2nd Annual Hartford Bike Tour!

For those of you that missed it, this past Saturday was the second annual Hartford Bike Tour which in over 1,000 bicycles took to the streets of Hartford to celebrate the city and our favorite mode of transportation. The ride went off without a hitch and easily gathered as many riders as last year. I have not seen any reporting of the ride from the Courant(kind of hard to drop the ball on this one as its not every day over 1000 bicyclists are simultaneously riding around Hartford), nor has the CCBA blog been updated so I can only guess as to the number of riders but I would conservatively put the number around 1200 perhaps as many as 1500. The ride organizers did a great job of laying out a very diverse and creative route which traversed every corner of the city,



The police were far more present than last year and were very effective at controlling traffic at the major intersections. Resultantly the ride was exponentially safer for all riders as many were obviously inexperienced at riding in the city and in large groups. This made for a few sketchy moments as kids darted in front of other riders and as apprehensive cyclists slowed down movement through intersections. Lets be patient, however, and keep in mind that practice makes perfect and only by getting riders out there and out there often can we all learn how to behave and react on the road. Of course this does NOT make it acceptable for the woman who nearly ran Meg off the road to have told her to "F*@$ off" when Meg told her to pay closer attention to the road! Not the vibe we are going for people.

For a further recap of the ride and more pictures click on the title as I apparently have killed the "Read More" functionality of this post!!!





I knew EMS would be set up and that John their bike tech would be there so I was hoping to borrow a couple cone wrenches to tighten up my rear hub, no such luck, he brought just about every tool you can think of except cone wrenches!!! Turned out ok as this was a far less annoying problem than my severely worn hammock-chain which I am surprised I only dropped once on the whole ride! Here is my Panasonic resting up for the ride.


The crowd gathered all over the South side of Bushnell Park and as you can see it was a good size lot. Many ooogled and crooned over this odd transportation device as they waited for the ride to start.


Familiar faces were to be found all over.


Quite a good mix of people. All ages and bike preferences were represented.


As you can see turnout was great and we had quite the line up at the start. Took a good 10 minutes to get the ride really moving I know not the 5 Boro but still impressive for the Beat).



Sonny and I are ready to roll though Will has disappeared leaving his bike behind.



Finally movement! Elm Street is filled with bicycles! A wonderful sight.


There is Will, he looks so dapper in his orange vest! Dawn certainly thinks so. Watch out guys a crowd of cone-headed recumbent riders are chasing you down! Yes these are the same birthday hats you will find strewn all over the city for the coming weeks as many of the riders couldn't control them.


The peloton crests the hill! As I mentioned the hills were a challange for some and resultantly plugged up the road causing delays. Charter Oak was perhaps the worst as the narrow road slow riders combined for a tricky ascent.

The "climb" was well worth it though as the multitude of riders got to see the beautiful architecture perched at the top of the hill...


We passed Colt's and headed for the river...


Through Riverfront Park..


Over the highway towards Kensington Street...

And down Kensington...

Everyone had to fall in single file to get through this gate in order to pass the site of the Hartford Circus Fire. This slowed down the ride and bordered on chaos as everyone tried to get past one another. We just sat an watched waiting for some of our group to catch up.

We turned onto Barbour Street to see these political activists and entreprenuers selling street wares, Yes We Can! Obama!

We then made our way into Keney Park. A rest stop in the park was the site of our group's first flat (Ben's first of two), though also provided a good chance to reorganize and grab a few snacks. Here Ben is trying to get enough pressure in his tube. Stupid mini pumps...

After we headed out of the Park we rode down Waverly and Love Lane before popping back into the Southern part of Keney...


Here Will and Dawn are enjoying a relaxing ride through the park...


From there we rode down Woodland Street and turned onto Ashley Street...

It was a chance to display some of the great preservation work that has taken place in Asylum Hill. I overheard many riders commenting on how impressive the homes were in this area and how excited they were that the ride took them into such hidden areas of the city that they might otherwise never have visited. From there we made our way up Asylum towards Elizabeth Park. We sat at the intersection of Prostect and Asylum for a minute observing the behavior of cyclists in the intersection, very few took the lane.

Will, Dawn, Megs leg, and I...
Meg, Sonny, and Mo keeping it real...


There goes Joel...


In the park we all raced for the Yellow Jersey.

Though it found Will celebrating a bit too early as Alberto Contador surely beat him to the line, oh wait thats Sonny.


After these feats of racing Sonny displayed his graceful over-the-handlebars-flying-uphill-flip! Sheer genius though it doesnt seem the Pink Dropshadow enjoyed it so much.

The Ride then traveled through the West End, across Pope Park, into the South End, traversed Goodwin Park, and headed through these tunnels near Brainard Rd.



A large group took a wrong turn and rode up a steep hill onto the levys above the water treatment plant. A nice spot but not where we were supposed to go.


It did offer a great view of the city skyline, just ignore the foreground.



Brainard Road had brand new bike lanes though I have to argue why put bike lanes out here where no one needs them, no one will use them regularly, and where the traffic doesn't necessitate it? Oh right so the city can boast that they added so many new miles of bike infrastructure this year, lanes to nowhere! And in this case not even painted correctly, am I wrong or is this suggesting bikers should be riding in the shoulder? Maybe it was the city's attempt at separated bike paths, ala here.


After turning onto Murphy Road and then Reserve Road the ride headed down Van Dyke, past an optional loop through Charter Oak Landing, and then past the beautiful old Colt Factory.


Back downtown Bushnell Park welcomed us back to the start of the ride.

After the ride everyone was starving for food and beer. Kenny's was close, has outdoor seating, and copious space for bike parking. We really packed it in there.


Meg like beer, me like beer. Good thing we got these shirts with registration as we were all pretty sweaty and gross.


Perhaps this is why Dawn is hiding behind this pole? Will seems fine with pictures through.


So many bikes, including one crazy recumbent that this guy was showing off to Will and I.


Odd machines but not my style.
We all hung out for a while, ate, drank, and socialized. From there some went home and some prepared for the evening's Ally Cat. We'll have to wait to see how that went.