I finally finished my rebuild of my Surly 1x1 with the 7 speed Shimano Nexus internally geared hub. It was complicated by a number of factors. I had completely wrapped Albatross bars on the bike with Oury grips. That made it a little difficult to change the brake lever configuration. Last time I had the bike operational it used the Nexus 8 speed hub with a built-in foot brake. The 8 speed shifter claimed the end of the bar so the other track lever would not mount to the bar. I don't have a lot of money to blow on these projects so I waited for the right solution to come rolling thru. Well, I had a spare handlebar setup with brake levers that worked. I had to remove the shifters and it worked. I also had some trouble routing the long shifter cable through. I ended up taping sections because I wanted to hold it in place in a certain fashion.

I was thinking about apparel in my years of riding in all types of weather. Yesterday was an unusual day because it poured down rain all day. I wore my helmet cover and poncho even tho it is summer. Summer here is 90 degrees Fahrenheit and above normally. Humidity is often very high. It's like a rainforest or a swamp. The air just doesn't seem to circulate. Most of my rain rides in this high humidity/high temperature environment I don't wear my poncho. I often still wear the helmet cover tho. My feet get wet but I change at the office, so I don't sit in wet shoes. This week was different. This rain was pouring down all day and the temperature was a bit cooler; it was probably about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The other extreme that my co-workers don't understand is how I can stand to ride in the cold. I know that I am hot-blooded. I stay warm because I have a high metabolism. I get a lot of exercise regularly. Cold just doesn't seem to bother me. I don't feel the cold. I don't like to feel cold, but maybe I have a higher threshold for cold.

What does bother me is wind. Wind is my mortal enemy. I want to ease down the road. When there is wind afoot it seems like whichever direction I turn I'm FACING the wind. You work very hard as a cyclist against a headwind.I've dealt with rain, snow, cold, ice, but wind & flooding are the real fun-stoppers.