Hyland Park Bandit Cross CANCELLED, but also reformatted

Hi Folks,

Bandit Cross was shut down by an overzealous interpretation of what it means to protect Hartford's parks.

 But we'll still be riding at 2pm today from Hyland Park, heading down to my house for a backyard bike race. We've got a very rad, short course all set up. #SaveBanditCross #Don'tTreadOnMe

In the meantime, email me if you're interested in working with Minnie Gonzalez to start a cyclocross league in Hyland Park.

 Justin

Second postponement of The Eel

Regrettably, too much has got in the way of organizing the ride, so I'm going to push it back again to a date uncertain. No big deal. There are other bike rides in the world for you.

Eel postponement

Hello! I have decided to postpone the proposed Eel by a week. There are some people who can't do it the day I picked and I have a potential conflict that day, too.

So, let's switch to Nov. 13 instead. Still a Sunday, still same details. It even allows you to do a ride I heard about it in New Haven on Saturday the 12th.

Two great rides on the horizon

My dudettes and dudes!

I have had two great ideas for rides in the coming months.

1. The Eel's Return to the Connecticut River. It's happened before and it's happening again. 60 miles of trails up and down the CT River starting in Hartford. Same route as 2014. I'll dig up a gpx file or write a cue sheet. 9:30 a.m. start in Hartford first Sunday of November. Just like old times.

2. The Old Mountain Bike Omnium. Bring an old mountain bike and do two laps of Cowles Park (~20 miles). I'm going to work out some kind PAX-esque timing to handicap the race. Year 2000 bike gets straight time, time off for older bikes and steeper time tacked on for newer bikes.  Race on a high zoot 2016 bike and get 16 minutes added to your time. Race on a 1985 Diamond Back Apex and get 7 1/2 minutes shaved off. Something like that. The goal is to favor the older bikes. I haven't quite worked the system out yet, but I think it'll be fun. Date TBD and prizes TBD.

River clean up again!

For the eighth (though not eighth consecutive), I am organizing a clean up of the bank of the Connecticut River at its confluence with the Park River. Even though I moved to Tariffville, I still would rather clean up this location in Hartford. This spot doesn't get its due attention, but it is where two mighty river meet.. I think it deserves a good annual cleaning. The clean up will take place Saturday, September 24 from 10am to 1pm. Come for a little or come for the whole thing.

If you come by car, your best option for parking is either on Charter Oak Ave or Van Dyke Ave. From there, you can walk down the paved access road and up the levee. If you come by something else, you won't have to worry about parking. I'll have some gloves on hand. I advise wearing pants and closed shoes. Also, bring water and perhaps a snack. I'll be bringing gloves and bags via bicycle, so I can't carry a whole case of water or pizzas. Leave a comment here and I'll answer it.

This clean up is part of the larger Source to Sea Clean Up that Connecticut River Watershed Council puts on. It is happening all up and down the Connecticut River Friday & Saturday. If Hartford is too far away for you or you just don't like it but still want to clean the river, here are other locations: http://www.ctriver.org/projects/source-to-sea-cleanup/.

Here's a map illustrating approximately where the access road is and where you should park: http://g.co/maps/f9erq

BiCi Co. is Going Strong and Now Has the BiCi Blog

Tony C is riding his bike from Hartford, CT to Minneapolis, MN under the guise of a fundraiser for BiCi Co.  Really he just likes riding his bike and taking a break from the grind - but humor him (me).  Here are the photos to prove it.

BiCi Co. is doing all sorts of amazing stuff, and has only been around a year.  Just wait until we really find some grant funding.  In the meantime (and even once we do get some grants) BiCi Co. will need support from volunteers and donors to fill in the gaps and get new programs off the ground.  Don't know if you've ever worked in nonprofits, but it seems that there is a lag time between great program ideas and opportunities, and the funding to execute them.  That is where individuals donors and members make the difference and provide a little bit of flexibility to do the right things for the community at the right time.

1) You should follow the new BiCi Blog.  Tony C will be writing while bike touring and posting there.

2) You should become a BiCi Co. member (or renew) right now.  We've even got options for five year and lifetime membership!  Don't want to become a member?  You can gift a membership to someone or just make a straight up donation.  We'll put it to good use immediately with bike programs in Hartford.  Share this with friends and cycling aficionados.  Even those outside Hartford will get a lot out of a shop full of hard to find classic bike parts - AKA treasure.

3) One thing that BiCi Co. has coming up is a Traffic Skills 101 course.  This comprehensive course on October 16th will school you on vehicular cycling with on-bike application and could save your life.  Skip the school of hard knocks and go to the head of the pack.  Register here - and don't wait.  The class sells out.

4) BiCi Co. is also planning social rides from Hartford and West Hartford to Night Fall - where there will be valet bike parking.  Night Fall is in its 5th year, and has had bike valet every year.  They added the group bike rides to encourage attendees to try something other than a car for getting to the performance.  More info here.

5) Don't Miss the September Slow Roll! - Our friends at Breakfast Lunch & Dinner have a Hartford Slow Roll Planned for September 18th.  The roll leaves at 3pm from 1429 Park Street.  More info here.  Slow Roll has its own Facebook group now that you can follow so you don't miss the rides.

Hartford's First Bike Corral (temporary at BiCi Co) for our 1st Anniversary Happy Hour

Celebrating Year One at BiCi Co.!

party at shad row, preceded by a connecticut river dirt road time trial 8/19 6:00 PM

Come ride four of the best dirt road miles in Connecticut. We'll do a simple staggered start. Stick around for a beer (BYOB) / food at the Shad Shack at the Rocky Hill Ferry, where the ride ends. Any bike will do, wider tires will be better (32s and up). They've recently been smoothing out some of the bumpy bits next to the river.

Come hang out and watch and party even if you don't want to ride. We need a volunteer or two or three if you're interested in helping out, as well! let us know at wrongwayslaughter@gmail.com

course: https://www.strava.com/routes/5987227

Friday, August 19 6:00 PM
Start: 73 Great Meadow Road, Wethersfield, CT

http://wrongwayslaughter.com

Women particularly encouraged to ride. 

It's an easy bike ride from most places, but if you're driving, park at the Rocky Hill Ferry parking lot where the ride finishes and ride to the start. 

Lo-fi, 'pick-up' gravel time trial. Just show up. Ride like hell or ride slow. It's cool. We'll be there. It'll be fun. You will be safe and smart so we still get to have nice things.

​$5 sugg'd donation to cover beer and an upgrade to this site so it doesn't say weebly and maybe we'll even get an RSS feed. Prizes for a range of categories. 

new site for hartford rides -- wrong way slaughter

I've put together a new site to advertise Hartford and some Connecticut rides and route suggestions. I really like these routes, that all start in Hartford, and I'd love to see more folks out riding them.

Part of what I'm after with this site is providing a web presence for the incredible riding Hartford has to offer so that new folks moving to the city don't think they have to join a cycling club in the far flung suburbs to ride a bike or drive hours to get to the woods. It's all right here. Please add wrong way slaughter to your feedly, blogroll, etc. More routes and media to come.

- Justin

Mixed terrain from Hartford to Middletown

It is impossible for me to ride through the Wethersfield and Rocky Hill meadows without a shit-eating grin on my face. Each time I find myself on these gorgeous, narrow, dirt and gravel roads right next to the Connecticut river, just a few miles from my house in the South End, I kind of can't believe how nice it is to be there.

Rocky Hill Meadows road

I ride these roads to the Rocky Hill Ferry a lot, particularly in the summer months. The ferry is fun in its own right, and the roads on the Glastonbury side immediately adjacent to the river are incredibly nice. Tryon Road runs between the Connecticut and Balf Bluffs Open Space--a narrow road with little traffic and a river view is the stuff that dreams are made of.

Tryon Road along the Connecticut River in Glastonbury.

There is not yet a really good direct route to Middletown from Hartford, so I took a rambling loop through the Meshomasic State Forest to get there on traffic-lite roads. The highlight of this route is Woodchoppers Road, a rusticated, thin strip of packed dirt that gradually climbs through the forest into the highlands of Portland, CT. 

Woodchoppers Rd.

For just the second time I road over the Arrigoni Bridge into Middletown, a 1930s gem. The only way to finish this ride, IMHO, is with the buffalo tofu wrap at ION. It's amazing, especially on the first day of summer vacation.

Connecticut River from the Arrigoni Bridge in Middletown. 

An Open Letter to Mayor Bronin and City Council: Isn't it time for 20mph streets and Vision Zero in Hartford?

The amount of shattered glass and car wreckage on the streets of the City of Hartford is back up again. It seems to happen every year at this time. 'Tis the season for raging through the city, a practice seemingly shared by everyone in Hartford, including suburbanites driving the streets. Speed is always a factor on Hartford streets, as anyone who lives here can attest.

The aftermath of a Christmas Day 2015 fatal crash near Pope Park West on Hamilton Street.


Car crashes happen all the time, we read about them in the paper or hear about them on the news, but usually we fail to link them and recognize a trend. In fact, we're trained to think about them as unfortunate, disconnected "accidents." If a person is involved in a crash crash or killed in one, it's merely bad luck and we're quite slow to place blame. The penalties for injuring or killing someone with a car are notoriously light.

This spring has been a bloody one on Hartford's roads and in its cars. Here are just a few of the lowlights from this year:

On March 25th of this year multiple people were killed in two separate crashes on the same night. This past Christmas Day, 2015, Luis Fajardo was killed in a grisly multi-car crash on Hamilton Street near Pope Park West.

On May 8th, Luis A. Maldonado was struck and killed by a car at the quiet intersection of Preston and Campfield Streets in the South End. Apparently he was changing a tire on his car in the early AM. The motorist that hit him ran and left him to die in the street.

Driving home from work this afternoon (5/22/16), I saw the aftermath of a daytime crash that sent at least one person to the hospital at Hillside and Flatbush in the Behind the Rocks neighborhood. In 2011, a 10-year old girl was killed after being struck on her bike near this area of Flatbush.

Other cities around the country are starting to wake up to the carnage and treat road violence and the injuries and deaths it causes like the public health issue that it is.

These cities, which include NYC, are starting to question the supposition that road injuries and deaths are a fact of life and something we cannot avoid. The goal of the Vision Zero programs these cities are implementing is the elimination of all traffic injuries and fatalities. This may seem like an impossible goal, but how can doing nothing continue to be possible? They seek to achieve this through new infrastructure, education, and in many cases lowering city street speed limits to 20mph. Cars traveling more than 20mph are much more likely to kill a person that they strike than if they are traveling 20mph or less.

In Hartford our streets are populated, social, and exciting. Why should we default to treating dense, narrow pathways for all people--whether in cars, on bikes, or on foot or wheelchair--as speedways for cars alone? At any public meeting in Hartford the conversation is often dominated by the risks posed by illegal ATVs and dirt bikes. These vehicles are a nuisance and are dangerous. However, it is peculiar that we ignore the risks and very real carnage caused by the much more ubiquitous operation of standard cars and trucks on our streets.

Gun violence is a big problem in our city. Drug overdoses and drug-related violence are big problems too. But so is road violence, and we need to stop thinking of it as just part of the cost of doing business and living our everyday lives. If we can have a shot spotter system, why can't we step up speed traps and move toward enforced, lower speed limits on all of our roadways?

This summer would be a perfect time for Mayor Bronin and the City Council to get serious about a Vision Zero program to reduce the destruction and violence on our roads.

As we continue to improve our roads and make them safer with better infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists (along Bushnell Park, on Zion Street, on Albany Ave to name just a few) we have to make sure we address the bigger cultural hurdles as well--driver behavior and driving culture. As long as Hartford's streets continue to feel unsafe and lawless our city's growth and reputation will continue to be held back.

The Mayor's Office and the Council should work with our police department, with DPW, and with nonprofits in the City and State that work to improve the health and safety of residents to implement a program to reduce the carnage on our streets now. We shouldn't have to wait any longer for something so basic.

- Justin Eichenlaub, South West
eichenlaub@gmail.com

Hartford to Portland in four photos

Le Grand Depart.

The farm roads out to Ellington were gorgeous this early in the AM.

People at this Whole Foods in NH were really interested in & supportive of what we were doing. This does not happen in CT...I wish our culture was more like NH's or VT's...

On the bridge into Portland. 236 miles in 24 hours. No sleep, lots of food.

You should check out randonneuring. It's pretty rad. http://nerandonneurs.org/

Returning to randonneuring in New England

This weekend will mark my official return to randonneuring, the relatively non-competitive style of long distance cycling that has been around since the end of the nineteenth century, tracing its origins to Italy and France.

I got interested in randonneuring events early in graduate school when my girlfriend at the time had a very odd roommate named Mike who had a passion for the sport and had completed the 1200km Paris-Brest-Paris a few years before. Mike was into safety meetings and riding the Marin Headlands on week days. I had way too flexible of a schedule and was often up for ticking off the miles along the Pacific coastline with him while everyone else was at work.

The San Francisco Randonneurs were a wonderful group to ride with and begin to explore California by riding longer and longer distances. I got up to a 300K, about 190 miles. It was a great ride, but also made me question why I wanted to ride such long distances. Why end with sore ankles and a desperate need to get in a hot tub to ease the muscles when we could just stop at 60 miles and have a beer?

I'm a much better cyclist now and ride a more appropriate bike for the work, so I'm looking forward to getting back at it with The New England Randonneurs, a very well-run group based in Boston and Vermont that hosts a variety of rides in both Massachusetts and Vermont, dipping into NY, CT, and NH at various points.

Brevet card. Sometimes it seems that half the fun of randonneuring is receiving actual pieces of paper in the mail that are not a result of failing to turn on e-delivery at my bank.

This Saturday my teammates Hans, Sam, and I will depart Hartford at 6am and aim to make it to downtown Portland, Maine at 6am on Sunday morning--about 226 miles in 24 hours. That's plenty of time to do the ride, but the rules of this event--what randonneurs call a Fleche, modeled after an original, social, Easter ride organized by Velocio in France, requires that you complete the last 20km after hour 22 to discourage rushing to the end and encouraging (requiring really) longer breaks. I really like the idea of riding from the city in which I live to another city, albeit a much hipper one, over the course of a day. I'm lucky that teammates were also up for a Hartford start.

2/3 of our team.

I attempted a Fleche (minimum 360km, must ride it over 24 hrs) in California with three friends, several years ago; we tried to ride from the foothills of the Sierras, through Napa and Sonoma counties, out to the ocean, and home to San Francisco. We didn't make it when one of our team members started to have some knee issues and we were tempted by the prospect of abandoning at Calistoga Hot Springs.

My California Fleche team: Jill, Jade, Kelly, Justin, plus large gold miner (in Auburn, CA)

There are no hot springs between Hartford and Portland, but there are a lot of good places to stop for food and drink. Our first stop will be Chickpea Diner in Worcester for brunch, about 70 miles in, just the first segment of a very big day on the bike. There are five other teams riding different routes to Portland and we'll all get together for some food and a beer on Sunday morning.

Team 'Bash Bish Brothers' will be leaving from the Maple Ave Dunkin' Donuts in the South End this Saturday if you want to come wish us luck and grab a very early donut.

- Justin

I'm riding this VO Pass Hunter I built up this winter. It has been a great bike.

Opposite lock

I went to a bike commute panel last night at the Simsbury public library. It was nice to meet some fellow Simsbury and greater Simsbury bike people. I talked about riding my bike and my bike and other bikes and Justin riding a bike and bike developments in Simsbury. Looks like Tariffville will finally get connected to the rest of the world. A rear some inexplicably popped while my bike was leaning against the wall. Nice group of people. Simsbury really is as into bikes as it claims to be.

Some people were talking about how great the league of American wheelmen's traffic skills class is. I had to bite my tongue because all the literature and descriptions I've heard about it makes me think it isn't too great. The big thing is the counter steer they're always talking about: turn left to go right. I hear that and think, "This is not a real thing."

But before I hit publish on this silly little screed, I figured I google "counter steer bike" to see what came up. It's all about motorcycles and there are like three bike people talking about it whom I've never heard of. One guy on pinkbike made this whole video about it, but then when he starts riding around cones, he leans the bike but I don't see any of this counter steer he described when stationary. All the counter steer experts are super exaggerated about how to do it and all I'm thinking is that nobody in their right mind would corner this way. In fact, I tried doing it on my way home around stuff in the rode and it totally slows down your ability to corner. Turning your wheel ~10 degrees the wrong way before corning helps nothing. Then I cornered naturally and thought, "There's ever so slightest shift in weight and bike orientation before you corner, but it's so de minimis and subtle that there's no reason to tell anyone to do it." (I have a lot of inner dialog when riding). There are definitely things about cornering that can be taught, like lean the bike not the you and lead with you shoulder, but the physics of the turn happen on their own.

Then I checked with Jobst Brandt (RIP) and he agreed with me. A bike is not a motorcycle and requires minimal input from you to change directions, so none of the motorcycle stuff applies. Countersteer happens naturally. Turn while you're riding with no hands and it just works. No input to the bars required.

Salem and I have discussed this at times, too, when we're not ragging on fat bikes. His theory is what they're really talking about setting up your line through the corner. So, you come out slightly (or maybe not so slightly) to increase the apex of the corner so that you can take corner quicker or without as heavy of braking. However, if you're riding so close to the side of the road that you need to swing out like a tractor trail to make your corner, you're way too far over. And, swinging out into the lane suddenly before an intersection or obstacle is gonna get you hit by a car. I tend to agree with him. So, don't ride so close to the curb and if you can't set up a corner with the ideal line, brake harder first.

In sum, I am highly suspicious of Traffic Skills 101.

Submit to Hartford alley cat recap

Find a recap, results and photos of last weekend's Submit to Hartford alley cat here:

http://wrongwayslaughter.weebly.com/submit-to-hartford.html

I won't post more photos here because the software only accepts 15kb, grainy photos.

Ally's cat

Alley cats are still a possibility in the cultural backwater that is Hartford! While people in California are bro'ing out bikepacking in the state of Jefferson, our gears are fixed and our spoke cards are sharp.

I mean no disrespect. Alley cats are fun and I'm happy they're still happening. I'm going to my grandpa's 80th birthday party, so I'm resentful of everyone else who will be having a good time on Saturday. Below is an email that Justin sent me about the race entitled SUBMIT TO HARTFORD:

Friends,
We're having an alley cat bike race (ride) this Saturday, April 23 starting at 2:00 PM at Charter Oak Landing. The weather looks perfect.
An alley cat is a bike scavenger hunt. This one is a very lo-fi, simple event that isn't connected with any organization or cause. It just is. Which is kind of nice we think, at least once in a while. :)
Please share with friends and folks you know that might be interested. On twitter, facebook, etc.
All riders, all bikes welcome. No one turned away for lack of funds.

See also:
http://wrongwayslaughter.weebly.com/submit-to-hartford.html

https://www.facebook.com/events/1998368570388521/ 

Back pain speed

I ride a bike quite a bit and usually pretty slowly. Sometimes for long periods and while it may tire me out, it doesn't really hurt. However, if I decide to pedal hard, after like a half an hour, my lower back starts killing me. Why does this happen? I don't think it's a bike fitting thing. I feel like some how I'm unconsciously tensing it up, but how do I stop doing this? Hypnotism?

Big commute

I spend a lot of time in Bloomfield now. My former 5 1/2 mile commute is now 28 miles. The bulk of the ride is the longest possible way through Bloomfield. I like Bloomfield. I strongly considered living there. I really took this series to heart. I'm trying to continue to like Bloomfield by not just riding in and out on 189 to Granby Street everyday. I'm sort of at the point after a year that I can ride for like 7 miles on 189 and not recall a single thing about what happened.

So, I'm trying to mix it up and get my pants dirty. Today, I very much did that by exploring the newly acquired farm sort of in the middle of town. You can connect Mountain Road to Duncaster Road, which are nice road in and of themselves, in a bomb through hay fields a la Vermont way. At the end you get to meet these guys.

Revival!

I was riding to work this morning and thinking that maybe there's more to the internet than Instagram and remembered that there was this time when I wrote on a fascinating blog about riding bikes in Hartford. Or maybe more accurately, my memory was jogged about it because someone from the Courant called me about bike lanes and speed bumps on Brookfield Street because they sent an email to the blog email address. After pacing around on my front porch on the phone for awhile and gesticulating, I reminisced with myself (is that possible) and realized my days of pontificating about stupid bike stuff shouldn't be over just because I don't live in the 06114 anymore. My commute is even longer, so I have even more dumb things to stew about and vent than I used to.

Or maybe, I'll be positive and post narratives about the pretty hills and dales of near western Connecticut!

Next Hartford Alley Cat, Saturday April 23 5:00 PM

An alley cat
Saturday, April 23
Meet at 2:00 PM. Ride at 2:30 PM
Start is at Charter Oak Landing
​After party at Red Rock Tavern
$5. No riders turned away for lack of funds. Everyone rides.

Can't Stop, Won't Stop in Hartford

This is the most momentum for active and sustainable transportation that Hartford has ever seen during the Winter.  Well the most momentum since Colonel Albert Pope was on the scene in the 1890's and saturating Hartford with Columbia bicycles.  A season of abnormally warm weather brought to us by global weirdness has even kept the fair weather riders on the road.  The City of Hartford is waking up to the need for safe and sustainable human powered transportation with new zoning regulations that include an entire chapter on Complete Streets design - just approved in January.

College prep students at Center for Latino Progress just signed up for Earn-a-Bike!

• Weekly DIY Member Hours at BiCi Co. - We are holding these twice a week at 97 Park Street.  Wednesdays from 5:30-8:30pm and Saturdays from 1:30-5:30pm.  You can still become a member by buying in or earn your membership by volunteering 10 hours.  More info here.  Fix your own bike, shadow a mechanic and learn new skills, work on bikes to support BiCi Co. projects, or just hang out and talk about bikes!  Right now BiCi Co. Volunteers are working on a group of bikes for a developing Spring Break week project that we're calling BIKE LIFE - HARTFORD!  Stay tuned for more announcements on that soon.    Volunteers can just show up, but it's helpful if you let us know using this survey what days you are planning to attend.

Kevin learning how to straighten a woefully bent derailleur hanger

• BiCi Co. Women's Committee - Sunday, February 14th, 2pm-3:30pm at 95 Park Street, 2nd Floor - Third meeting of the BiCi Co. Women's Committee.  This committee was formed right up front to address known under representation of women riding bikes.  This is a national issue and by looking around Hartford even worse in our city.  Interested in joining the committee or getting into the loop for meeting notes?  Send your contact info to Tony Cherolis.

The Women's Committee is cranking!

• Friday, February 26th - IceBike (and Walk) to Work.  We're doing this every month in Hartford and East Hartford.  7am-8:30am.  Maddie's in East Hartford, right across from P&W on Main Street.  Ashley's in Hartford on Main Street, just south of Downtown.  Topic for discussion - The snow finally arrived.  Are you running studded tires?  Which kind?  Are they really that magical?  Share the event with your friends with this Facebook Event.

Time to put the studded tires on the cross bike.

• BiCi Co. Earn-a-Bike - Starting end of February.  We're recruiting teens and young adults from age 13 to 19.  This program will run for eight weeks and the teen will leave with a bike they tuned up themselves, a helmet, bike lock, and lights.  The teens will also leave with bicycle maintenance and safety skills and a bit of knowledge about Hartford bicycle history and bicycle science.  Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:30-7:30pm at BiCi Co.  Send contact information for the teen and parent / guardian to Tony Cherolis.

• <<SAVE THE DATE>> Bikes vs Cars, Monday, April 4th - After a sellout Bikes vs Cars movie in January Real Art Ways is bringing it back for a second showing on Monday April 4th.  In addition to the movie, there will be a passel of bicycle advocacy organizations and cycling clubs tabling in the galleries before the movie begins.  Let's sell it out again and park even more bikes on the railing.  Even if you're not seeing the movie, stop by for the expo and chat up your favorite (and new) bike organizations.  RAW is highlighting Earth Day in April at their monthly Creative Cocktail Hour on April 21st.  Check that out too.

Lets keep rolling!  Momentum is a terrible thing to waste.

MOMENTUM

2016 is going to be a banner year for sustainable transportation in Hartford.  To kick off the year I am rolling out BiCi Co. news and programs along with some other bicycle news and opportunities.  Walking and biking (and buses) work just fine through the winter.  The short days and cold months are also perfect for tuning up your rig, learning new skills, and contributing as a volunteer for a BiCi Co. youth program.

Momentum - A Short List for January 2016

• DIY Member Repair Hours at BiCi Co. - These were great in 2015, of course this is going to start right back up in 2016.  Work on your rig, fix up something we've got in the shop, or help someone else out.  Wednesdays 5:30-8:30pm and Saturdays 1:30-5:30pm.  Starting on January 6th.
• BiCi Co. T-Shirts - We just put in the order for our 1st Edition BiCi Co. t-shirts.  These go to our kickoff campaign donors who chose this as a "perk."  We'll have a limited number of extras available for $20 each.  Will let you know when we get them in the shop.
• Earn-a-Bike Teen Program -  Recruiting right now!  13-18 years old.  Starts late in February.  Two meetings a week for 8 weeks.  Bike maintenance skills, safety training, a bit of engineering, safety accessories, and a bike for each participant.  Interested or know a teen that is?  Contact Tony C and you'll be included on the invitation to the EAB orientation.
• Bikes vs Cars - January 11th.  7pm movie at Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor Street.  Followed with brief panel discussion with P&Z Chair, Sara Bronin and others.  Get your tickets at the door.  More info.
• Hartford Zoning Update and Complete Streets Chapter - This is important!  Now you know.  This is the most important 2016 happening in Hartford relative to a step change in how the city works towards sustainable transportation.  Your input and support needed.  Hartford's P&Z Commission has drafted a complete rewrite of zoning regulations.  The draft significantly reduces car parking minimums for new developments, requires bike parking minimums, and gives credit to further reduce car parking with inclusion of bike parking.  There is an entire chapter that captures best practices in Complete Streets and a connected bike route map is included.  Public Comment Session on Tuesday, January 12th at 6pm, 260 Constitution Plaza, Plaza Level Conference Room.  Email P&Z with your comments here if you can't make the session in person.  Or do both!
• IceBike (and Walk) to Work - Friday, January 22nd.  7:00-8:30am.  East Hartford at Maddie's on Main Street.  Hartford at Ashley's on Main Street.  All weather, year round human powered commuters need breakfast.  We meet up and chat during winter months.  January's conversation topic - Skiing vs Winter Riding.  Why do the same folks that drive hours to ski put away their bikes for four months of the year?
• BiCi Co. Volunteers - We need you!  All sorts of volunteer roles and levels of commitment.  Send an email to Tony C to get on the volunteer email list.  Fill out a survey to sign up for January DIY repair hours as a volunteer.  The volunteer support and diversity of skill sharing is what makes BiCi Co. so special.  
• BiCi Co. Job Posting - Coming soon. Stay tuned.  The programs and hours at BiCi Co. are growing in 2016 and we'll be hiring to support that growth.  This is an outgrowth of our 2015 programs, the crowd funding campaign, and grant funding for 2016.  You helped make this happen.
• Inspired to Ride - Thursday, January 21st.  7:30pm at Cinestudio, Trinity College.  Ready for some winter inspiration? Come see a movie with Bike Walk CT. Get tickets online here.  Inspired to Ride, the latest cycling film from the makers of Ride the Divide, follows a handful of cyclists from around the world as they race unsupported in the inaugural year of The Trans Am Bike Race. It's the antithesis to events like Tour de France and Race Across America. There are no teams, no support vehicles, no special jerseys and not a dime in prize money. The event is sponsored by Bike Walk Connecticut. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door the day of the show. Winter bike movies tend to sell out, so we recommend buying tickets online! Spread the word and invite friends with this event page.

Happy New Year!  Keep up the momentum.  Momentum is a terrible thing to waste.

Keep in touch with BiCi Co. via our Facebook page.

Can't wait to see this t-shirt all over Hartford!