94 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

Savings from Bike Commuting

Gas:  6 gallons
CO2:  120 lbs

Monday bike commutes mean bringing the work week's clothes with me. 

Fortunately, I have a pannier for that!

Riding in was a little foggy and damp.

Coming home, wasn't.

It was so nice out today I rode home without gloves.

In fact, I was able to show a little skin.

Hair of the Pascal Lamb

Had to work off some of the celebratory exuberance from the night before and seeing that I haven't really tasted any dirt this year due to the long winter I finally got out for a little Gravle ride on Saturday afternoon.  Saturday's temperature was interesting.  The northeasterly wind gusts really cooled things down but the bright sun kept things warm in the climbs.  If it was windy and shady, it was down right nasty!

Compared to last year, I am already behind a month in terms of my riding for both commuting and Gravle riding and I need to get in shape fast if I am going to do the Detour de Connecticut in a couple of weeks!  Today's ride was 40 miles and it was kind of unusual in that I was riding counter clockwise of my normal routes through the Shepaug River Valley. 

I went this way because I wanted to ride Flag Swamp to River Road to Judd's Bridge and Walker Brook Road.  It's pretty much a straight shot all the way to border with New Preston mostly on dirt roads.  It's been 5 years since I have ridden Flag Swamp and the Pave has extended further than I remembered so I might have to tweek the course a bit in search of more dirt.

I finally got the chance to ride Old Northville Road.  It's a great, dirt road climb, up to Ridge Road which is fantastic ride down the east side of New Milford with spectacular views of the Shepaug and Housatonic River Valleys.

Riding 700x50c Vee Rubber tires was really nice.  On the dirt roads that needed to be shored up with larger stone I sailed right through the rough stuff.  The larger volume tires are even bouncy at times. I was running 55 psi up front and 60 psi in the rear.  Since this route was more pave than gravle I figured it would be better.  They do have a distinctive road noise and I am sure they cause a lot of drag.  I never broke 40 mph on any of the steepest descents, either.  Still, I like them and will keep riding them until I pull the trigger on a new set of tires.

Lake Lillilohna is still covered with ice! 

My post ride beer was totally worth it but I was destroyed!

95 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

Savings from Bike Commuting

Gas:  5 gallons
CO2:  100 lbs

Yet another cold morning bike commute requiring me to be dressed to the nines for it.  On the ride in to work it got down 27 degrees F and it's April 2nd!  I think I am used to this now.

A few updates to the Bianchi, new handlebar bag previously mentioned, and I took my Vintage Cannondale Seat pack off the Synapse and mounted it under the seat and fits perfectly!  On the ride home Tuesday, I did loose a screw holding the rack and fender to the frame.  

Thanks to Cliff for telling me about an inexpensive way to make locktite, use nail polish.  I just so happen to have a bottle of black nail polish that I used to use on the Qball laying around so I coated the threads on the new screw, let it dry and screwed it in.  Removed the other and did the same.  After today's commute they are still holding tightly.

On the way in there were a lot more honks, thumbs ups, head bobs and waves.  The honks were not rude just commuters letting me know that they are more important than me because they are in a car and I am on a bike. The ride home was different story, got passed in the office park on White Turkey extension by someone with an inferiority complex of some sort doing 60 mph and to what end I ask because there is a busy intersection at the top of the hill anyway and they will have to stop.  That car was a BMW.

On the bucolic and lazy Old Bethel road another BMW flew past me.  Lastly, I rode down the dirt section of Pond Brook Road and that was a mistake. The wet sections of the road made it feel like riding in mud but I did get home in 43 minutes!  In fact my times both to and from the office were under an hour!

Vintage Ventoura Touring Series Handlebar Bag

Here is the other bag that I mentioned in my previous post about my latest acquisition of another Vintage Cannondale Casey handlebar bag.  This one is from Ventoura, which from what I can tell is a British company that only makes motorcycle bags now. Ironically, this bag is an exact copy of the Cannondale Chugger Bag and coincidentally this is exactly what I have been looking for. 

I will have to order another custom bracket but it will be totally worth it.

This bag is so awesome!  It has 3 zippered outside pockets, and two open sleeve pockets on both sides of the bag.  Perfect for an iPhone, camera and snacks.  In the main compartment there is also another kind of pocket which seems almost like a shelf.  Handy for things you might need on a ride, like food.

Rather than hooking the straps to the end of the fork like what I have done with the Bianchi I am going to run a single webbing strap under the front rack.  Now I need to craft something for the rack to hold a light so I can do some night Gravle rides.  With all this blue on the bike it might be time to change my bar tape.  Might have to try orange just to keep it different.

Another Vintage Cannondale Casey Handlebar Bag

A couple of weeks ago, a reader contacted me saying that he had some cycling bags and other accessories laying around the house that came from his brother that he didn't have need of and wanted to know if I would like to have them.  Not one to say no to free stuff, I said sure.  We got to talking about cycling and it turns out that Cliff and his family used tour all over the country on their bikes and he shaded with me a wealth of knowledge about touring and cycling.

The box I received from Cliff, contained a Vintage Cannondale Casey handlebar bag, another Vintage handlebar bag made by Ventoura, a front rack from Veta and a very interesting bottle cage from Minoura which was labeled as a Pet Bottle Cage. Basically, it's a bottle cage made for holding soda bottles that are at least a liter.  However, what drew my attention the most was the red Casey handlebar bag because I thought it would look really good on the Bianchi and go with Banjo Brothers waterproof pannier.

The Casey only came with one strap and I thought about using the straps from the Ventoura but then I thought that a bungee cord would work better because I need a hook that will will grab onto the end of the fork because I don't have another eyelet to use.  It worked great!  However, I still might cannibalize the straps from my yellow Vintage Cannondale Casey handlebar bag because I know they work with my setup.

I really like how the two red bags compliment one another on the bike.  The yellow bag with the yellow bar tape never really worked for me but up until the other day I didn't really have any other options.  

I can't wait to start working on the Ventoura bag next.  I will be putting in a call to Wolfpit Iron works to have another handlebar bracket made and I will have to get serious about the light mount I want to put on the Surly, so I can start doing some night gravel grinder rides.