Bike Commuting Again!

My new job is located in Norwalk, CT, which approximately 35 miles from where I live. If I take back roads, the distance is more like 26 or 27 miles.  This commute will be the longest point to point, bike commute in my entire cycling life.  To shower, I had to join the office park gym which is $50 for your lifetime with a company at the office park.  With the price of gas around $2, I figure my break even on the gym is somewhere between 9 and 10 rides, based on the amount of gas that I am saving by not driving to work.

The King's New Clothes

Gavin got a new bike, a Cannondale Synapse Carbon!  Just like mine, only newer and a few pounds lighter!  Not a bad rig if you ask me, but then again I am biased because I have one, too.

RAW: Ein sehr guten Freitag

Got out of work early on the Friday of the Easter Weekend and with the weather being so so nice I got home as quick as possible and headed out for a ride.

Chain cleanliness is next to Godliness

Turned out to me much colder than I expected this morning but I was determined to ride because I just got an new tranny on the Synapse.  I was surprised to learn from the shop that my chain was stretched and needed to be replaced and that meant I would need a new cassette, too, after only ~1600 miles!  What the hell?  When I asked Shawn at the Bicycle Center how could this be, he asked me how often I cleaned my chain?  I thought back and said over the past 9 months, probably once or twice. To which he recommended to do it a least once a month!    

Sunday, Dirty Sunday

Unnamed Dirt Road behind Sand Hill Plaza

Newtown has approximately 8.5 miles of dirt roads but if you throw in a few old Rights of Ways and closed roads you get around 10 miles of dirt.  Steven Tramposh and I headed out on a Sunday morning before it was supposed to start snowing later in the day to try and ride most of the dirt roads that Newtown has to offer and to hit some dirt in Easton, Reading, and Monroe.  Finally, circle back on the Monroe Rail Trail and then I would probably hit Black Bridge and the Rail Road be through the Vineyard.