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/  Read more!

Ride that Bike Gangsta

Having trouble with a clever title for this post, I reached back a couple of years and shared my favorite "pedestrian shout out.".  There is stiff competition in the top ten, but this is the best.  I was riding through Hartford's Northend on Main Street wearing some non-garish spandex when I passed a pair of 20-something black women walking in the opposite direction on the sidewalk.  I nearly fell off my bike giggling when one yelled out, "Ride that bike, Gangsta!"  Hartford has some damn entertaining street conversation.  If you're in a car with the windows up, you are missing masterpieces of comedy and snark.  After a couple years of immersion, I've gotten better at responding in kind.

Now that we've had our fun, it is time for more fun. Truthfully, I can't handle all this fun by myself.  In the interest of my personal sanity I'm spreading it around so that we can all carry the terrific burden.   Your responsibility is to further distribute this information.  I see that you're starting to understand the cooperative nature of our relationship.

Thursday, May 21st - East Hartford Bike and Walk to Work. 6:30-9:00am on Main Street right across the street from Pratt & Whitney. Free bike lights, reflective stickers, and of course, breakfast. Open to the public.  Those using CT Transit or car/vanpooling are also invited to come over for breakfast.

Sunday, May 31st - The CT Climate March at Hartford Earth Festival. Starting at noon from the State Capitol, marching (and riding) to the Earth Festival at the Hartford Riverfront.   As cyclists we're a bit more tuned into our Earth and what it's shouting at us.  We also know that one's quality of life can actually improve when one chooses sustainable, human powered transportation.  This is your opportunity to respond to clarion call to address human caused global weirdness.   Spread the word with this Facebook Event.

Sunday, May 31st - Ladies First, All Girls Alleycat.  Meet at Heaven, the skate and graffiti park in downtown Hartford on the I-84 overpass between Trumbull and Main or Market, at 12:00pm, at 12:30pm we RIDE (don't be late)!

Saturday, June 6th - Discover West Hartford Bicycle Tour. The first ride of the Discover Connecticut Series. 10, 25, and 50 mile routes.  Spread the word with this Facebook Event.

Saturday, June 6th - Wethersfield Bike Show and Swap Meet.  8:00am-12:30pm.  You can sign up to show and sell, or come over to check out the bikes and parts.  This is the event's second year, and I'm super stoked to see it return.

And never forget - Ride that bike, Gangsta!

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Giving cranks

Run red lights in support of a good cause this Saturday. I only had this flyer as pdf, so I'm not sure if the screenshot I took of it renders it readable or not. Anyway, it starts at the Trinity College Chapel. Registration is at 9am and it starts at 10am. The idea is that you're riding around gathering food, so you should bring a bag, some money and a lock. There's something called a facebook page for it. I guess you can look at that, too. 

I probably can't go because I have to do a stupid estates exam. I'd much prefer doing this.

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I am so f-ing glad I don't have a yard.

Folks at work this week talking about their three day weekend were saying things like, "I'll finally get a chance to catch up on my yard work."  I remember those times.  As a near suburban home owner I too had a yard and sacrificed one, if not two, nights a week.  Never again.  For those that find this time meditative, good on ya, but it ain't my bag.  Would much rather take in a movie at Real Art Ways, go for a hike, head to the museum, volunteer somewhere, go for a bike ride, well - you see there are a lot of things that seem more fun (for me) than cutting the grass or yanking out weeds.  And I totally don't dig the guilt trip, keeping up with the neighbors crap.  Might as well grow a huge yard sized garden rather than grass, at least you'd get some tasty organic veggies for the labor.

Bike Trailer Movers.  Raining all damn day.

Since I've long escaped the enslaving bonds of lawncare, I was able to help Ken K continue his gradual move into his new digs.  We didn't get to use a pulley and ladder to wedge stuff into his second story window, as it was too rainy for that to be even marginally safe.  Instead we loaded up bike trailers and ferried stuff the three blocks from his old place to the new, freshly painted one.  Ken was using the nearly dead coffin trailer, and I hooked an extra kid trailer in tandem with my standard flatbed.  The tandem handled remarkably well.  Ken rewarded me with a huge Salmon fillet for my trouble, a fractional share of the 40 lbs that he had picked up that morning at the restaurant supply warehouse in the South Meadows.  That's a lot of fish!

Creepy Graffiti in Stafford Springs 

Saturday I decided at the last minute to ride up to northeastern CT to test out my new tent with an overnight trip.  The destination was Bigelow Hollow State Park, and more exactly Breakneck Pond.  On the DEEP website map of the park there was a tent symbol although the info for the park makes no mention of camping.  My guess was that there were some under publicized primitive sites around the pond, and I was right.  I didn't get to check it out, but based on the signage in the park there is even a 3 walled shelter on the East side of the pond.  My approach to the park was from the north via Mashapaug Road, which turns into Breakneck Rd, which turns into a washed out, rocky quad track that was quite interesting.  Those that love their rims or are smarter about cracking their skull (far away from cell service) might want to stick to the southern approach from Bigelow Hollow Road.

Hat Trick.  Tent, bike, and fire.

The camping was amazing.  Memorial Day is usually to total cluster fuck at State Park campgrounds.  Everyone and their loud drunk brother decides to take out the RV or popup trailer.  At Breakneck Pond I was totally alone.  No cell service, a book, a bottle of wine.  A beaver, peeved that I was poaching his pond shore, postured with tail slaps as he swam by.  It's amazing what a mile and a half of hiking into a primitive site does to thin the hordes.  Awaking to the myriad birds at 5:30AM I hiked a bit of the loop path south of the campground.  Totally worth staying two nights next time.  Lots of hiking opportunities.  A hook and line could bring in dinner.

Artsy?

The ride back was through some of the best dirt roads that CT has to offer.  South of the park is a large parcel of forest owned by Yale.  I was on dirt roads from Bigelow all the way to Westford.  I also spent some time on Route 89, which for a numbered state route is a surprisingly good ride.  Meeting up a friend for lunch in Willimantic at the Thread City Diner was the calorie boost I needed to make it back to Hartford via the Hop River Trail and East Coast Greenway.  A stop in East Hartford at a friend's Memorial Day BBQ rounded out the day.   At no point this weekend was I stressed about what my neighbors thought about my lawn.

Awoke to a swiftly rolling fog.

Oh yeah.  There is an Alley Cat, the Hartford Hellraiser, coming to Hartford on June 22nd.  Get your fixie bikes ready, or any bike for that matter.  Perhaps I'll ride a three speed just to spite the hipster element and keep myself from riding irresponsibly.  Should be a good time.

Raising the Dead

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Alley! Cat!

Every so often I wonder whatever happened to alley cats. Then, I get an email about one.

Here is one such example coming soon to Hartford. Details are below and speak for themselves.

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More alley cats

Just when you thought it safe to sell your fixed gear, take a year off and become a full time randonneur, there's another alley cat in Hartford. Here's a flyer:

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Diversity

While Salem was attempting to visit Hartford in the most difficult way possible yesterday, I decided to go out to Farmington to race on what I'm assuming were the only passable trails in the state: Winding Trails. I grew up near Winding Trails and that's probably why I'm a bad mountain biker. The Farmington River valley probably has 20-25 (30?) miles of trails from rt 4 in Farmington to rt 44 in Avon, it's twisty, but there aren't any rocks or climbs. My parents wouldn't let me ride up to the Reservoir until like ninth grade because they thought the roads were too busy. Sometimes we'd climb up this cliff at the top of Stonefield in Farmington and but through a friend's dad's yard on Deercliff, but that was really complicated. Going downhill into the river valley was way easier.

So, anyway. Winding Trails is a popular mountain bike race. Every year it seems to get a slightly better course and this year, due to construction at Walton Pond and the world's biggest sand castle, the course was slightly shorter but featured a lot more singletrack. It was great.

29 people started with me. I didn't get to the line at the first call, so I took a spot in the second row. To my annoyance, people later than me still tried to crowd in the front and to the side of me. For that reason, I started out the gate in like 15th or 20th, but everyone went to the left up the first little dirt road climb, which was weird because I thought that was the bad line. I went left and entered the singletrack in 9th or 10th. I beat a few more people in wider sections and got into 4th near the rails-to-trails with the three person lead group about 100 yards in front of me. I caught them on the way to the powerlines. I passed a sort of hipster-ish guy on an S-Works to get into third. The trail turned back on to singletrack and this guy in the Bike Barn kit rode off the front and I never saw him again. The second place guy from Rhode Island, or at least his jersey from was Rhode Island, tried to bridge the gap, but succeeded in getting about 200 yards ahead of me. I stayed in third by about 30 seconds for the rest of the race. The fourth place guy, who was not the hipster, but instead a guy in a bikereg kit, stayed about 30 seconds or so behind me the whole time. It was a fun race, even if all the action was in the first 1/3 of the first lap. And, for the first time in ages, I wasn't lapped by any of the 30-39 guys. It was close, they were closing near the finish.

Speaking of lapped riders, I have a bone to pick. I'm crappy racer, no doubt, but I'm respectful and pretty chill. So, when I came upon a guy that I'm lapping and he tells me to "pass at my own risk" or another who blocks my pass when I'm announcing it, I get pretty annoyed. The women I lapped were very nice (and I was totally impressed by the woman racing on a 'cross bike). I have to admit that it's pretty weird that people were being lapped in a three lap race, but just because your ego is being bruised, it doesn't mean that you have to try and wreck the races of others. It's Cat 2 and there weren't even socks to win!

In other racing news, alley cat(s) racing is tentatively returning to Hartford (or at least the Hartford line). There hasn't been one since that Halloween one a few years ago. It's being put on by Orion and his friend Matt. Orion won the alley that I put on a few springs ago. So, you should do this one in May:

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New places & The Hartford Alley Cat V

I tend to fall in routines. I eat at a lot of different restaurants, but I almost always order the same thing at each respective place. The same thing happens with bike rides, I ride in different places, but once I establish a route/loop of trails, I keep riding the same thing. Or, I get lazy and don't even try and find a new place to ride. That's a character flaw and I'm trying to fix it. My Friday Afternoon Club of Italian Snails or "Le Lumache" has shown me a bunch of cool stuff. In fact, this past Friday was sort of a quid pro quo of me revealing some cool trails in Keney and I was shown a crazy bridge and reshown the Hockanum River Trails in East Hartford.

I'm also trying to fix it in the self-motivated sense, too. On Wednesday, armed with my fenders, I rode up my local hill and discovered a cool promontory/chill spot as well as further adding to the mystery of the MDC stuff on Cedar Hill. Why is everything on Cedar Hill/Mountain so mysterious?




On Thursday, I picked up my straightened 'cross bike from Central Wheel and set off into the reservoir and points north. This is where I'm most guilty of becoming a man of steady habits, but lately I've found some new things and started connecting more interesting loops. This ride led me down a trail that I'd never been on before and I found a water crossing, which are quite elusive at the Reservoir. There are those two rocky ones on the trail off the blue trail in the northwest corner, but they've both got boards to ride on. This is an honest to goodness creek to ride. The only thing marring the discovery was slipping down a rock a few hundred yards before the creek and smacking my knee. I only found a cool little trail at Penwood that cuts out some pavement riding, but is also open to bikes. It may not actually be that cool, but the carpet of yellow leaves made it really cool last week.


Friday was the day of crazy bidges and Hockin' numb, but its evening also brought an alley cat: The Hartford Alley Cat V. Sean organized it and dressed as the blue Teletubby. I think there were about 14 entrants. It was a night race, so I attached a bulbous headlight to my normally sleek Nishiki. We left from the Warehouse parking lot on Bartholomew. What was cool about the start was that there was no manifest, it just directed us to go to Evergreen Street. I had a hard time opening the envelope because I was wearing gloves, so I didn't get out of the parking lot as fast as I would have liked. I made up time on the way and caught in the driveway at the same time as the guy who left first. We race up the stairs and were given the actual manifest. It was very cool that we had no time to plan. The stops were Elizabeth Park Rose Garden, a house on Oakwood, TJ and Ken's house and Bushnell Park. Here's my route. The house on Oakwood had some physical challenges: big shot of grain alcohol, 5 pushups and then bob for an apple. Bobbing for the apples was great. What a great way to cool down. TJ claimed that I had to eat a stick of butter and I was instantly crestfallen, but he was just kidding. At Bushnell Park, we had to shotgun a beer. I came in first, followed by Aaron, Peter Barr, Marshall (who has incredible leather tooling skills), Dave (often called poseur Dave, but I think that's not the nicest name, there also may have been someone who finished in front of him) and then more people, but I didn't know most of their names. I ran into my old friend Linda, though, which was cool. She's living in Whitney House now. I got a cool & tight tshirt, but the real prize was this incredibly awesome Bailey Works bag. Oh man, you can fit like six watermelons in there. Or, six rotten watermelons and not have to worry about them leaking on you because the lining is some kind of space age roof tar.



I think the 666 spoke card is what gave me the edge.

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Showdown In Old Town recap

“I have two boats in dry dock, a busted longboard and a fuckin’ busted-ass bike.” Words spoken by Jonathon, the winner of the Summer Showdown in Old Town. Actually, RJ and Rydel arrived 5 or 10 minutes earlier, by they forgot stop #7, which was to pick up a free copy of the Blue Paper. Prolly about half the racers had to run back out of Cowboy Bill’s and around the block to the Parrot, the nearest spot to grab a copy of the weekly newspaper. Suckas! So due to this and that, the winning bicycle, a $20 cruiser, beat the roadies and the fixies!

17 people met up at the end of the White Street Pier for the island’s first alleycat race and all had a great time. We had a few DQ’s due to missed stops, but most everyone finished and got a prize. All racers got a water bottle from Fixed Gears and a koozie from Cowboy Bill's, who also hooked us up with $1 PBR’s all night. yeeee-haaaaaaw! Thanks again to Re-Cycle , Guy Harvey's Help Yourself , Conch Traders, Turtle Kraals and Bad Boy Buttitos who were super kind with donated prizes, thanks y’all! Miami Bike Scene also covered the race.

johnathon conch cruiser
pedi eddie conch cruiser but i should have had him as a roadie
rj
rydel fixie
jason
david
amy fixie
travis conch cruiser
sasha
nick
lou
george conch cruiser
matt conch cruiser



Instead of putting the manifests and maps into envelopes, they were tucked inside waterbottles donated by Fixed Gears, which was the start of the surprise coconuts and mangos checkpoint tasks. Instead of signing manifests, Ray was handing out coconuts to be delivered to a house on Olivia Street. Thanks to Randesh for the coconuts. You can find him at Help Yourself chopping them open with a machete for the delicious water inside. Help Yourself was also a stop and they made everyone do a shot of super cold juice!


Brian and Agnes worked the Olivia Street surprise stop, where conch cruisers got their manifest signed, but roadies had to take a freshly picked mango back to Fixed Gears to get a signature. I am not sure how many people realized the Bill Butler Park checkpoint was down a tiny alley only two houses away!


Maya kicked ass and rode off into the sunset on the steel (and cardboard) horse she rides. Inspired by the race, she actually made a horse for her bicycle. Well done! She worked the checkpoint on the stairs at the corner of Duval and Front and made the racers go and find a tourist and make them yell, “yeee-haaaawww!”


This is a crazy story. George, on the left thought he had DFL and realized he had lost his wallet while racing. He rushed out of Cowboy Bill’s to go look for it and Matt, on the right, showed up and stole DFL from him. Matt also had a wallet he found on the street; which turned out to be George’s wallet! Dang, this town is getting small…


This was the most fixie riders ever together on this tiny island….six of us! Amy, Amy, Patrick, ChillWill and on the far right; Peppermint Patti and Rydel who drove down from Miami for the race. Riding around Saturday night with everyone was awesome. We had road bikes, fixies, conch cruisers and even a Penny-Farthing

Click Read More for a basket full of more photos!




Patricia arrived at Turtle Kraals and climbed the stairs to the Tower Bar but could not find the checkpoint person. She borrowed a menu to prove she was there. Good thinking!


Yep, someone really raced a Penny-farther! Scott also builds custom chopper bikes. I’ll mos def get a post out soon with some of his work and contact info.


We gave Matt, DFL, this rope lock hoping his bike would get stolen and he could get a faster bike! Ironicaly, Jonothn, who came in 1st place, actually uses a rope to “lock up” his bike at racks. Really, he does it all the time. I love this town!


By the way, Matt was one of the out-of-towners, visiting from Ohio; not for the race…but on honeymoon with his beautiful wife! Congratulations! They were super cool, hope to see y’all when I’m visiting Columbus in August.


Robbie was making people, like Jason here, go down the slide at Bill Butler Park.


RJ, in between Peppermint Patti and ??, prolly could have been the winner if not for a bit of disorganization on by both of us. He arrived at Cowboy Bill’s with Rydel an out-of-towner from Miami following his wheel, and they could not find me. They got back on their bikes and pedaled all the way to Cowboy Bill’s Reloaded, a smaller sister bar towards the northern end of Duval and returned…still looking for me. I was taking photos at three checkpoints as fast as possible. They forgot to pick up the Blue Paper and while going out to get them, Jonathon and Eddie arrived, putting RJ and Rydel in 3rd and 4th.



Scott, on the left, is the rider of the Penny Farthington. I don’t remember what Peppermint Patti was showing me and Patrick is blurry and out of focus…as promised.


An adorable couple and their bicycle basket of mangos! Thanks again Brian and Agnes for helping out.


me and lou


Rydel killin' the wings! At some point at Finnegan’s Wake I wrote down a quote from PP, “I’m not surprised he has chicken in his tooth hole!”


Rydel and the King of the Wild West, Jonathon, who bought a round for everyone!

Peppermint Patti chillin'


these tats were da bomb!


peppermint patti hugging what may have been the inspiration for The Giving Tree infont of the house where Shel Silverstein lived.


david on the penny! It was a bit awkward at first, but I liked riding it. with a waaay bigger front wheel than a 29’r, curbs were nuttin’!

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The Showdown in Old Town alleycat race

Key West's first alleycat race! And its gonna be tropical craziness! There's a lot of surprises in store for the racers and prizes for both fast riders and those on obligatorily rusted conch cruisers! I have certainly slacked on my blogging and organizing here, but this will more than make up for it. We got a lot of great local sponsors already supporting us with prizes and help. Props to Patrick at Fixed Gears, a bicycle repair shop on Simonton Street; Charlie at Help Yourself, a wonderful organic and green food spot on Fleming Street, Billy at Cowboy Bill's, the island's only Honky Tonk Bar, Charlie and Ron at Conch Traders, a great little gift shop at Clinton Square Market and hopefully a slew of other supportive businesses. Yeeeeehaaaawwww!

OK, enough with the bill paying, what about the race? You will need a basket or a bag and please don't forget your lock and lights. Meet at the end of the White Street Pier at 6pm to register. We need volunteers for checkpoints, please come a few minutes early and wear a cowboy hat if ya got one or bring a bandana to wear around yer neck to help the racers identify the checkpoint peoples.

The final checkpoint and afterparty is at a bar, so, unfortunately this race is 21+. But...I have worked out $1 PBR's all night for racers and volunteers!!

I'll post more details as the event gets closer. To all my peoples in da 'Beat, c'mon on down. I'll find you a hammock, tent space, floor space, whatever you need to get down here.

Here's the back of the flyer incase y'all have no idea what an alleycat race is all about:






no hints here about the checkpoints.....sucka!


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A year

It slipped right by us and we didn't even notice (or have a party): the beat bike blog turned 1 year old last Friday. I could say that we've come a long way, but we're pretty much same the same as when we started.

Also check this from dead eye dave in New Haven:

The Valley
Kitten Race - May 2nd - New Haven CT
The Valley Kitten is 40+ miles of city and rural roads, hills and dirty
valley riding. A race to remind you how out of shape you let yourself
get this winter(fatty), a race to raise the bar for all other races
this season. Bloody knuckles , bruises and traffic violations are just the beginning, this race will give you bragging right for years to come . . .


Meet time is Noon/noon:30 at that big flag pole/water fouantain on the New Haven green (Elm st at Church st)
!!!!!THE RACE STARTS AT 1PM SHARP!!!!!! $5 entry fee**



PRIZES INCLUDE: $200 gift certificate and t-shirts from Lucky Soul Tattoo, a "small" size backpack and Hipsters from A.Able Bags(see website for images), shirts and water bottles from Viva La Bici and a bunch more awesomely random stuff. . .

sponsors include :
Lucky Soul Tattoo - luckysoultattoo​.​com

A.Able Bags - a-​able.​blogspot.​com

Devils Gear Bikes - thedevilsgear.​com

Viva La Bici Clothing - vivalabici.com

Piece By Piece Documentary - piecebypiecemovie.com
XOXO,
Dead Eye Dave


**All riders welcomed!!**

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How it all went down

On Saturday, we had The Eel 2. I don't know why it has taken me this long to post the results. Turnout was slim, but those who didn't race missed the awesomest weather/day of the year to race this year. Honest!

1) Orion - he got the money
2) Ken - he got the wine
3) Alex - he got a firm handshake
4) Chris - he got some bald eagle eggs
5) Russ & Scott - they got respect

Ken, Chris, Russ, and Scott also got the secret bonus check point that was figuring out my license plate number.

Special thanks to Johanna, Joel, Josh, and Rich for (wo)manning the checkpoints.


Brendan wants to get drunken noodles. Read more!