New Bike Day - 2023 Cannondale Synapse Di2

10 years ago I bought my first Cannondale Synapse and I put 21 thousand miles on it. It was time for an upgrade and Shawn at the Bicycle Center suggested I get a Cannondale Synapse Carbon 2LE. 

Price Drop!

Following up on my She cleans up good but buyer beware post from a month ago, the bike I sold to the Hartford Bike Flipper has dropped the price to  $1,200! It's a 7 year old bike with 21,000 miles on it. Of course any would be buyer isn't going to know that and neither does the seller because he never asked me.  I know bikes are still scarce right now but who would pay that much for aluminum 10 speed?

She cleans up good but buyer beware!

Two weeks ago I took my Synapse off the trainer, cleaned it up somewhat and put it up on Craigslist (see add below), Offer Up and Facebook Marketplace for $600. There was quite a lot of interest and many low ball offers but I finally sold it $550 to some guy with a heavy accent from Hartford. As I am always looking at and looking for bikes, the other day I was searching Craigslist for Cannondale bikes and look what I found!  That's my Synapse that I just sold and the guy is flipping it for over double of what he paid for it!

Last Day as a Stay at Home Dad Ride

My wife was quick to point out that my status as a Stay at Home Dad was only cursory and I didn't experience everything like doing the laundry, making the kids lunches and dinners, and doing the shopping.  I did, however, drive them to school, get them off the bus and make them snacks when they got home.  There was the dishes, always doing dishes.  My new status was coming to an end because I landed a new job and would be starting next week.  Since this was my last day, and my wife wasn't working, I decided to head off for a much bigger ride.

I decided to go for a three hour, unscripted ride.  I had a route planned but at the last minute I threw caution to the wind and decided not follow the pre-planned course and just go with my gut.  It was a good choice.  It was so nice out, albeit still cold, I wore much darker lenses, which is something I rarely do these days.

The first part of the ride, the temperature stayed in the upper 30s and I was actually hot by the time I got down to the end of North Park Avenue in Easton. At the southern most point of the route the temperature was almost 40 degrees F but on the way back, it started to fall again. 

After crossing over the Aspetauk River I took old Stage Coach Road because Old Redding Road has a steep descent at the end but then there is a stop sign so I all that speed gets waisted.  Conversely, Kellogg Hill does the same thing because you then have to cut back north at a stop sign onto Valley Forge Road for the ride back along the Saugatuck Reservoir.  The only drawback to Old Stagecoach is that it's not in the best condition.

The Saugatuck Reservoir was almost completely full.  That big rainstorm earlier in the week did quite a number on the area and it brought a tremendous amount of rain, too, which was clearly evident by how much water was in the reservoir.  From here, I headed over to Giles Hill and then to the Redding Ridge Deli for a hot chocolate and a Boston Cream.  While the picture above is blurry that's exactly how I saw it at this point.  I think all the activity makes me very far sighted these days.

There were closed roads all over the place and the din of home generators filled the air on this ride.  On Poverty Hollow I came across downed wires and all the houses along the road had generators running.  Hard to believe it's been almost 4 years since Hurricane Sandy and the local electrical utility still drags their feet.  10% of the town was out of power the day after the storm.  School was canceled because there were upwards of 30 roads closed in town, and three days afterwards only 3% of the town had their power restored.  Looks like the name change of the power company was purely aesthetic because it was business as usual when it came to post storm power restoration.

Post apocalyptic rain storm "snow day"

Woke up this morning to find out school was delayed 2 hours and figured I wouldn't riding to well after 2 because of a call I had to take.  20 minutes later, the town broadcasts that school is now canceled and there isn't any new snow on the ground.  However, last night we did have one hell of a storm last night with lightning and wind.  Turns out the storm caused 23+ road closures and knocked out power to 10% of the town.

Temperature this morning was almost 60 degrees but I didn't take any chances and layered accordingly with leg and arm warmers and my new bib shorts that my kids gave me for Christmas. Found my old shoe covers and threw those on over my summer cycling shoes.  However, 30 minutes into the ride the weather drastically changed by dropping 10 degrees and started to drizzle.  I was warm enough but a shell would have been nice.  

All the streams were swollen and the ponds were overflowing. A lot of water over the roads, too, and I was glad for the fender.  I was tempted to ride further into Monroe but decided against it because I had no idea what roads were closed so I did my basic look and tacked on Tunnel & Taunton Roads on the way out and Sandy Hook on the way home.

I am really loving these new tires from Serfas.  I am running 110 psi upfront and 120 in the rear and they ride really solid and feel great, even on wet roads such as today.

Birthday Winter Ride

Lake Lillilonah

Headed out today for a slightly longer ride and with snow in the offing I decided to forgo trying to hit all the dirt roads in Newtown and Trumbull and head north into Litchfield County.

Shepaug River, Roxbury, CT

After crossing Lake Lillilonah I climbed up Hut Hill and descended down into Roxbury and noticed that it wasn't getting any warmer, in fact, the temperature was dropping.  Everything was OK but I could have used a balaclava, wool socks, and instead of a t-shirt, I should have had a long sleeve wicking shirt on.  I just suffered through it.  In fact, once I hit Roxbury Market, the only thing chilled was my toes.  They never warmed up the whole time.

Roxbury Airport

I never climbed the entire length of Good Hill before but today I did and it was fun, but slow.  At the top is an old airport that I think is still used.  There seemed to be one working plane in a hangar and a few in disrepair, too.

Old planes at Roxbury Airport

I don't think the plane with the old Army Air Corp markings is an actual war plane.  My guess is it's just an old crop duster.  Still, that would be a fun plane to fly around here.

Top of Good Hill, Roxbury, CT

What goes up must come down.  From Good Hill and down into Southbury its a fast descent.  Having never ridden this part before I figured that this must be the road that Transylvania Rd ends on so I figured I wouldn't have to ride through Southbury to get home.

90 minutes into the ride it was time for breakfast, consisting of a Cliff Bar.  It tasted really good! From here, it took me another hour to ride home.  The temperature warmed up a degree or two but it really wasn't noticeable.  Probably be on the trainer for Wednesday because of the snow and rain in the forecast for Wednesday. 

On the road again!

Almost three months have gone by and I am finally back on the road after my crash in the latter part of December.  Granted, I probably have could have gotten back on the bike sooner, since I was already skiing a week after, I played it safe and stayed completely off.

I ended up leaving a lot later than I originally intended after a few calls in the morning and running a bunch of errands midday but it felt great once I was pedaling.  My chief concerns were the afternoon commute, sand on the side of the roads and potholes.  It was 43 degrees when I left the house and I probably should have had a my warmer cycling jacket on but overall I was fine.  I did start getting cold towards the end of the ride.  Also had my Lake303s on with wool socks.  My feet got hot initially but later when it got colder my feet were perfect!

Rode down to the bottom of Sandy Hook and then the long arduous climb to the top of Castle Hill. Might as well start with something big.  The climb killed my average speed and it sort of never recovered, either.  Going to have to work on that.  After marveling at the famous view of Newtown's Flag Pole and Church Hill I headed towards Bethel on Castle Hill.  Along the way, I met up with Lisa Marie, the author of the Newtown Run Project, picking up trash along the side of the road.

I kept going straight into Bethel and then hooked back around to ride home on one of my old bike commuting routes.  There were some big changes on good old OBR (Old Bethel Road).  As I mentioned earlier, the last three miles to home base were the coldest and I was wishing I had my better jacket on.  Everything felt great and I can't wait to do it again!

Thursday night shop ride with the Bicycle Center

I have been trying to get a lunch ride organized at work for the past week and so this Thursday I bring my bike but no one else brought theirs.  Leaving work around 5:15 I checked in with my wife to see what was going on and I wasn't really needed at home so I turned around and headed over to the Bicycle Center in Brookfield for their shop ride.

Besides some of the shop employees, like Will and Shawn (below) the only other person I new from doing one ride last year was this older gentleman from Belgium, named Louie.

Ironically, today's route was exactly the same route I rode with the shop last year, and the only time I rode with them.

We headed towards Route 25 in a round about way because Shawn didn't want to take everyone up Silvermine Hill because it's steep and winds and would be bad for a group of cyclists at rush hour.

At the intersection of Wewakama there were some nice Dames Rocket flowers

Technically an invasive there are still really nice to look at and very fragrant

Of the 20 riders starting out, about half made it to the intersection with Wewakama.  From here an A Group took off and I stuck with B Group.  By the time we got to Clapboard Road in Bridgewater, the B group had dwindled down to 5 riders!

We were really running late and the sun started to set by the time we got back to Route 25

I think this was the 3rd ride this year on the Cannondale this year.  I am so behind in my riding and the year is almost half over and I haven't even broken 1000 miles yet!

New Year's Day ride to the Beach

First ride of 2015 was freaking cold!  We spent the night in Trumbull after celebrating New Years with good friends that also live in Trumbull which took away from a long drive home after the revelry.  Since we were sleeping over, I brought my road bike and the next morning I headed out while everyone in the house was still sleeping!

While riding down Route 136, I went slower because my legs felt like they were going numb so I went to a higher gear and pedaled with a higher effort to warm up my legs.  It worked but by the time I got to the Minute Man, then wind coming off the water didn't help.

I Can't Believe it's Autumn

It's getting harder and harder to find time on the weekends to ride.  All the kids are tied up with their fall sports and activities now and while my wife and I play chauffeur and rooting section.  Saturday, I was still able to get out on the Cannondale for quick Fall Foliage ride around town.  I found a better plastic bottle for my vintage Cannondale seatbag that gives it much more volume. 

Candlewood Populaire

Sunday morning, I got on the Cannondale a little before 7 AM and headed out to ride another Populaire (100K+). My plan was to ride down to Bethel and pick up the Cycle Fest Route and go around Candlewood Lake but I should have paid closer attention to the CF start point rather than trying to be cute and cutting over at Walnut Tree because I got a big climbing surprise on Shelter Rock Road. Something I wasn't really expecting.  None-the-less, the view from Castle Hill made it worthwhile.  

I brought a hefty selection of food on this ride including two bananas, a snack bag of trail mix (tough to eat while pedaling), beef jerkey, Slim Jims, and two Cliff Bars.

Hey Beaches!

In preparation for tomorrow's Bloomin Metric, my brother-in-law and I, rode from the In-Laws to Compo Beach and back.

Sunday Riding, Hills

One ride that I used to do on my Cannondale XS800 was around Lake Lillilohna and being such a nice morning I decided to give it a try on the Cannondale Synapse.  It was sunny but there was cold wind coming from the north so I went with a short sleeve, arm warmers, riding jersey, bib tights and gloves.  The gloves were over kill and most of the ride I rode without them.  Something I haven't felt quite comfortable with but it didn't bother me that much.  

UFB Riding Day

Hard to believe that last week I was riding to work in the morning and it was still in the 20's.  Temperature gauge at the house read 65 degrees and I went out wearing an extra layer that I should have bagged and instead used my arm warmers.  Oh well, wasn't that much extra and eventually I took it off when I got down to Easton.

Shorts and fingerless gloves felt great.

I really wanted to go mountain biking today, however, I still needed to hit my 100 mile weekly riding goal.  All I needed was 30 miles and for that I have perfected a good route.  The route is 34 miles and accumulates 3,300 feet of climbing but once I get on Poverty Hollow it seems like it's all down hill from there.  What I like about this route is that I know I have options to extend it for more distance, time permitting of course.

Speaking of Poverty Hollow, took this picture of this couple in front of me riding the comfort bikes and unbeknownst to me got a really good picture of the scenic road sign.  

The dude wasn't wearing a helmet and I was about to go all Helmet Nazi on him but he was going so slow and I didn't want to slow down so I ignored it.

Stopped off at Clark Kent's Connecticut Country home for water and gels.  He wasn't around but maybe I will catch him next time.  You'd think with all those powers he has he would do something with his front yard landscaping.

All my southerly routes include a ride by of Gurske Pond when coming back north.  It was looking particularly serene today so I had to stop and take a few pictures.

When I got home, I switched bikes, got Elliot and we went over to Fairfield Hills for some more cross training.  He finally climbed the back hill on the rec path without stopping!  He still has to stop to have a drink of water in the parking lot so I don't quite have him doing a complete lap yet.  I am going to try a hydration pack and let him drink on the go.

After riding we got a little ice cream at Holy Cow in Newtown.

Awesome day!

My first, real road ride

Today was the first morning with temperatures above 25 degrees

so I finally got the opportunity to put the Synapse on the road!

Since I won't ride this bike on dirt roads the best way out of the Housatonic River Valley is up and I might as well just keep going up, all the way to the top of Castle Hill.  What a glorious morning, not a cloud in the sky!

I had planned on a much bigger ride but as the saying goes the Road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Fast forward 36 miles and a couple of glasses of water and cup of coffee, Having been off the bike for two weeks I realize that I am really out of shape.  I have 20 days to get ready for the Foolish Classic.   

Now this is a bike!  Shifting is awesome although  I had some problems thinking that I was still using the SRAM double taps that I had on the Cannondale XS-800. I had a few miss shifts here and there but eventually I got the hang of it. It also has a trim feature on the front derailleur that I also got used to after awhile, too.  Not only did I fly in the flats but climbing was much more efficient.  

I love riding by Gurske Pond.

Today, I saw a cat walk out on the ice and lap the water where it wasn't frozen.