An Ode to Ohio

Side note - On the day I left on my trip Margo Lynn caught me at breakfast and had me model a knit hat for this Mountain Man competition.  It looks like I'm climbing in the polls, but need your votes to reach the top.  Any winnings will go to BiCi Co.  You can vote once a day for the next week.  Just "skip" the initial pop up and vote for the guy that looks like the photo below.  The theme is fitting as I'm a day away from riding across West Virginia to Pittsburgh.  Ouch.

Vote early and often for your favorite mountain man.

After suffering through Kentucky, the Ohio River Valley route has been a dream.   Starting in Cincinnati through this morning in Portsmouth, Ohio I was almost entirely on route 52.  I was a bit worried that the route would be busy with truck traffic and repeat the Kentucky experience, but I've been pleasantly surprised.  Most of the mileage has had a comfortably sized shoulder allowing me an informal bike lane.  The drivers, car and truck, have been courteous and are passing at a comfortable distance.  Hard to believe that just across the river in Kentucky you'll find a backwards third world nation state of dangerous rednecks.  Don't go there.

A lot of my Ohio River Valley riding looks like this.

I heard that the Ohio DOT has been making strides in Complete Streets design that started when the director from Columbus moved up to the state DOT.  I can believe it.  The Ohio to Erie route from Northeast Ohio to the Southwest Ohio corner was amazing, with much of it on paved multi-use paths.  Even this southern state route 52 hugging the Ohio River is a pleasant ride.  Ohio is rightfully ranked 19th for bike friendliness, leaps and bounds ahead of Kentucky (49th).  Check out the Ohio DOT website for bicycle route information.  Ohio also has 12 bicycle region coordinators identified on their website.  For comparison, only one person on the Connecticut DOT has this role.

Portsmouth is a bike friendly landing spot for lunch after my stealth camp last night off a steep logging road in the Shawnee State Forest.  Portsmouth is an early stop on the TOSRV ride, and they have a large bike mural on the flood wall.  In fact, the entire flood wall is adorned with high quality murals.  A neat little town.

TOSRV mural on the Portsmouth, OH flood wall

Even in the Pea Soup fog, drivers have been courteous in Ohio.

This goes to show that it's about leadership.  A city and state with leaders that appreciate sustainable transportation can really improve things.  Keep this in mind when you're voting.  What are the candidates saying about transportation, biking, walking, and transit?  We spend a lot of time and resources getting from point A-to-B, so our elected leaders should be up to speed on the topic.  If they look at you like you're speaking French when you talk about Complete Streets, they shouldn't be in charge.

U.S. Grant whupped up on the Confederates.  Hooahh! Y'all lost.

Unfortunately, Utopia was a failed experiment.

Sometimes you find your camp spots in the most curious locations.  You might stay in a national forest campground, like the Vesuvius Recreation Area.   Other times you may be in a riverside city park in the ghost town of Cheshire, OH.  The local power plant bought up all the homes and businesses and tore most of them down to prevent future law suits against the coal fired plant in their backyard.   The funny part is, most of the mercury and pollution heads downwind.  Can these power plants buy off the entire Northeast?

Historic hot blast furnace at Vesuvius.  Coal and ore in them there hills.

Cheshire, OH.  View from my camp at the local park.

Entering Pomeroy, OH.  Creative treatment of a concrete retaining wall.

Bridge from Pomeroy to West Virginia - worth a stop.

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Thought You Should Know

If you haven't been paying attention, I'm on a bike tour and not at all in Hartford.  That said, I'm keeping an electronic toe in the water.  There are several things coming up that deserve a long distance shout out.  Bummed that I can't be there in person, but take lots of photos and make me jealous.  Post the photos to Transport Hartford.

1. Sunday, September 6th - Hartford Slow Roll.  3pm meet up at 1429 Park Street.  7-12 miles at a leisurely pace.  Often followed with beverages at a local establishment.
2. Sunday, September 13th - Traffic Skills 101 in New Britain, CT.  Hard hittin' New Britain was recently recognized as a Bicycle Friendly Community and they are upping their game by bringing this comprehensive bike safety course to the city.  Just in time for the Discover New Britain Ride.  Last day to register is September 9th, but don't wait until then.  These classes sell out.
3. Meandering Mondays - As recently featured in the Hartford Courant.  Sort of like the Slow Roll, but much shorter, it starts downtown, and there is a lunch stop.  Slow pace.  Work clothes.  Every Monday.  Fair weather only.  Meets at 11:45am (sharp) on Prospect Street where the Travelers flyover walkway is, near the Hartford Club.
4. Saturday, September 19th - Hartford Family Bike Tour and Envisionfest.  A full day of awesomeness in Hartford wouldn't be complete without a family bike tour.  Pretty darn cheap.  You can also volunteer, and ride marshals are needed / ride for free.  Registration should open soon.  Keep an eye on the CCAP page for registration.
5. Bike Share? - Saturday, September 18th, 19th, & 20th - Maybe, just maybe there will be a "bike share" demo in Hartford.  It will be a weekend full of bicycles, new folks in Hartford (Envisionfest), and a need to get across town to check things out.  Stay tuned!  Watch Transport Hartford for announcements.
6. CT Cycling Festival Race Day - Sunday, September 20th - A day full of criterium racing in downtown Hartford.   It's a great race for spectating, there will be an expo area, and we always need more cowbell.  Spread the word and bring a crowd that knows how to holler.  You can also volunteer.
7. Sunday, September 27th - Discover New Britain Bike Tour.  Check out all the bike lanes and drool. Register here.  You can also volunteer.

As always - You have been hereby deputized to spread the word.  To keep this to yourself would be criminal neglect.  Do the right thing.

And now I'll return to my regularly scheduled cross country bike tour.  Right now I'm taking over a friend's home in Columbus, OH.  They're out recording a record or something.  All my clothes are in the washer and I'm walking around... like I own the place.  Noticed I've lost a bit of weight.

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Connecticut is Weak on Bicycle Friendly Businesses

First, I'd like to congratulate the six (6) companies in Connecticut that have been recognized as Bicycle Friendly Businesses.  They have started looking past the immediate horizon and realize that active transportation improves the health and attitude of employees, lowers their cost of living, supports locally focused community and businesses, puts less wear and tear on the roads and parking lots, and is goodness for employee retention.

Many Connecticut corporations and small companies pay no mind to how their employees get to work.  That is reflected in our state's marked under representation in the Bicycle Friendly Business listing.   Of the 150 new BFB's in 2014, only two (2) are from Connecticut.  Of the 800+ total BFB's, you'll only find six (6) - listed below.  For comparison to a similarly sized state in our region, Massachusetts has thirty-two (32) BFB's.  For such a swaggering bikey city that New Haven isn't better represented with more Bicycle Friendly Businesses.

What surprises me is that more companies haven't recognized the benefits.  So focused are we on the next quarter profits, or the next month's business expenses, that we're giving away the long game (and future benefits) of workplaces that step away from the 1-to-1 ratio of parking spots to employees.  Not even considering the catastrophic global weirdness that may be creeping out of scientific predilection and into our weather patterns, there are almost immediate benefits for employers that promote alternates to single occupancy vehicle travel.  Bicycles aren't the only option - car pooling, transit, walking, and telecommuting.  There are oodles of ways to reduce our transportation impacts, while improving quality of life.

Enough negativity for now. Here are the 2014 Bicycle Friendly Businesses in CT.  Congratulations!  You stand out in Connecticut for actually making an effort.  It's an easy application to fill out, and in 2014 it was free to apply.  Let's do better next round Connecticut!

2014 Connecticut Bicycle Friendly Businesses 

• [SILVER] Bicycles East, Glastonbury (new in 2014)
• [SILVER] REI - West Hartford (since 2012)
• [BRONZE] Connecticut Mental Health Center, New Haven (since 2013)
• [BRONZE] CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Hartford (since 2012)
• [BRONZE] Pratt & Whitney, East Hartford (new in 2014)
• [BRONZE] Whitcraft LLC, Eastford (since 2011)

League of American Bicyclists - Bicycle Friendly Business Program, Bicycle Friendly Community Program

Connecticut's website promoting alternate commutes - www.CTrides.com

Simple ways to make your company more Bike Friendly:

• Visible and convenient bike parking.  If you can put it under an overhang or patio, that's ideal.  Bike parking near the main entry doors, and more convenient than the surface parking lots advertises that your company respects and promotes human powered transportation.
• Put up some Share the Road signs.  After P&W put up Share the Road signs on the roads looping our campus, my negative vehicle interfaces fell dramatically.  
• Showers and lockers.  I've got a short commute, so I don't need a shower when I arrive by bike.  Many potential bike commuters with longer commutes or lower fitness levels may feel that a shower is required to polish up before tackling the work day.
• Bike Commuting, Telecommuting, Transit, and Carpooling Info Sessions.  Schedule and hold lunch and learn sessions that highlight the options and allow your local experts (and outside advocates) to share best practices and safety tips.
• Hold a Bike to Work Day or breakfast event (bagels and coffee) at your campus or support your local Bike to Work Day.

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Sprung a What?

Spring is in the air.  Tires are springing leaks, falling victim to the unswept glass shards that are indistinguishable from left over rock salt.  Chris is taking off his winter cap.  The chickens are out and scratching away at exposed earth. People are venturing out in greater numbers on bike and foot.  New graffiti is gracing the train tracks.

Spring tune up for your bike skills.  Sunday, March 30th is a week away, and you are running out of time to register for Traffic Skills 101.  A comprehensive course in bicycle survival skills including parking lot hazard avoidance drills and a road ride.  Once you've seen the stats, it's just plain stupid to ride around without some sort of bike safety education.  At least 50% of the time, it is the bicyclists fault when there is a crash - and if you learn the ropes - you can significantly reduce your exposure to the vehicle caused crashes.  If you live in Hartford, we're offering a couple of significantly discounted community member registrations.   Contact me if you want to attend at the community discount.

You know it's Spring when Tony C starts planning.  I've just created the June 7th Dinner and Bikes event and opened up online ticket sales.  We've started discussions on the next Real Ride, probably Saturday, July 12th to coincide with the fireworks.  Bike to Work (May) is just around the corner.  There is a Simsbury bike safety course (1st half of TS101) on June 1st.

Interstatement loves the Cinabon / Princess Leia knit hat

Spring chickens in Hartford on Franklin Ave

Disrespectful graffiti tagging.  Some people are dicks.

Neat graffiti next to a homeless camp on the tracks.  

Meeting up to get organized.  On bikes no less.

Justin Eichenlaub just moved to Hartford from the westerly coast and is working to organize a Hartford-centric group to advocate for bike, walk, and transit issues.  Due to it's statewide focus Bike Walk CT hasn't been tuned into Hartford specific issues, and there is great opportunity to keep pushing Hartford in a sustainable direction.  If you are interested, stay tuned to the Beat Bike Blog.  I'll put up notice for the next meeting in April.

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Learning the Hard Way

Here's a question to get you thinking.  How did you learn to cross railroad tracks at a ninety degree angle?  Did you learn about the safer method in gym class at school, during your driver education course, or via a public safety announcement?  Probably not.  If you're like me, you learned the hard way - by having your bicycle abruptly disappear and finding yourself pitched head first into the traffic lane.  I won't forget that lesson, but I would rather have learned it minus the crash.  This is but one example of many dangerous situations that arise for cyclists that haven't taken a course in cycling safety.  Based on the crash data, just knowing what those dangerous situations are and having a basic safe cycling skill set can address a large majority of the risk in using a bicycle - for both transportation and recreation.

There is a dearth (scarcity) of education for cyclists that are looking for information and skills on how to ride safely and competently.  From  grade school through teenage years and into adulthood,  there really isn't embedded education that familiarizes cyclists with the tools needed to ride safely.  Imagine if a fraction of the time and effort spent teaching teens how to drive was dedicated to education on safe cycling, pedestrian safety, and transit.  The focus on one preferred means of transportation, the car, biases those teens toward driving as the socially acceptable option.   It also leaves those that choose to do something other than drive a car pretty clueless.  As captured in the introduction, I initially took the clueless route to earning my stripes as an occasionally bruised, but now much safer, bicycle commuter.

It's clearly not efficient, or safe, to learn how to ride by screwing up a lot and gathering advice in bits and pieces from other more experienced riders.  After a lifetime of going about this the hard way, I took Traffic Skills 101 (TS101) and followed that up with the League Cycling Instructor (LCI) training.  Now I can do my part to spread some very powerful information by teaching Traffic Skills 101 to other riders.  The next course in Hartford is planned for Sunday, March 30th.   You can register online through Bike Walk Connecticut.  If you want to spread the word about the TS101 course, you should invite others to this Facebook Event.

Traffic Skills 101 is a  comprehensive, full-day program for adults and mature teens who want to improve their street riding skills and increase their cycling knowledge. The course includes classroom time, parking lot drills, and a road ride.   Many different types of cyclists will benefit from taking TS101.  It is ideal for cyclists who want to build upon the basics, those returning to cycling from a long hiatus, people who want to be more independent on their bike, and those looking for more confidence cycling in traffic. The class also satisfies the requirements to pursue a League Cycling Instructor certification through the League of American Bicyclists.

Part of the reason for holding this early Spring course is to support the League Cycling Instructor course planned for April 17th through April 20th in Simsbury.  The LCI course is a specialized bicycle boot camp to train the trainers, and it is intense.  Those that pass the weekend course go on to teach courses like TS101 and other critical courses, including school based programs that have started in several CT communities, such as South Windsor and Simsbury.  Educating children and teens about bicycle safety is part of the solution to allow a safe transition toward a less car dependent future.

I'm also excited to be organizing a June 7th event in Hartford, Dinner and Bikes.  There will be a vegan buffet dinner, bicycle short films, and a book talk by Elly Blue on Bikenomics, How Bicycling Can Save the Economy.  More info to follow in a later post, but make sure you leave that Saturday night open.  Put it on your calendars now, as I know June can be a busy month.

Note to Loyal BBB Readers - I would love if all 9 of you would share in the comments something  you "Learned the Hard Way".  It doesn't even have to be about cycling.  I've got so many that I could write a book.

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