Yet another Bike Commuter in Newtown, CT

This morning I went on a workout ride that hit some of my favorite climbs, Walnut Tree to Sandy Hook, Sandy Hook to the Flag Pole and the Flag Pole to the top of Castle Hill.  When I got to Castle Hill I caught up to this bike commuter, named Coleman, who lives in Newtown and commutes about 8 miles each way to Danbury!  It's great to see more people riding to work.

Compo Beach Populaire

I wanted to get one more big ride in this month so I rode down to Compo Beach in Westport on Sunday and I got there pretty quickly.  I loaded the course from Garmin Connect and the turn-by-turn barely worked.  There was no elevation cross section either and I am wondering if it has something to do with Garmin Connect.  I think I am going to have to try RideWithGPS and see if that improves performance.  

It took me 1 hour and 45 minutes to ride the 28 miles to the beach.  I was ecstatic but then I realized that  I might be experiencing another Ocean City Effect Ride, when you notice on the way home that wind was at your back the whole time.

Berkshire Brewing Company Goes Warm?

I was at the Big Y in Newtown, CT on Saturday and found all this Berkshire Brewing Company Beer on display and not refrigerated?  Nowhere else have I seen this before.  The Big Y in Deerfield, MA was selling it cold and everywhere else around my neck of the woods sells it cold, too, and you never see it out on the shelves like this.  Is this an example of a Beer Failure?

If the cans say Best Kept Cool does that mean you have to keep it cool or it is OK not to?  I have tweeted this and Instagrammed it to Berkshire Brewing Company but that haven't gotten back to me yet.  Of course, it could be the Big Y here not knowing.  I bought my six pack of Lost Sailor Pale Ale that day where it was stored cold.

Update:  According to the company, they don't pasteurize their beer, therefore the recommendation to Best Kept Cool but apparently it can be sold this way, it's just recommended to Best Kept Cool. Personally, I will not buy BBC unless it's cold.

Gravle Serendipty

For my 50th Bike Commute I rode the Cannondale to work and was planning on a big ride after work on the way home, assuming I left early enough. I had envisioned riding to Glover Street and then back on Pumpkin Hill and knocking out a good 35 miler. Due to a mechanical issue, somehow a chain link split and was causing the gears to skip, I had to limp home settle for 30 miles commute.

George who lives in Newtown

My original intention Friday morning was to ride in the morning on the Bianchi, swing by the bike shop and drop off the Cannondale and not commute, however, waking up Friday morning the Give-a-Shit meter was in the red, the night before I stayed up too late working on Lipstick's drive train for a Single Speed conversion that I bagged the morning ride and figured I could hop on the Cannondale after I picked it up from the shop and bang out a good ride.

However, late in the morning my manager came into my office basically told me to take off early for the holiday weekend.  With the Cannondale in the shop I hopped on the Bianchi when I got home and went out to ride 30+ miles on the Bianchi San Jose.  What luck!  I now have all Friday afternoon to ride. After hitting some of the trails at Fairfield Hills, I popped out on Mine Hill South and caught up to George who was riding a sweet Bianchi Eros.  At first I thought he was a bike commuter with that pack on his back but he was just out for a ride a beautiful Friday.

I contemplated riding the Orchard Hill Trails but forgot to put bug repellent on and wasn't sure how bushy those trails might be so I stayed to the basic loop down to Monroe, past Guske Pond, and back up Hattertown Road and then to Boggs Hill.

This week in Bike Commuting: My 50th!

My goal this year was to ride at least 50 times to work and on Thursday I did it!  I live 10 miles from the office so 50 trips means 1000 miles but I have done extra riding so my cumlative commuting to date is 1,395.75 miles.  It also means that I have saved around $200, 1000 less miles that I could have put on the car and at least 1000 lbs of carbon emissions.  Now with 4 months to go to the end of the year my next goal is try and ride 25 more times to work.