Rumors of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated

I've been away but now I'm back.  It all started back in December.....

A couple weeks before the holiday season I came down with the Creeping Crud.  I even missed two days of work and I very rarely ever miss work due to sickness.  But I rallied and made it into work for the final two work days of my 2013.

From there it was load the truck and point it East on I-90.  I drove back to the land-from-which-I-moved to visit both friends and family.  However, someone (probably me) forgot to tell the Creeping Crud to buzz off and it came along just for the hell of it.  This put a damper on my visiting.

With the Creeping Crud lingering I actually saw a doctor.  The doctor confirmed I had a nasty virus and/or infection of some sort.  The doctor also said it was too far along and not quite bad enough to prescribe antibiotics, or the like, and I should expect to slowly feel better but it would take at least another week.  This cut into my friend visiting but not the family visiting.

When I rolled into the family's abode, the thermometer on the vehicle told me it was -22 degrees Fahrenheit outside.  Welcome back!  It did warm up nicely over some of the days I was there.

Right after the first of the year I piled myself and some crap back into the truck and found I-90 again, this time pointing West.  Twenty-four hours and thirty-eight minutes of drive time (over two days) and one-thousand-six-hundred-eighty-four miles later and I'm back in the Pacific Northwest.

As I get back into what can only described using quotations as "normal," I'm feeling like I need a thing.  Specifically, something to look forward to and to prompt me to actually train with a purpose.  I think I've found my thing and the thing can be seen HERE.

With the monsoon season seemingly in full swing, I'm not sure how the training will go.  My short term plan is the proverbial "much ass on any bike as possible" training regimen.  I suppose this means roadie type rides mostly and mountain biking in the not-too-muddy places around here now and then.

In order to get this kicked off and such I've decided to update the beloved Surly Cross Check.  I shall convert it from single speed commuter to geared commuter/trainer/all-arounder.  I plan to get a new rear hub ordered, dust off the wheel building tools, and put together a new rear wheel capable of changing gears.

I'm sort of leaning toward an internally geared rear hub.  I've priced some of Shimano's offerings.  All I have left to do is calculate the new spoke lengths and get stuff ordered.  I'll rebuild the wheel some evening.  I might document the whole affair with pictures.  Since blog post material seems to be scant these days, I'm going to milk this endeavor for all its worth.