Consecutive bicycle work commute number 2120:

If you could bottle this morning's weather you could sell it by the gallon. 61°F, low humidity and a 10 mph cross wind. It was a glorious ride to work.

The only frustration was I dropped my chain twice. My road bike has always had a tendency to drop the chain on occasion when shifting the front derailleur from the little to big ring. Lately, however, it happens more often than not. I suspect that having over 6k miles on this chain may be contributing to the problem. I'm due for a chain/cassette replacement.

I used to measure my chain wear religiously and replace it as soon as my tool indicated the chain stretch was beyond tolerance. However, I quickly figured out that I can kill a chain in less than 600 miles. I suspect being a Clydesdale probably contributes to the accelerated wear. That meant I was replacing chains every 6-8 weeks. Plus, often times when replacing my chain the new chain would skip on the old cassette, necessitating that to be replaced as well. I know most people say the rule of thumb is two chains for every one cassette, but I usually was having to replace the cassette with every chain. With an 11 speed drivetrain, it quickly grew very expensive.

I finally decided to start running chains and cassettes until they just won't properly function any longer. I still clean/lube them about every two weeks, but I just quit worrying about wear until it becomes obvious. That increased my chain/cassette replacement intervals to every couple of years. My recent increase of chain dropping frequency probably indicates I've gotten sufficient life out of this set.