The Farmington River Bike Trail - Canton, Collinsville, Burlington, Unionville

If you happen to be riding at all in northwestern Connecticut, I urge you to try the Farmington River Bike Trail, which runs through several towns in Hartford County. The trail is not terribly hilly, and is quite scenic.

Also, much has been done to improve this trail over the years. When I first rode this trail probably 15 years ago, it was very basic - a few paved spots, some dirt spots, a couple wooden benches along the way. Today, the trail is mostly paved, has lots of places to sit or to picnic, and lots of on-trail parking areas. This trail is a real gem here in western Connecticut.

Summer Evening Rides

Riding a Raleigh DL-1 type bike over-the-road and on some pretty demanding hills is not easy. The bike is kind of heavy for going uphill, and the brakes are underwhelming going downhill. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try it.

This Raleigh export model roadster is geared pretty low - 44 teeth on the sprocket and 21 teeth on the cog. This gives it at least some ability to climb hills, provided you are smart and conserve your energy, and use the low first gear to climb. The old-style long crank arms give decent leverage, and if you corkscrew your way up the hill, you should be able to make it just fine. Your mindset needs to be one of gradually getting to the top rather than thrashing up a hill with this bike.

Going downhill requires awareness and planning. You're not going to be able to fly down a hill and then slam on the brakes for an emergency stop. The best idea is to allow the bike to coast down the hill, but with judicious use of the brakes so that you do not "out-ride your ability to stop". If you ride on particularly quiet roads, you can corkscrew to the bottom as a skier might do on a steep hill.

But with some patience and the understanding that your goal is to make the journey - rather than racing to the finish - you can complete an over-the-road ride with a DL-1 type bikes on some pretty steep hills. And unlike lighter, faster bikes, the DL-1 can take you over these roads, bet they paved or unpaved dirt.

1962 Raleigh Rod Brake Roadster Export Model

The last of the bikes moved from Virginia to Connecticut was the Raleigh roadster export model, which made the trip at the end of January. I loaded my Jeep to the ceiling with the stuff left to be moved, threw the bike rack onto the back, and loaded up the Raleigh.

Unfortunately, the day proved to be bitterly cold, windy, and snowy. The Raleigh was subjected to corrosive road salt and brine most of the 300+ mile journey. When I arrived in Connecticut, I basically hosed-down the bike with WD-40 to prevent moisture from mixing with the salt.

While this helped to some degree, the bike still had a fair bit of corrosion on it. Over the course of two weekends, I totally took the bike apart. I cleaned all the parts, and put any rusty parts into Evaporust formula. Evaporust is expensive, but it can be re-used and it does a good job removing rust from small parts.

After re-assembling the bike, I decided to put it through it a test by riding over several dirt farm roads in the area. The black flies and deer flies were brutal along these roads, but the bike made it through just fine. It's a little dusty from riding, but the corrosion from the road salt is long gone and it's back on the road.

 The pictures in this post are from the dirt road ride. The DL-1 style roadsters excel on this kind of road, though you still have to take it a bit slow because of all the loose stones and the rather marginal rod brakes. But you can still ride these roads, and the rod brake roadster is far preferable on dirt and gravel compared to the Sports-style light roadster or the clubman-style racing bike.