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.

Cycling round Candlewood Lake

I have always wanted to ride the circumference of Lake Candlewood, counter clockwise, and today I did so.  While sunny it was still really cold out and the wind coming down from the north didn't help either.  I had to make one detour due to a car crash on Silvermine Road and then I got to experience Elbow Hill for the first time.  Shifting on the bike seemed OK but I was still having some issues but not enough to turn around. 

Reconstituted Lunartics Ride before Work

The Lunartics of Newtown met this week for another ride before work

Back in the Woods

I had originally intended to go mountain biking in the morning and then ride with Elliot in the afternoon but it was much more colder this morning and then my wife asked for help around the house.  When I got back with Elliot, I changed, and headed out on the Spot.  I think it's been close to a year since the last time I rode at Upper Paugussett so I figured it was high time to see how the trails were holding up after such a mild winter.

Tandeming around Town

After getting some good mileage on Saturday I decided to take it easy on Sunday and go out for a tandem ride with Elliot.  I wanted to hit the Old Put trail but Elliot had other things in mind.  He wanted to stay local and hit Peach Wave on the way home.

A warm winter Saturday

Hot, cold, hot, cold:  I wish mother nature would make up her mind because the weather we have been having has been crazy.  After some fabulous warm weather the week prior, the weekend turned cooler but that didn't stop me from riding.  It did result in the cancellation of Elliot's last ski race so I found myself with a lot of free time on a Saturday that I would have normally meant doing more uphill skiing in the Catskills.

Wearing shorts again and just a long sleeve shirt under my riding jersey I met Gavin off of Toddy Hill and we threaded our way down to the Easton General Store.

Early and Dirty: Dirt before Work

With my road bike in the shop I headed out on my weekly #RideBeforeWork on the Cross Check with the intention of riding some dirt roads in and around Newtown.  I had heard through the local velo grapevine that someone had rigged up pallets on the old bridge on Black Bridge Road, thus allowing people to or ride across the Pootatuck River.

The Ride Nosh

Gavin and I headed out on a beautiful Sunday morning for a loop around the Saugatuck Reservoir.  It was in the low 30s so there weren't any Freds out, either.

Elliot wins Gold at the Michael Gray Jr race!

Elliot's first run on the course and he does really well!

Last Uphill Climb at Windham this season

Weekly warm-ups are coming all to frequently now and who knows if I will get another chance to climb with the dwindling conditions.  As it turns out, I didn't think I would be able to skin today because Elliot had a race but since the conditions were less than optimal the organizers pushed back his race time and I had a couple of hours to kill so I headed up.

New Job, New Commute, New Ride Time

The commute to my new job is another 15 minutes over my last commute which means I have to back ride time up 15 more minutes.  I tried to leave at 5 AM but actually rolled at 5:15 AM.  I probably should have done a shorter loop, too, but I was feeling good and decided to push.

The one thing that caught me by surprise was the temperature.  When I left the house it was 37 deg F and by the time I got home, it was 30 deg F!  My legs were freezing, too!  These (cheap) thermal riding tights that I got for Christmas were not as thermal as they were supposed to be.  Despite the cold, I had a great ride and will start doing more of these and leave a little earlier, too.