Soggy Update

I enjoy riding in the rain, up to a point. Today makes for 4 days in a row that one way or the other it has been raining for my commute. My clothing matrix that has been so effective for me to dress for dry weather has gone out the window with the rain. I was too cold on Monday, and have been too hot the rest of the week. All in all, I’ve hardly been dry despite my “raingear.” Everything is fine for when it’s in the 50’s and raining, but in the back of my mind, I am jumping ahead trying to figure out what to wear when it’s down in the mid-30’s and raining.

One of the benefits that I have discovered now with the weather turning cooler and rain is that the heat is now on in our building. That means that I have somewhat of a facility for drying things out. Showing once-again that for each and every action there is an equal and opposite re-action.

I took a long ride home yesterday via Hiawatha Cyclery to pick up a new rear hub and spokes to build a different rear wheel for my Quickbeam commuter. Picked up a new Phil Wood 36 hole hub to build up something a little more heavy duty and something to match up with the wheel I built a couple of weeks ago.

I did not get home until after 7pm last night. In my soggy wet ride home from Hiawatha last night, it was interesting to note the difference between riding in the dark, in the rain at 6:30am versus 6:30pm. I have more of an appreciation for the quietness of my ride to work in the morning. There is comparatively less traffic.

I changed into some dry clothes and began working on my bike. No more than had I explained to Jim at Hiawatha how the quality of my new Shimano dynamo hub was much better than my old one; in the stand last night I noticed that the new hub is beginning to make noise.

Built up my new wheel, apologized to such a beautiful hub for the torturous life of service that I am going to subject it to. Moved over tire, tube, cog, lubed chain, adjusted brakes for the wider rim. Good to go for the soggy ride this morning.