Fanny Packs Are Race Day Game Changers

I don't like keeping things I don't use. That's normal enough, or at least I'd like to think so. Anyway, I recently ended up with a fanny pack for mostly irrelevant new travel backpack reasons, and it seemed too nice to give away, but I had no idea what I would use it for since I already have a daypack for short hikes. But on a whim, I took it to the Indy 500, and gosh darn it, this little bag is exactly what I've been missing on race weekends.

Usually, I just show up to a race with a backpack, because those are big enough to fit a laptop, and I need my laptop. But I don't always want to carry a backpack around, and as a result, I end up stuffing my pockets with more stuff than said pockets are meant to carry. It's inconvenient, but it's less inconvenient than carrying a backpack at all times. You know what's been incredibly convenient, though? This silly multi-colored fanny pack that I (in retrospect, incorrectly) never would have spent money to buy if I'd seen it in a store.

It's too small for my laptop, but it fits pretty much everything else I could possibly want to carry, especially at a race where the weather could turn at any moment. Glasses case? Altoids? Ear plugs? Phone charger? Off-brand AirPods? Sunscreen? A spare watch? Mid-day meds? A bottle of liquid adult nutrients? My new fanny pack has room for all the race essentials. It's also compact and adjustable enough that I can't think of anything better suited for a race. And you can carry one with a backpack? Clearly, I've been missing out. 

But we learn, and we grow. And maybe publicly admitting my mistake will be the nudge you need to finally pull the trigger on a new fanny pack before your next race. Even if they — well, I guess now it's "we" — look like dorks, I'm telling you, the fanny pack people were right. The fanny pack is the key to race weekend enlightenment. 

If you regularly carry a handbag, you're probably thinking, "Yeah, dude, women figured that out forever ago. You just discovered the purse." Which is true. To an extent. But I'm not new to bags. I like bags. Ordering a different bag is how I ended up with this one. I'd probably own a Frank Clegg duffle if I had more money, and back when I still used Instagram, it took Céline several months to learn that a guy who doesn't have "buy himself Frank Clegg" money doesn't magically have "spend Marketplace motorcycle money on a bag for someone else" money.

The real problem was, I hadn't owned a fanny pack since I was a kid, and I mostly used them for hiking. The scratch-and-dent-sale daypack I bought off a friend may be showing its age, but it still works great, so why would I spend money on a new thing that would do the same thing as something I already owned? On the other hand, when a brand offers to throw a fanny pack in for free if you buy some stuff you already planned to buy, how can you say no?

Do I endorse buying this specific fanny pack? I don't know. It works great for its newly discovered purpose, seems well-constructed, and I can't imagine I'll need to replace it for at least another decade, if not two. But I also don't know the fanny pack market well enough to say this specific bag is the best one overall or even the best one for you. But a fanny pack generally? You absolutely need one of those.