I have had a workshop in my house for a few years now. I have gathered tools to fix and build various bicycle components and of course, house repairs over the years. It is not a neat, orderly affair. It is like an artists palette. I have a pegboard on the wall. I looked up at the pegboard yesterday and I saw the story of me. It showed a bit of who i am and where I've been. In my bicycle life I've spanned a variety of skills and bicycle innovation. The mark of time in bicycle innovation in my life has been crankset design. I have tools that mark that time. There are specific tools for assembling and adjusting  bottom brackets, which are what cranksets are hooked to. I have boxes in my workshop of all sorts of parts. I sorted thru some of the stuff and found I'd accumulated about 15 pairs of gloves and mittens. Three are the long-sleeved mittens which are great for the coldest of weather because they don't let air get in at the wrist. I get most of my equipment from thrift stores. I also found 3 pairs of cycling booties. These are covers that go over your cycling shoes for the coldest weather. I rarely use them, but I got such a good deal on them I bought them.

I've currently got an inventory of 7 bikes. 4 of them have generator hubs. That is my latest thing. I love riding at night. Most of the time I used to just ride at night without lights. Batteries didn't last long. Often when I used batteries they weren't finished recharging when I wanted to ride. I didn't want to pay for all the batteries. Batteries were a bad idea. But oh! the generator hub brings a new world of life to riding at night. Keep in mind that I don't ride in busy areas at night without a light, kids. I frequently hit the long winding Rock Creek park for a late night excursion. I have enjoyed since I was young the exhilaration of whirring thru the dark quietly ticking off the miles.

So that's my shop - several bikes, a bunch of parts and tools for every imaginable description. Sometimes I've even bought tools at the thrift store because they looked interesting. I like the idea of figuring out what a tool is used for. I guess it's the engineer in me.