Sunday, September 12, 2010

To Londonderry

I had the chance to ride up to Londonderry, NH over the weekend! It was the first substantial exercise I had in four weeks. I was a little tired but the ride was well worth it. I left after the morning chill. The skies were blue with a few clouds and temps in the 70s - a perfect fall day.

The map.

Summer riding in Vermont

On the family vacation in Vermont this summer, I had the chance to get in two rides:

1) a long road ride from Ludlow to Woodstock and back. I did this on my Surly, which I had with me because I may have had to ride from the house we were staying at, which is nearly inaccessible on a road bike. I had been on most of the roads before so there were no surprises. The weather was lovely and the roads relatively untraveled by cars and bikes. I could have done this ride 15-20 minutes quicker on the IF.

Map: ride 1

2) a shorter ride but starting from the house. I left for this ride around 5:30 before anyone in the house was up. The ride starts on the 1.3 mile 650 foot driveway. My rims were hot by the bottom of the hill. There was fog up high but the visibility in the valleys was perfect. The roads were very empty - I saw 4 cars in the first 10 miles. The ascent up the hill was easy - if you have a 30/27 gearing. I needed the wider tires and the gearing of the Surly. The wider tires were nice for all of Cavendish Gulf Road.  I saw deer in the Black River, getting a drink.  Change to the Topo map to see the hill at the start of the ride:

Map: ride 2

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Sturdy commuter bike

I saw this bike in town yesterday. This looks like a very nice commuting bike without spending thousands on it. It is a single speed with a chain tensioner. It is comprised of a variety of
useful parts including:
Soma cross frame
Salsa disk mount fork
Front disk brake
Dyno hub with lights
Rear rack
Studded snow tires
Ortlieb panniers
One good lock
It is not as beautiful, or flexible, as this very nice commuter from IF but you might not mind parking it in places where you would never leave your Ti IF.

Sunday, January 31, 2010