Copyright infringement

If you read this blog, you know it's not very good. We're not very good at riding bikes and we're way worse at writing. After you've read all the good bike blogs on the internet (of which there might 1.3 or so), you come here because you live near Hartford and you want to remember that the cycling scene around here is not worthy of report. However, I surfing the website the other day and I came upon this.

What the fuck!?

I worked hard on that bike ride. I had to drive all the way to Vermont to do it, in addition to the riding part! Then, I had to write about it. You better believe that when some spam blog steals my precious literary work, I'm going to do something about.

So, I filled out some complicated Google copyright infringement form and got an email from Google that apparently they're taking care of it (the offending spam blog is hosted by blogger). However, they're only going after two the examples I sent them and I'm fairly sure that the spam blog has co-opted every single beat bike blog post ever. Even former bloggers like Joel, El Presidente de Chine and Rich aren't safe.

Is anything sacred?

Nobody loves us in the winter

Seems like the BeatBikeBlog only gets a quarter of the page hits in the winter.  What's up with that you fickle nancies?  Perhaps we write worse in the cold weather.  Too cold to type.

Anyway.  To instigate some year round bicycle goodness I've started back up a monthly Icebike to Work on the East side of the river.  At Maddies, across the street from Pratt & Whitney on Main Street, four year round bike commuters met on November 20th.  The bikes locked up front clearly confused the regulars.  An enjoyable time was had hashing on about lights, runny noses, and such.  We'll be meeting again the morning of December 12th (a Wednesday) at 7:00AM if anyone else would like to stop in for some breakfast or a coffee.  You don't have to be from P&W.  All are welcome here.

Bike Walk Connecticut is keeping up the bike advocacy momentum into the winter with their Annual Dinner, which will be held on Thursday, November 29th at Central Connecticut State University.  If you wanted to get tickets, but didn't, it's probably too damn late.  With 150 bike loving friends and a huge silent auction (great deals yo!) I'm pretty excited.  I'll be sharing a table of 10 with some pretty awesome people.

And Brendan is bringing it to the streets (and trails) with the Return of the Eel.  Get your bike out.  Season schmeason.  We'll be riding on Saturday!

Hiking in the dark

If the weather is crappy on Saturday, I think I rather go for a ride on Sunday.

Speaking of Sunday, Johanna and I went for a hike on Sunday and it was really great. We went to the section of the Appalachian Trail by the Schaighticoke reservation. It was a new to us section and really great. Nice views, trail in good shape. The return loop along the Housatonic was very nice road. Anyway, I recommend this as a very pleasant alternative to the north of Salisbury, because it's so peaceful and it makes a loop. Park on Schaighticoke rd in Kent right off Bulls Bridge rd.

Another Eel

It's been awhile, huh?

Let's ride another Eel this Saturday. Meeting 10am on the rocks at Hyland Park in Hartford. A 'cross bike will be a good bike, but you don't like that on singletrack, ride a mountain bike. Of course, Jobst Brandt can ride anything on a road bike with slicks. Plan on six or so hours, so lights may be needed. I don't have a route in mind yet, but I will in a few days.

Also, how come people keep spray painting roots? It seems like every time I'm on a trail these days in a park, someone has spray painted the roots.

Food

I have a pretty high metabolism. It's mostly pretty nice, because I don't get too cold in the winter. I think it has slowed a little bit or things have changed because I'm not a vegetarian anymore, because I don't have to eat as much during the summer. Or, when I ride by myself, I don't push myself too hard so that I blow up and die. It still happens a bit when I ride with other people. This year's De Tour was a good example of that. I rode fast with Salem and Jessie and when I got back to East Hampton, I burned up all my energy and ground to a halt.

Anyway, the temperature has gotten a bit colder, so I have to burn more to stay warm. That means I need to bring more food with me so that I don't pass out in Penwood and have to eat tree bark to avoid death. Not that that happened today, but it occurred to me after I ate the last of my food at the turn around point that I probably should have brought a little bit more. Or, I should ride with other people who can carry food for me.

Do other people have this problem? I was ice climbing once (and the only time) and the good ice climbers were telling me about that the nice thing about ice climbing is that you eat whatever you want because you burn so many calories staying warm (as well as climbing up the side of icy cliffs). It's not that I'm concerned about getting fat, it's more that I'm concerned about running out of energy and having to resort to eating tree bark.

Not thankful for

When I was riding with Dario the other day, I looked down at my bike and noticed that two chainring bolts were missing and the remaining three were super loose. I am not thankful for loose chainring bolts or their disappearance. There had been some creaking and checked the crank bolts. It appears I checked the wrong ones.

Anyway, do you think we should do an Eel-esque ride next weekend?

Thanksgiving greeting from some guys on a causeway

Some people you eat turkey with and some people you ride to the causeway in Manchester with.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This was life changing

As you may recall, I do The Eel.

Well, now you have to watch and read this.

And another thing, when should we do another eel?

The Writing's On the Lamp Post

My thoughts exactly.

I did appreciate a man grunting at me to signify he was passing me on the sidewalk as I strolled along Farmington Avenue. His weaving, flailing, and almost bailing off the bike while making a fairly simple maneuver informed me, after the fact, that the lecture I delivered to him about riding in the street likely clung to a non-firing synapse.

Here's the thing: the cycling activists generally know better than to ride on the sidewalk, so sending the message to us is the wrong audience. And doing street preaching at the offending cyclists as they pass generally gets us nowhere because half are in a haze of permanent impairment, and the other half are not going to believe that it is safer for everyone if they would just take the lane.

Security guards and cops who ride on sidewalks while patrolling, not while actually in pursuit of a suspect, set a bad example.

How to get the message out?

Bicyclists get to eat more.

Come on out to the 2012 Bike Walk Connecticut Annual Dinner and celebrate your purposeful and righteous appetite.   The food is good, the company better, and the silent auction is killer.  Thursday, November 29th at CCSU.  Oh yeah, and the featured speaker is Dan Esty, Commissioner of DEEP.

And this weekend is another food themed bike event - Cranksgiving.  Ride around Hartford, at a pace of your choosing, collecting canned goods that will then be donated to a food pantry.  Registration starts at 9am on Saturday the 17th.  Trinity College Chapel. 

Ride more, eat as much as you please without the inconvenience of buying new pants... unless you tend to wear out the seat. 

Ill prepared for the weather

I like winter riding and I like riding in the snow. I may not have a fat bike, but I've got fenders and I've even got studded tires. I've got some gloves, lights and a hat. Regardless of those things, I've been freezing my ass off the last few days because I can't remember how to dress. With the snow today, I think I finally had the right gloves and was adequately insulated. I can remember riding in tshirts in December last year or the year before last or something.

Today, there's a mild nor'easter. I went to Home Depot and the snow was the big flake, wet kind. The temperature has dropped like ten degrees and now the flakes are small. Maybe I'll go do something recreational later.

Vote

No matter what happens in the next 27 hours, Joe Lieberman will no longer be the senior senator from Connecticut. This has special meaning for me because six years I had a crappy night because Ned Lamont had just conceded after losing pretty badly. I had taken a semester off from school to organize the first congressional district for the campaign that started in the upstairs (funky) room of La Paloma Sabanera, where I had worked for Luis Cotto. That November evening was a long descent from the August night where we were so high with elation we thought we were single-handedly end the war in Iraq and pass universal healthcare. Those things finally (sort of) have come to pass and I like to think that beginning in 2006 there was a wave that started in Connecticut.

Anyway, I'm really glad that I can vote for Chris Murphy tomorrow and truly hope he wins.