i’ve been carrying that back pack for a while now, and i’m still very proud of the time it allowed me to bond with the goat (the greatest of all time – greg minnaar) – because i pretty much carry a medium sized bike shop right there on my back.

sometimes, however, i feel it’s cramping my style a bit. yes, it does have an in-built back protector but so does my … back protector shirt. ok, there is the drink bladder, too, but most of the time i’m not taking water with me anyway.

so nat & i ordered one up ‘every day carry’ tools for our bikes. this is the thing: riding with all the gear hanging off your person is tedious. on the other hand, bikes have a habit of developing technical issues at the worst possible moment, like when you’re about 20km from any help & out of mobile range, which is why it’s a great idea to carry tools.

the great thing about the edc, the every day carry tool, is that it lives inside the bike, the stem to be precise. basically the bike will have an in-built tool.

now there is an edc-shaped hole. actually i didn’t much mind that part so much – i don’t really like star nuts, plus the new insert will hopefully keep the stem cleaner.

this is what it looks like now: clean, simple, and ready to go whenever greg minnaar happens to show up and needs a tool.

we also had time for a bit of burning. this was the biggest pile and the highest flames so far. scary.