Rain and the High Cost of Tinkering with Gear

 Our summer monsoon pattern is hear, at least for now.  Weather has been so uncertain, that I don't think there's any promise that it will stick around for long.  Hopefully this rain will dampen down the Calf Canyon/Hermit's Peak Fire.  It's been burning since April 8th, and is steadily creeping into the wilderness, into some of my favorite places to backpack.  Once the fire goes through, wind starts to blow down the dead trees, making backpacking arduous at best and almost impossible at worst.  The trails get cleared at a pretty slow pace in the wilderness, (and I believe there is a crew of volunteers who works on some of that, so thank you, whoever you are).

I like to ride the Happy Little Three Speed in the rain.  This morning, it was raining steadily throughout our nine mile ride up to work.  The Grundens raincape from Rivendell, along with the gaiters and splats work fine, although I did pour that little lake of water that forms at the front of the rain cape off to the side at a red light and managed to get much of it down the back of my pants leg behind the gaiter.  I opted for a waxed cotton Sou'wester, made by Hill Hats of New Zealand, rather than a yellow rubber Grundens Sou'wester.  I like to think that I present a friendly, cheerful image of the possibility of commuting in the rain, or commuting in general, on the three speed, wearing a rain cape.  Looking at the picture, I probably just look a little nerdy.

Still, it amazes me how many people continue to drive automobiles even with gas prices over $5.00 a gallon, and I get a little tired of the news about inflation that focuses on how high gas prices are impacting family budgets.  My heart goes out to those people who truly have no choice but to drive, but in a city the size of mine, Anyone who lives within the city limits could easily bicycle almost everywhere in town.  It might take a little while to get in shape, and some people may be so out of shape that it would be a non-starter from the get go, but I would think a conservative estimate would be that 1/3-2/3's of all trips could be made by bicycle.  When I am being a bicycle advocate, that's the type I am.  I feel the city is plenty safe enough, and I worry those advocating for protected bike lanes are just painting bicycling as more dangerous than it is.  But all of that is another subject entirely.

I've been thinking a lot about my expenses lately.  One thing I get in trouble with is thinking about incremental improvements to my bicycles.  In my idealist mode, I think it would be great just to have one bicycle.  Then I would have only one chain to lube and replace, one set of tires to worry about, one set of bearings to overhaul.  But I have lots of bicycles.  Generally, whichever one I am riding at the time is my favorite one, but the Happy Little Three Speed is the one I seem to ride the most.

Over the winter, the sound of the sidewall dynamo started to irritate me.  We leave the house in the dark every morning in the winter, so every morning, it was rattle, rattle, rattle.  I don't know why the dynamo rattles more against the HLTS's tire than against the Xtracycle's tire.  Maybe the fact that the tires on the HLTS are narrower and at a higher pressure.

So, of course I started thinking about buying a wheel with a Schmidt Dynohub for it.  But, I have a Schmidt Dynohub on the Rivendell, so, instead of diving into that expense, I just rode the Rivendell for a while, (and, while I was doing so, I upgraded the rear light to the one that brightens and blinks when I brake. Did I need that? No, not really).  Lately, though, I went back to the Happy Little Three Speed.  It feels better in the wind, and we've had a really windy spring.  I dithered back and forth between riding the Rivendell in the Santa Fe Century, or riding the HLTS, but given the wind, I went with the HLTS.

In the rain, it's great, because of the positive nature of the three speed shifting.  I cannot always hear, on the Rivendell when it's raining, if I haven't shifted well, and the chain is rubbing or rattling.

So, I started thinking about a Schmidt wheel again.  And then I started wondering if I could run two rear lights off a Schmidt hub.  I recently bought an old-style Pletscher rack to support the saddlebag instead of the "hoop", which worked fine but had rubbed a lot of paint off the seat stays.  I could put one of those fancy brake lights there and still keep my fender light.  And then I started wondering about doing a 650B conversion to the bike.  There's really not much room for tires and fenders on it.  I started thinking that I could buy another Sturmey Archer hub and build a 650B hub myself. And then, and then, and then... Somehow it all would end up being around a  $700 upgrade for what started as a $50 bicycle.  I was thinking that, anytime I found myself wanting, say, a $500 wheel, I should just throw that money in my Betterment investment account.  When I think that way, my conclusion is that I just don't have the money.  How is it that I have money to buy things, but I don't have money to invest?  Oh yeah, because I buy so many things.

For now, I'm holding off on buying more stuff - no more film cameras, no more bicycle gee gaws and equipment upgrades, no more manual typewriters.  I want to focus on using what I have. Why is it so hard in our culture, to enjoy a hobby, like bicycling, photography, or writing, without buying more stuff for those things that basically duplicate what you already have?