Allan Williams Memorial Service and Bike Procession

It is with regret to write about the memorial services for Allan Williams whom i met through the CCBA and all the work he did for the organization. My best to his family. This is a great loss for them as well as everyone Allan helped with his tireless work. Allan was the first person I met in the CCBA, during the weeks before the first Discover Hartford Walking and Bicycle Tour a few years ago. He was a super nice guy and gave a lot for the tour to work so well. Upon reading his Obituary I learned how much more this man has done for Earth! Well done Allan. Wow!

I really wish I could have posted this sooner, but tomorrow is the funeral and a bicycle procession. Please see below:

Bike Procession and Ride:
Procession:
The Williams Family is happy to have cyclists ride their bikes along with the funeral procession at Cedar Hill Cemetery. You are welcome to drive your bike to the cemetery, ride in the procession, and drive to the reception or back to the rest of your day.

Meet: Cedar Hill Cemetery entrance no later than 10:15 like everyone else
Wear your Discover Hartford Bike Tour T-Shirt!

Riding from downtown Hartford to the cemetery?
Meet at 9:30 AM in Bushnell Park across the street from DEP, 79 Elm Street, Hartford




Allan, you will be missed. Thank you for all your dedication, time and work. Ride On!

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The Sandpit of Deathpart Saga Continues

The Sandpit of Death before last week's gorilla clean-up! I will replace with an up-to-date photo manana.

The first BBB post about The Sandpit of Death on the pathway between Bushnell Park and the LOB/Armory area was mostly about the clean-up done by Hanna, Maureen and I. This was last week. I ended the post with the beginnings of an attempt to have the city via it’s 311 program handle the rest of the work needed on the entire sidewalk including the very dirty bridge. The soft sand was dangerous to ride over and muddy to walk through after rain. Many, many people use this pathway every day.

Brendan recently reported the sand was returning. It certainly has! We scraped, shoveled and swept that sidewalk to bare concrete last week. I passed through it Monday night on a ride with Krash. Its baaaack! All this rain has caused a shitload of sand and dirt to once again cover the sidewalk. AARRGG!!!!

A culvert and minor construction is needed to fix this problem permanently. My neighbor, David Corrigan, is on the North Frog Hollow NRZ committee and told me there were plans to fix up the whole pathway including lighting! Nice! That will be great...when it happens. But what about now?!?!

Something has to be done. But what? Perhaps some hay bales to prevent the sand from flowing onto the sidewalk in heavy rain?

At a minimum, the city needs to send a street sweeper over that area after every rainstorm to keep it safe. Let’s make that happen. We can do this.

Please help us help ourselves by calling and/or emailing 311 and asking the city to fix this dangerous situation. If enough of us call, something has got to happen! Please leave a comment below about your own call!


Landline - 311
Cel phone - 860-522-4888
Website 311

there's no more to read! Read more!

Cyclists must realize that that the road belongs to the driver and they are merely borrowing it.

Do you disagree with that statement? Want to read more? Got something to say about it? Check this letter to the editor from Michael Klucznik in Wethersfield.
Be sure to check the comments as well and give your opinion.


also, duude, Karma, our gun-toting, think slow, write quick, threaten to shoot people buddy, Haddam's village idiot, posted and is quite civil. hmmm...i wonder what happened!?!? Read more!

Heroes PT. II

So it was a rather quiet weekend for the AP but that allowed them to take what they had read in our previous discussions about bike celebrities and heroes and go out and find one for us. In a story posted yesterday on CNN they followed Barack Obama on a bike ride along the shores of Lake Michigan where they took this flashy photo. As much as I love the guy I kind of wish he had a bike adviser on his staff that could have upped his cred a bit before this shot was allowed. I mean all i'm looking for is a rolled pant leg or perhaps a sweet Obama '08 messenger bag (maybe Manahatten Portage could jump on this one). I am, however, curious about the foam noodle fender that he's rocking as it looks less likely rip his sidewall, as I am suspicious of mine of having done, though at the height its sitting at I wonder about its performance.

Regarding the celebrity discussion, it seems here that at least the AP feels that biking has enough mainstream consciousness that the public would be interested with this photo. Reading the comment section of the article is far from bike related so maybe Obama is not the type of bike ambassador we are looking for at this point but one could argue that he made the top page of CNN on his bike and none of us can boast that.

I fear for his durability as a bike ambassador as one commenter keenly pointed out:

"DONT RIDE TOO FAST OR HILLARY WILL JUMP OUT OF THE BUSHES AND JAM A STICK IN YOUR FRONT TIRE!"


Personally I'd be more concerned about McCain rolling his walker out of the bushes and throwing his dentures ninja-style at this unsuspecting passerby. Just another reason to wear a helmet!

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