With the crispness of fall pervading the early morning commutes, it's time to reconfigure the Rodriguez ss/fixie to its winter setup. Off come the carbon seatpost with attached San Marco Regal saddle, on goes the Easton aluminum post with the Nashbar "Vintage" Regal knockoff saddle, expendable for those times when I crash on black ice.

Off go the carbon handlebars/stem with Campag carbon fiber brake levers and attached Chorus brakes and on go the aluminum bars/stem with Tektro levers (same shape as Campag) and winter brakes (my own version of the Campagnolo "differential brake" setup - a dual pivot Centaur in front and an old (1980's vintage) single-pivot Record caliper in back). When I had the frame built, I specified split cable stops, so all I need to do is squeeze the rear brake calipers and slide out the cable housing from the two split stops underneath the top tube. The whole handlebar/brake replacement takes about 5 or 10 minutes and involves loosening and tightening five allen bolts and centering the brakes and stem.

Running a single-speed or fixed gear, there are no derailleur cables to mess with. This winter, I'll be experimenting with a Sturmey-Archer S3X 3-speed hub (120mm spacing, so it will fit the dropouts) in preparation for possibly using it at next year's Paris-Brest-Paris. I'm thinking that at my stage in life, it's time to go minimalist. I've already used all the 10-speed shifting and plastic bikes; now it's time to pare down to what is practical, reliable, and easy to pack. No more need to show off the latest equipment.

When the legendary Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi reached a certain point in his life, where he knew he was invincible, he started using a wooden sword. I'm not invincible against long 20% climbs, but going up on a 3-speed will be more of a challenge than on a granny with a big cassette. I guess in the long term, I'm setting up for the "winter of my life" configuration...

Luis