, it may take a while. I found a phone once and was only able to find the owner when someone called it.

Darth Lefty 

Dang, man

wphamilton

That really sucks. I get mad at myself if I lost something trivial out of the backpack, or dropped a tool from not zipping up a saddlebag.

Seu

Really sorry for your loss.

On my grocery shopping bike, I carry a shoulder bag with my phone and wallet. I use a handlebar bag on my road and touring bikes with all the hard to replace stuff in front of me and visible. On tour the loss of even a battery charger can be the costly end the trip. This was learned the hard way riding the length of the Mississippi.

wphamilton

Except that really hurts when you fall on it. I never considered that seriously either until some broken ribs changed my mind. Front pocket is OK, but otherwise I want it in a bag on the bike. Mine is zip-tied down though, not much chance of losing anything,

noglider 

I disagree. Human ingenuity is limitless for mistakes. If I took the precautions you recommend, I could still lose thousands of dollars of stuff one way or another.

wolfchild

That sounds like a fatalistic attitude...Whatever will be will be, and we shouldn't make any effort to protect our valuables and we shouldn't take any precautions in life.

Steely Dan

For those hoping that my lost pannier and it's contents will be returned to me, no dice on that front. As soon as I got home and realized my pannier was gone, I ran inside and had my wife call my phone to see if someone would answer it.

It rang with no answer. She called again right away and it went straight to voice mail the second time. That means that someone already had my phone and had intentionally turned it off between the two calls. I think it's safe to assume they have zero interest in returning my lost belongings to me.

Luckily I got all of my cards cancelled before the miscreant who had my stuff was able to make any fraudulent charges on them. And my wallet had no cash in it.

So they have a locked phone, keys that no longer open anything, and a wallet with cards that are all cancelled, a set of my clothes, a pannier, and some bike repair tools. What's the effing point of keeping it? Just give me my stuff back.

But that's not how the $hitty people of our world operate.

wolfchild

Small price to pay compared to loosing important valuables...Crashing is going to hurt no matter if you're carrying a wallet or not.

wphamilton

Well suit yourself but to me 3 days in ICU was a large price to pay in comparison, and I do not believe I would have been there if I hadn't had the wallet and phone in the jersey pocket. For me, "carry it in your jersey" is no longer a solution. I think it's better to have something secure on the bike to carry it.

noglider 

I was having a terribly pessimistic moment. Sorry, and I hope you understand. We are in a time of fear and doubt. I've hereby lifted my chin back up. Carry on.

noglider 

Steely Dan, I feel really bad for you. You do not deserve this. So that phone is useless to the thief, and he's keeping it? What a creep.

tFUnK

Happened to me almost 10 years ago. Dropped my pannier bag and didn't notice until a few blocks later. Went back and found it in the middle of the road, having been run over, of course. Laptop smashed, backup hard drive smashed. Good thing I had the important stuff backed up elsewhere and I was also able to ($300 later) recover the contents of the laptop drive. My PhD dissertation was on that drive, and I was able to graduate. Makes me wary of ever commuting with a laptop again, though. Now, essentials like wallet, keys, phone go into a front handlebar bag.