OK, while putting on a new rear fender Saturday, I measured the chain and WOW it was horribly worn. I guess the sand and crap was a lot worse than I thought; in 6 weeks it went from not hitting the "0.75" (3/4 worn) side of the gauge to having probably 2-3 mm of gap to the "1.0" side of the gauge. I don't think it would have been possible to keep a chain clean lately; I'd clean and ride to work and it'd look like it'd been dipped in a mud bath.

So I put a new chain on. Now I'm skipping gears like mad. Dammit. Ordering a new freewheel now. At least this will give me a chance to get rid of that damn useless megarange gear. I'll switch from 14-34 to a 14-28. I would have liked a 13-28 but I don't see them listed.

Ah well, apart from that it was a great ride. No shoulders on the busy road today due to heavy/wet snowfall yesterday freezing into a rutted mess on the sides, but the cars can just wait and go around.