Oh to be a bike in Stonington, Connecticut...

The semester is finally over, so as we do most holidays, my wife and I headed for Stonington, CT. This is a beautiful little town on the coast, right between Mystic (think Julia Roberts in Mystic Pizza) and the Rhode Island border. I always look forward to these trips...especially for the cycling. The roads around Stonington give riders a nice variety of everything from flat stretches to some serious hills.
The trip north was fraught with snow and ice though, so I was a little concerned about the cycling possibilities:

The bikes, being on top of the car, took a real beating. I wish I had taken a picture of them, as they were caked in some serious salt and road grime. The guys at the local bike shop, Mystic Cycle Centre, said they had never seen road bikes so dirty. I was actually really concerned they may have taken some permanent damage, but the guys at the shop did an amazing job cleaning them up.
I opted for the "deluxe tune up." The price seemed a little spendy, but damned if it wasn't deluxe. The bike was cleaner than when I bought it, and ran smoother and quieter than a fixed gear...I thought I was running Sram Red. The guys at MCC were super friendly, and had the bikes back to me in less than twenty four hours. So I did what any self respecting cyclist would do...I headed out for a twenty five mile test ride. It was beautiful, but after riding in Tidewater Virginia for the last six months, my legs weren't used to the hills. I felt like Jan Ullrich trying to catch Lance on the Alpe d'huez.
I was so inspired after the ride, I decided to take a few pictures of the clean bike with my new itouch:
Spoke View
Dead Powered
Not that impressive to most, but I felt like I was flying: