This ride was from Danbury to Lebanon and back to see what sort of bike and tires would be best for doing the entire Northern Rail Trail all in one go. It turns out that the northern half is slightly rougher than the southern half, but not by much. Again, all the bridges and tunnels are intact, except in two places where the trail drops down to secondary roads. The section from 7-13 miles could use some work; the surface has a lot of 1/4" stuff scattered about, and the occasional rock poking up. It's nothing to complain about, but might make people with 25mm tires unhappy. There were also two or three long conduit underpasses inside of which there is a lot of rolling bumps and 3/4" gravel. So, again, I appreciated my 32mm tires. 28's would still work, especially if you have a compliant frame, which I did not. The lakes in the northern half were even better than the southern half. Lots of good places to swim. Lots of nice views. I also found two crab-apple trees — one like the one on the southern half, and one that looked like golden delicious.