Roger that on the gel-padded gloves – I can go numb from the elbows down pretty quickly without them. I like the body position the geometry puts me in but may raise the handle bar stem a bit for commuting – that's a non-trivial decision, as it’s a threadless headset, so I haven’t rushed out to buy parts and have them cut for me.

Helmet, of course, plus I wear my eyeglasses for some limited eye protection – riding thru a cloud of gnats at speed is too “interesting” an experience for me after the first time. Besides, I'd lose the glasses otherwise - normally don't wear them unless my arms are too short. I put an ATB - compatable mirror on the left handle bar end and really like that (just like driving, I still turn my head and look TOO - but the mirror is useful)

My EDC stuff is literally my EDC – I’ll probably drown if I ever fall into a moderately deep puddle. But I have been tardy with a FAK and some other items I think are prudent in a metro commuting area – I hate to duplicate things that already are in other gear sets – at least one of which accompanies me on long rides vs daily commutes. <sigh> I guess I need to get over that and just do it.

I absolutely don’t want slicks or narrower tires, regardless of rolling resistance – I’m sticking to normal width ATB tires (presently 26 x 2.0). I can still ride all but one of the regional ATB trails with these tires and some of my chosen commuting route is on embarrassingly bad side streets and alleys – the road bike folks I've talked to cannot ride on ˝ my route because of conditions, but I am very much out of traffic of any consequence on those portions. So far I’m quite happy with the tires I have on it for commuting. Winter conditions remain to be seen… is there a Blizzak style bike tire available? Glare ice and heavy road frost are some things I wonder about.

I put studded BMX pedals on my bike when I bought it – I still have not made the leap of attitude to try clipless pedals and shoes (I’m chicken). My ride’s too short already, so increasing efficiency isn’t really a goal. I just wear a tattered pair of running shoes so far, or lightweight hiking boots for long rides – but I am considering a switch to bike shoes.

Have been grumbling about even the sale prices on biking-specific clothing (and dropping hints to wife, along with urls). One of my ordinary rain jackets has kept the wind off my torso when riding wet – I found out that what works at 4 mph walking is not nearly so good at 20 mph riding. I’ll solve that as the weather cools down more significantly in October. I want to avoid specialized clothing as much as possible.

I haven’t seriously considered an SLA powered headlight (water bottle battery?), but I’m already riding in the dark some of the time, so maybe I should look at those options.

As I wrote, this is all new to me – commuting is a bit different than recreational riding. I’m already toying with the idea of a regular commuter bike (town bike) instead of continuing to tweak my nice (used to be lightweight) mountain bike. OTOH, I normally drive a 4wd pickup, so this is kinda sorta the human-powered equivalent...

Since my b-day is the end of this month, I've been dropping very specific hints about a maintenance stand - weekly cleaning and maintenance is a PITN without one and I got hooked on using a stand for that out at camp. (We're about the same age, but I got to 50 ahead of you.)

I’ll be back to pick your brain from time to time. Thanks for the info.

(not) ETR...

Tom