Love that Commute

Man there is nothing better than being able to ride to work. The ride wakes you up and you get to work all energized. I carry a change of clothes, a couple drinks lunch, jacket, arm warmers, leg warmers, rain jacket, glasses wallet spare tire and pump. All of that fits in my Banjo back pack with room to spare. I can't stress enough the importance of a good bag. My Banjo bag is double lined to completely protect everything from rain. It has a side pocket with a drain hole where I stuff my two drinks. It's got a zippered pocket where I stick my wallet and glasses. Everything else gets stuffed in the main storage. The straps are comfortable and keep the pack centered and secure. There's even a special holster for your cell phone on the strap. If your going to be returning home after dark make sure you have good lights. For rear lights I run a Planet Bike Super Flash, one of the new fiber lights I wrote about earlier and a Planet Bike Blinky light on my helmet. This with the reflective stripes on my Banjo Bag you can't help but see me! For front I have one flashing light and a Cat Eye EL-600 rechargable light. I now have a Sigma single EVO light that uses a rechargable Nicad battery which is great! Sigma makes a double version of this which would be the way to go! The double would probably run you under $90. The Cat Eye I have isn't bad but I would rather have two to see well and one of these lights is around $120 so the Sigma would be more cost effective.
For me fixed is definitely the way to go. I like having that extra control of my speed and not having to get out of the pedals at the lights. Plus it makes that early morning ride that much more fun!