So I have a Surley LHT. Original drive train. I used the go/no-go Park Tool chain wear indicator to measure my chain stretch. I'm between the 0.75 and the 1.0. I will replace my chain. Everyone says the casette wears out 2-3 times faster than the chain ring (at least that's what I found at the Bike Forums archive via Google), but when I discern my drive train I notice that my chain ring is at least as worn my casette. No shark teeth, but some of the teeth are chipped (not badly, but enough to remove the precise pyramid shape at the top of the tooth when the chain ring is new), and others look like they're wearing normally, i.e., on their way to shark teethdom. I bought my LHT complete stock, so it's the Sugino XD600 crankarms. It's a daily commuter/everywhere bike, my commute alone being ~14 miles round trip for the first ~1 year, now ~7 miles for another ~0.5 years, San Francisco hills included the entire time. My questions:

1) Why are my chain rings seemingly wearing out at the same rate as the rest of my drive train? Am I being too picky?

2) Do the chain ring teeth mildly chip before they round off into shark teeth, i.e., should I slap a new chain and casette on it and call it a day? Or should I replace the pricey chain rings?

3) I don't use panniers, just a messenger bag; do you think when I balance/slightly push forward at intersections, I'm overloading my the chain ring teeth?

Preemptive thanks to all the gurus out there who know way more than me!

-Johnny