Review: The Pedal Industries Race Day Bag
Cyclists love to chat gear, it’s in our DNA to want the latest and greatest and at TBD we are no different. On any given day you can drop any question or comment into the #gear channel and watch it whip TBDers into a mad frenzy of opinions, it’s certainly a fun way to procrastinate.
On one such slow Slack day, one of the Colins (or was it a Cullen, it all sounds the same to me), casually dropped a link to the Pedal Industries “The Race Day Bag”. A bag which the tagline reads as “Holds everything but the bike” designed for carrying your gear to and from races. Given how much we travel as a team and the fact that Pedal Industries love doing custom designs, it seemed like a perfect match.
After an introductory email from Alvaro asking about their custom range, then a little to and forth on the design, the team at Pedal Industries sent through the final design:
We all eagerly placed our orders and 3 weeks later I had my own custom Race Day bag!
The Race Day bag comes in two sizes; Classic and XL. The XL being a little bigger and having backpack straps which is the one I went for and I figure will be perfect for lugging my kit to CP races and heading uptown to catch a ride with Daghan to cross races.
Both the Classic and the XL feature 4 top pockets and have two larger pockets at each end for a helmet and shoes. The pockets are all labeled which acts as a handy checklist when packing for a race day. As previously mentioned the XL has backpack style straps and both the Classic and XL have a carry strap on the helmet end of the bag.
There is also plenty of space on each of the pockets for you to write on and customize the pockets if you pack differently to the Pedal Industries team (which I haven’t taken advantage of yet because I misplaced my Sharpie). The bag is Made in the USA (CA) and the construction of compartments and the zippers are very sturdy, the bag can lose it’s shape a bit when in backpack form but I am ok with that because it’s only intended to be carried that way for short distances. During cross season I will be putting muddy clothes in a separate wet bag before putting them in my Race Day bag as I don’t want mud through it (although it does look easy to clean).
I first received my bag whilst I was living out of a suitcase and was packed with every single piece of kit I had (3x bib shorts, 3 x jerseys, skinsuit, baselayers, many socks, gilet, jacket, shield, 2 x gloves, shoes and helmet) and there was still plenty of space. I have since moved to a new apartment, but I am going to keep all my kit in the bag as I have found it to be super handy for knowing where everything is when those early morning alarms go off.
If your team is looking for their own trick custom race day bag, follow the link here and reach out to Todd Brown and the team at Pedal Industries and tell ‘em that TBD sent you.
I am a New York City based cyclist formally from Melbourne. Races of less than an hour are my jam and I’m @wheresscott on the gram. You’ll find me taking photos to escape the accountant life and running through winter to escape the cold.
