Why Bike Culture Matters in Hartford

Things start to happen when the voters and organizations in Hartford demonstrate that they are a coordinated group with agreed upon goals.  Transport Hartford is a loosely moderated discussion group on Facebook, less than a year old, but the topics discussed and suggestions made have already influenced transportation projects in Hartford and beyond.  Discussions from Transport Hartford get printed up and handed to state legislators.

VOTE ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3rd

If a candidate for mayor or city council doesn't talk intelligently about transportation, do they know how cities actually work?

Day of voter registration is available at Hartford City Hall.

Slow Roll rides start in Parkville and twice a month (1st and 3rd Sundays) wander Hartford streets.  The rides have organically connected existing bicycle riders and introduced newer cyclists to the ease of cycling for transportation (and fun) in our city.  The rides are sometimes rolling meetings where the next infrastructure comment session or new business tumbles about in conversation as riders pair, separate, and pair again. New bike lanes are explored.  Parks and street routes not obvious to a newer rider are shared.  Speed dating and strategizing, all in the same group.

Increased bike parking at Hartford Public Library

The Hartford Public Library gets more bike parking to serve their large percentage of bicycle mounted clients.  Bike parking gets installed in a small park by the court house when jurors complain about no available bike parking.  Wethersfield Avenue deletes a parking lane and adds bike lanes that serve Colt Park, Bulkeley High School, and is an active transportation gateway to the Southend.  Zion Street and Farmington Avenue add bike lanes.  The Sigourney Street redesign pull in local Complete Streets experts and advocates to evaluate options including a protected bikeway.  Draft updated zoning regulations include forward thinking street types that serve pedestrian and bicycle travel modes.  The I-84 redesign public comment sessions and the working groups all include pedestrian and bicycling advocates.  A Complete Streets Challenge Team, formed by the city, is meeting monthly to identify and push actions that improve pedestrian and cyclist safety.  All these incremental, but real changes.  Before long, I predict that Hartford will even have a network of connected (and safer) cross city bicycle routes.  With engaged leadership, a blossoming and inclusive bike culture, and grass roots organizing, very real changes can take place within three to five years.

Bike parking added to a park near the court house

The Center for Latino Progress is starting a community bike space, BiCi Co., with youth programs and DIY bike repair.  In 2016, BiCi Co. will be offering used bicycles, parts, and accessories for sale.  Many months before BiCi Co. started, a group of local cyclists and advocates were discussing how to best bring a bike shop back to Hartford.  That group found a wonderful partner in the Center for Latino Progress, and can't wait to bring this vision of a membership, teaching bike shop to fruition.

BiCi Co. now has Demo Member Hours to introduce folks to Do It Yourself repair.  Learn new bike repair skills.  Get started as a BiCi Co. Volunteer.  Just hang out and talk about bikes.  The Demo Member Hours are very informal.  For those that haven't been here yet, we're at 97 Park Street.  Enter via the alley to the right of the building.  You don't have to be a member to attend these demo hours.

Demo Member Hours!

Wednesdays, 5:30-8:30pm (except Nov 25th)

Saturdays, 1:30-5:30pm (except Nov 28th)

Support BiCi Co. Here!

For now, enter BiCi Co. via the alley.

Would this be happening without grass roots organizing?  No.  It wouldn't.  Hartford would be stuck in the car-centric street design rut that has until now held the city back.  Streets that aren't safe enough to ride leave all city residents with limited mobility options.  Supporting and growing the advocacy organizations, discussion groups, informal riding groups, and the BiCi Co. project will carry this momentum forward.  Winter is a time for preparing, planning, and ready-making for the re-explosion of cycling that occurs every early spring.  Don't go into hibernation.  The CT DOT projects don't get shelved when the temperature drops.  Public comment sessions continue year round, just like the cyclists on our city streets that don't have the economic luxury of a personal vehicle.  Stay engaged, and help these efforts root even stronger.

Invitation - Come learn about BiCi Co. while enjoying live, local music on Saturday, November 7th.  Hook and Ladder is just two blocks from the BiCi Co. Park Street location.  Bicycle commuters support our local economy, especially when beer is involved.  We'll see you there.  Show up on foot or bicycle and Tony C will give you a free hug!

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Hit the Ground Rolling

If you've been following the blog posts while I was bicycle touring the US (list of posts), you'll already know that a community bike space, BiCi Co., is in the works at the Center for Latino Progress.  For those that are just now joining the party, we'll bring you up to speed.   

The BiCi Co. logo was designed by Hartford resident, Kyrima Colon

BiCi Co Membership Campaign on Indiegogo

The City of Hartford does not have a single bike shop.  How can that be?  Large numbers of Hartford youth ride for transportation and recreation, but they don’t have brakes, helmets or lights.  Bicycle safety training is nonexistent in our schools.  How can we address that?  The Center for Latino Progress sees this as an opportunity to improve youth safety, while also increasing our community’s mobility and jobs access.  The Center of Latino Progress has teamed up with Breakfast Lunch & Dinner to launch BiCi Co., a community bike space that is key for a healthy, sustainable, and economically vibrant Hartford.   Bici is shorthand for bicicleta, and Co. represents the community benefits of healthy, active transportation.

 

The bicycle station in Washington DC.  Why not in Hartford?

Bici Co. will host after-school programs teaching bicycle history, safety and mechanic skills to Hartford area teenagers..  BiCi Co. members will have access to the mechanic space during member hours and receive discounts on repair parts and accessories. Members will learn how to maintain and repair their own bike with the help of experienced mechanics. Bici Co. will offer community bicycle safety and repair classes.  Bicycles build community, connect residents to jobs, increase local spending, and respect the Earth.  And don’t forget, they’re just plain fun.  BiCi Co. can’t wait to be a bustling hub for those excited about bicycle culture in the Hartford area.

A parallel parking spot bike corral in front of a bike shop in DC

This summer, the Center invested in a community, teaching bicycle shop at 95 Park Street for thirty teens completing their Summer Youth Employment service learning project. During the seven-week program, the teens repaired bikes for the CRT Generations Program and confirmed a need for additional bicycle programs year round. BiCi Co. needs funds to open the shop and staff the initial youth and adult programs.  BiCi Co. is raising funds by securing annual memberships and donations to cover the expenses of the continuing programs from October through December 2015.  A successful crowdfunding campaign will keep this big wheel rolling. 

Beautiful urban mural art in Baltimore.  Near the ravens stadium, an otherwise desolate area.

 Hartford has a rich history of bicycle manufacturing and culture. In the 1890's, Colonel Albert Pope and the Columbia Bicycle Company manufactured the most bicycles in the world in Hartford.  BiCi Co. goes back to those roots with social purpose and community focus. You have an opportunity to support the growing wave of sustainable and healthy bicycle commuting in Hartford and its surrounding cities.  Anthony Cherolis, the Center’s Youth Coordinator says, “You can’t imagine the joy on a teen’s face when they fix their own bicycle.  That bicycle opens up their world.”  Be a part of our community - BiCi Co.

Baltimore has a separated bikeway going through downtown

About the Center For Latino Progress: The Center for Latino Progress – CPRF (formerly Connecticut Puerto Rican Forum, Inc.) mission is to advance the socio-economic conditions of the community at large, with emphasis on Hispanics, through education, training, supportive services, leadership development, and advocacy. Since 1978, we provide competent and culturally enriching services and programs that foster individual and community growth, and create economic opportunities for all.  More information is available at http://www.ctprf.org.

BiCi Co Membership Campaign on Indiegogo

 Mural art in Philly

 The two Fall programs that will be supported by the campaign include the teen Build-a-Bike / Earn-a-Bike program and Member DIY Hours.  In the next couple of weeks we'll be opening up Demo Member hours for those that want to see what BiCi Co. is all about.  Like the Facebook page to get the latest announcements about member hours.  Right now, we're looking for feedback on which times work the best for folks.  Please chime in.  It would also be awesome if you invite other Hartford metro bicycle loving (or bike curious) folks to also like the page.  The more the merrier!

We found the largest crawdad ever on trail.  Aggressive fellow.

Elizabeth joined me from Trenton, NJ to New Brunswick, NJ

Multi-modal to Monclair, NJ.  Rolled on board the train.

Of course there's a bike corral in front of the Philly Whole Foods

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It Feels Like Mode Shift

Before - Dead?

Yesterday was a fabulous Summer Saturday in Hartford.  I spent most of the day transforming my crushed touring bike back into an everyday rig.  A little over a month ago the bicycle was underneath a Nissan Maxima on the Park Street sidewalk.  It was 9:00am on a quiet Saturday morning and I was on the second floor preparing for the school year end celebration.  A loud crash gave me time to look out the window and watch a car roll onto my parked bike after slamming into a parked car.  The replacement parts all came in last week, and I've been contacted by the driver (no insurance) who agreed to pay me back in $50 installments for the damage.  I never expected to hear back from the driver, and that makes me feel a little better about humanity.

After - New fork, wheels, handlebar, brake levers, cranks, front rack

Steel is real!  The bike was operational just in time to zip over to the Youth Play Institute production at Hartbeat Ensemble's Carriage House Theater on Farmington Ave.  YPI takes a team of fifteen diverse teens and young adults and starts with a relevant social justice question.  The team researches the issue and interviews local experts.  From that research they create an originally written play, with lighting, set design, and costuming.  The play is performed in three shows to a live audience, and all of this goes down in a short five weeks.  I'm always stunned by the process and product.  What blows my mind the most is that the team operates using consensus decision making, which I've never seen result in quick decision making.  Both of the facilitators, Hannah Simms and Vanessa Butler, must be wizards.  (Side note - Vanessa is Juliet in the outdoor production of Romeo and Juliet at St. Joe's.  This is their last week and it is amazing! Not to be missed.)

Over the last three years, I have seen a noticeable uptick in those using bicycles to commute.  The low 0.8% bike mode share in Hartford never made sense to me, with greater than 35% of households not owning a car.  One of the issues is paltry support.  The only bike shop in the city, Taskar's on Franklin, closed last year due to retirement.  Many note that the shop didn't observe typical business hours.  Absent a legal way to obtain bike parts and quality bicycle service, there is an extra hurdle for those that would like to use a bike in our city.  On top of that, Hartford's transportation planning is non-existent.  The city really doesn't have a traffic planner, ridiculous in a city of our size.  Bike lanes are segmented, and there isn't a network of connected bike routes.  The Department of Public Works Director looked at me like I was speaking French when I asked if they were using Sharrows on the recently repaved Park Street.  Park Street is popular for utility cyclists.  Sharrows would send a positive message to both motorists and the cyclists.

Posting (finally) for a Traffic Engineer in Hartford.

Behind the wave of rising bike use by residents, there is some painfully slow change coming at the government level.  The Department of Development just started a Complete Streets Challenge Team, which is working a list of bike and pedestrian improvements.  The city also has a posting up for a Transportation Designer.  Now all we need are some bike, walk, transit users at the Department of Public Works.  For a department that is focused on road issues and infrastructure, it's telling that there isn't a bicycle rack out front of their offices.

Special delivery to BiCi Co.  Donation from Tom Brown of the Wethersfield Bike Swap.

Since we collectively can't stand the snail pace of government, we're taking a lot into our own hands at the grass roots level.  Center for Latino Progress is kicking off BiCi Co., a teaching bike shop with members and volunteers.  Right now BiCi Co is working with thirty Hartford teens in a Summer program.  The teens are learning about bike safety, Hartford's rich bike history, science and engineering, and bicycle mechanic skills.  The group is tuning up bikes that will be donated to grandchildren in CRT's Generations Program.  Stay tuned for the BiCi Co. membership drive and crowd funding campaign to support the larger project.  It starts with our youth, and it changes the whole community.  A group at Aetna with David Hildebrand just partnered with the Hartford Police and donated 150 bikes to youth and teens.  Those youth will need somewhere to get replacement parts, locks, helmets, and lights.  Cue Bici Co!

Trying to figure out where the noise is coming from.

Proud team finishing their first tuned up donation bicycle.

Hartford Slow Roll is this afternoon, 8/2 at 3pm - 1429 Park Street, (1st and 3rd Sundays of each month) and we'll be stopping at Wethersfield Avenue.  The Wethersfield Ave stop was supposed to mark the recent completion of the bicycle lanes that were added to the paving job at the last minute.  Unfortunately, snails pace government strikes again.  The "No Parking" cones have been up all week, but no lanes.  Leaving "No Parking" signs up all week is particularly dysfunctional.  Rather than postpone again, the show will go on and we'll ride the bike lanes in spirit.  The Slow Roll events are being organized by Breakfast Lunch and Dinner (BL&D), another grass roots effort connecting new friends (and bike lovers) in Hartford.

Future bike lanes - Wethersfield Ave

Winds of change.  The bike lanes coming to Wethersfield Ave were the product of a scramble by multiple neighborhood groups (NRZ's) when they realized the city hadn't planned any Complete Streets improvements on this corridor. When the MDC multi-year sewer separation project was done and the road was finally paved, no thought had gone into this important connection  Hartford needs to capitalize on all the paving happening across the city to pivot towards sustainable transportation and Complete Streets.  Unfortunately, there is dysfunction and car-centric thought among those in leadership positions.  In the meantime, our citizen groups and grass roots efforts will have to do a lot of change making.

Interested in being part of the conversation?  Tune in to and participate in the discussions on Transport Hartford.  

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Momentum is a Terrible Thing to Waste

The title of this post is borrowed from David Ringquist, the former President of the Central Connecticut Bicycle Alliance.  CCBA was the precursor of Bike Walk Connecticut.  If not mistaken, I'm seeing momentum building in Hartford for change in how we get from point A to B.  The "Powers that Be" are recognizing options aside from single occupancy car trips and promoting those options, sometimes even favoring those options.  The "Powers that Be" aren't doing this without prodding, external and internal.  Bike Walk CT is chasing the statewide policy.  Transport Hartford recently formed to push our urban bike, walk, and bus transit needs.  West Hartford even has a group of commuting and recreational cyclists that are tired of their precarious positions in our lopsided transportation system.

Riding around yesterday doing errands, I came across several signs that Hartford, and our surrounding burbs are starting to do something, anything, for non-car travel modes.  While riding up Capitol Avenue entering Hartford, the road name changes to Boulevard.  Right across the line in West Hartford there is a "3 FEET MINIMUM" sign, literally a sign of the changing times.  This references the three foot law that was passed way back in 2008.  Finally seeing signage and on-the-street education about the law was refreshing.  Not something one would expect to see in West Hartford.  I'm guessing it was the result of their local bicycle advocacy group, Bike West Hartford, that is pushing for safer riding.  As a Hartford resident, I'd like to see this sign repeated on popular bike routes in our city - particularly on streets heavily trafficked by suburban drivers entering and leaving the city.

Jealousy inducing sign.  Just across the line in West Hartford.

 My errand of the afternoon was to pick up a touring bicycle at REI to replace a recently retired rig.  The previous bike had a broken fork after 10 years of hard use.  No need for a car for this trip.  Easier to strap the bike to the top of my trailer than stuff it in a car trunk anyways, and much more respect from neighborhood folks that I rode past.  When you trailer something, it's a social experience with verbal communication and waves at those you pass.  A very different experience from putting something in your car trunk, turning on the radio, and tuning out.  Roll those windows up, and turn on the climate control - community and climate change be damned.

This is how Tony C picks up a new touring bike.  No car needed.

On my trip back home, I had to stop and admire the alien green painted bike lanes on Broad Street.  I was doubtful that this would ever be completed.  I'm curious how cyclists that regularly use Broad Street find these lanes?  Also interested if anyone that didn't previously use Broad, is comfortable using it now.  I like that the painted color carries across intersections.  This project included "Bike Boxes", which I'm not sure anybody in Hartford knows how to use.  If you're curious about the intended use, you could watch a video here.  Other cities accompanied their new bike infrastructure with some publicity and outreach.  I don't recall seeing any publicity and outreach from the City of Hartford.  That said, I'm still a fan of the improving infrastructure that doesn't solely focus on car traffic.

A radiant green bike lane on Broad Street.  I like it.

Let's keep this momentum rolling.  Get involved with Transport Hartford and engaged in bike, walk, and transit discussions.  They chat quite a bit on Facebook.  You should also get on the email list. Read more!

Race, class and bike infrastructure

So, I was at this conference at Yale over the weekend. I had originally wanted to go by bike, because I like the ride down to New Haven. The weather forecast called for horrific thunderstorms, so I drove. I stayed overnight at my friend Marko's and brought my bike because I'm bad at parking and didn't want to worry about my car the next day because I was moderating this panel. Also, you can probably imagine that I like riding my bike.

New Haven has bike infrastructure. Lots of it. It's pretty cool. There are racks everywhere, sharrows and a bike path that'll take you all the way to Cheshire. People use it, too. This includes a person who locked up their Richard Sachs and left it in the rain. I was happy to be able to use it, because Hartford is not as excited about bike infrastructure.

I was thinking and I never think positive things. I saw lots of people on bikes in New Haven, but they generally looked white and middle class. That in and of itself is not upsetting. I fall into those categories. And really, it didn't make me upset with New Haven. Instead, it made me upset with Hartford. People ride bikes in Hartford. Not just people who look like me, indeed mostly people who don't look like me. We've got some racks downtown, but not in very many other places. Although, they're put in a front places where bike riders don't usually go. There was this big master plan to put them in all neighborhoods, but that seems to have stalled. It would seem that not the right people are riding bikes in Hartford, so we aren't going to do anything to help that mode of transportation.

This led to other dark thoughts. The City never clears its sidewalks when it snows and people have to walk in road. Are non-automotive-base transportation modes only invested in or maintained when they're tools of gentrification? It reminded me of the hearing for the destruction of the skatepark/Downtown North. In trying to attract the affluent, we keep hearing about complete streets, walkability and bike lanes. I'm tired of bikes and walking being leverage points for something bigger development project. They're good ways to get around, but please stop co-opting for your luxury condos.

It wasn't always this way either. Ten-twelve years ago, sharrows showed up on Babcock and Lawerence, the bus lane north of Windsor Ave is also a bike lane and Tower Ave has a bike lane. I think this debate went on a long time ago in Brooklyn and it was determined that bike lane marking was a gentrification tagging. Of course, this doesn't explain the bike lane on Maxim Road that goes to the sewage treatment plant. I think that was bike lanes as means to try and stop street racing.

So, anyway, I've decided that I'm against bike lanes now that they're tools of the oppressor.

Ed. note:
This guy did some writing about it and I thought it was worth reading. Read more!

Painting with a Broad Brush: New Bike Lanes and Hartford's First Bike Boxes on Broad Street

 

Broad and Farmington today

 The Broad Street Problem
 

Broad Street looking northward

Broad Street has a well-earned reputation as a terrifying route for bicyclists and pedestrians alike. The lack of bike lanes and the I-84 on-ramp have made it especially dangerous for northbound bicyclists faced with both an uphill climb and high-risk spot for right-hook crashes at the highway entrance. Late this past summer, some City of Hartford DPW, CT DOT, and neighborhood people met to discuss ways to make this area safer for bicyclists and I came away with cautiously optimistic thoughts. I'll admit I was among those worried about the future of those improvements when then-DPW director Kevin Burnham resigned shortly thereafter, but October saw the first visible sign that progress was continuing as the heavily-damaged pavement at the southwestern entrance to Bushnell Park was patched. With the painting of these new bike lanes, another phase of these improvements goes into service less than three months after they were discussed, and we are reminded that city, state, and citizens can actually communicate efficiently and make good things happen. There are good people at the DOT. They just need more of them.

Broad and Capitol today

First Observations

You're...

This Saturday morning was my first chance to walk this length of Broad in daylight. During my 20-minute walkaround, approximately 2/3 of the motorists I observed used the proper lanes and stopped short of the bike boxes. The rest pulled right up to, or into, the crosswalk. The northbound right-turners were the worst, with about 1/3 of them driving up in the straight lane before cutting through the bike lane and a One southbound driver cut their left turn so short that they actually drove across all of the northbound lanes, including the bike lane, as they made their hasty way to the interstate. The sidewalks are improved, but the crosswalk at the I-84 on-ramp still feels like a dicey place to be a pedestrian.

doing...

it...

wrong!!!

It can get better

These bike lanes and boxes are slated to be painted green-- the first such painted bike zones in Hartford. This is bound to increase visibility when it happens. Something that was discussed with Mr. Burnham was the installation of recessed flush-mount (snowplow compatible) reflectors in the pavement along the borders of the bike lane. I think these and some limited-but-deftly-placed rumble strip milling would make the defined lanes harder to ignore in that crucial northbound stretch of bike lane. Hopefully, some lane-identifying street signs will go up as well. Education and enforcement will be important ways to further motorist awareness, but I've been watching how people drive in this spot for over a decade, and this will never be my first choice for a northbound trip. The hard truth is that this (and any) interstate on-ramp will always be a dangerous spot.


The Glitch: I've seen the lights go out on Broad Street

The dark side of this news, literally, is that the street lights on this stretch of Broad don't work yet. Workers were feeding wires on site Saturday morning, and one of them said that DOT and CL&P people are meeting early this coming week to sort out some unnamed design problem that is apparently to blame. Best guess I got on-site was maybe another week to get the lights working, meaning pedestrian commuters diverted from the now-barricaded Flower Street will have to pick their way through another week of darkness after work.

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Even fewer protections for cyclists

Salem and I rode up to Massachusetts yesterday. We felt that it was a pretty expressive ride. We felt marginally protected by the Constitution. Well, we were wrong. As soon as we crossed the Mass line, our first amendment protections as cyclists fell by the wayside. Apparently, a Federal district court in Mass determined that riding your bike is not in and of itself a first amendment protected activity. See Damon v. Huckowitz (D. Mass Aug. 9, 2013). Also, it would seem that taking the lane in Hadley will get you stopped by the cops. I rode my bike there last weekend and was taking lanes.

Also, the court seems to have ruled as mater of law that riding in the middle of the lane (something the League of American Bicyclists, etc.) is more dangerous and is not allowed.

As you know, Hadley is in greater Northampton, which is a pretty pro-bike area. Are they going to protest?

Here's the link to the Volokh Conspiracy post where I saw this. Read more!

Why do we need stories like this?

I have a New York Times alert for things about bikes because I'm a dork. Lately, it's about been about a bike race in France. For awhile, it was about the crack down in New York and how evil Janette Sadik-Khan is.

Today, I see this:

U.S.: Bike Lane Plans Move to San Francisco's Fell and Oak
Streets
By SCOTT JAMES
Plans to provide bike lanes on Fell and Oak Streets in San
Francisco, two rare east-west thoroughfares, could result

in traffic backups or eliminate parking.

Now, they've gone all the way to San Francisco to write about what a terrible idea bike lanes are there. I've only been to San Francisco twice. It has a lot of traffic and not that many bike lanes. I've been in cars, on a bike, in public transportation and foot there. Car was the most difficult. I think it's safe to say that the traffic will remain status quo.

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Equestrians Salute Veterans With A Great Big Load of Crap

When the time comes to honor those who served and those who fell serving our country or state, Hartford has parades and processions. When the time comes to honor longstanding traditions and pageantry, members of Connecticut's military and police forces participate in these parades astride horses. When the time comes to clean up after the horses, nobody does.


This past Sunday's Veterans' Day parade was a grand event that featured numerous police and military personnel on horses. As is often the case, they traversed the bike and pedestrian pathway that connects the southeast corner of Bushnell Park to the state armory. As is typically the case, their horses shat all over the path and they left it there for somebody else to deal with. As of late this afternoon, the path remains strewn with feces. Today's rain and sleet ensured that it hasn't dried out, making it a continuing (if not worsening) slip and fall hazard for any errant shoes or tires that fail to dodge the equine land mines.

From my ancestor who fled famine-ravaged Ireland for a stint in the Union Army to my cousin currently stationed in Afghanistan, numerous members of my own family have served in the armed forces. All of the ones I have known personally were (or are) active outdoorsmen, some Eagle Scouts, with a sense of responsibility and stewardship of the outdoors.

I can think of no veteran who would feel honored by this sort of carelessness.


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Bird Watching

Between the beautiful weather, holiday weekend, and a wedding featuring a gorgeous couple, I was grateful that we decided to bike to Elizabeth Park. We had our choice of spaces to use on the bike rack, but parking spots for cars looked very hard to come by, unless you were lucky enough to be driven to the Pond House in a sexy, gleaming classic.

After we had our fill of sunshine and roses, we meandered down too quiet streets in West Hartford toward the Center. I've never seen the streets so empty of traffic. I even rode on Farmington Avenue without pissing myself. I had to make a stop at R.E.I. for to buy an accessory using Interstatement's member discount. The secret to not dropping an entire paycheck there is to show up accidentally ten minutes before they close. That leaves no time to try anything on. From there, I did venture up to try out Chipotle, the new Mexican restaurant. I'd rank it as better than Moe's, though given the length of time I had to wait in line, it probably will be some time before I go back. Also, I think I weighed five pounds heavier after eating the burrito; thus, when we tried to see what our speeds were by zooming past the speed limit checker machine on Boulevard, I think the lasers hit my thick-with-burrito stomach and broke the machine. It said that I was going faster than Interstatement, who was a block ahead of me.

On what was possibly the easiest ride ever -- barely broke a sweat, didn't get cut off by any drivers -- I noticed that the bike lanes on Capitol Avenue in Hartford were recently repainted. The arrows were a little smaller and I think this helps put more emphasis on the bike stencil. Not sure if the two are related, but I did not see any cars drive in the bike lanes there, for once.


This picture was not even taken today, but I felt guilty putting up a photo of a car but not one of a bike. This belongs to a friend who should ride it to Elizabeth Park. See -- connection made.
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PowerPoint to the People

This past Tuesday evening found me in the grand environs of The Bushnell for the Bicycle Friendly Communities Symposium. The CCBA email I had gotten about the event didn't go into a whole lot of detail, but it was close to home and seemed worthy of attention. It was time well spent.

The last symposium I attended at The Bushnell was an iQuilt presentation sometime last year. As the only one who had biked to that event, I was compelled to point out that The Bushnell had no bike rack. I sidestepped the bike locking issue by walking there last night, but was wondering if they had gotten around to adding a proper rack. While that was not the case, I was impressed and surprised to see that they were allowing bikes to park indoors. Well done!


Inside I saw faces familiar from (Ice) Bike to Work and other CCBA events on my way to my seat. Kerri was in the house taking notes for Real Hartford. Sandy Fry welcomed everyone and introduced Tom Maziarz, Director of Transportation for the Capitol Region Council of Governments (or DOT4CRCOG for short) said a few words about their work on "Bike and ped" issues. Having walked to the event, I wasn't sure I like being known as a "Ped," but I certainly do have issues, so I let it go. His main point was a need for better awareness on the part of both the public and especially the decision makers in local government. Up next, CCBA President Anne Hayes said a few words about their recent efforts and achievements like Complete Streets and the (sadly, oft ignored) Three Foot Passing Law before introducing their featured guest Andy Clarke, president of The League of American Bicyclists.

Clarke began with a brief overview of the League's history (founded by our man Albert Pope, thank you very much) and their mission of bike advocacy and education. He launched into his rather comprehensive PowerPoint presentation by speaking at length about L.A.B's Bicycle Friendly America program and how communities were rated and ranked. He explained how cities apply for the "Bike Friendly" status and how the League helps them achieve and raise their respective rankings. Clarke cited some familiar positive examples from the US and abroad, but was quick to point out how sick to death everyone must be of hearing about Copenhagen and Portland. That said, he pointed out two important things: Firstly, these cities have reaped tremendous benefits from gearing thoughtful infrastructural planning to the everyday use of bicycles. Secondly, they were not always like that. He showed photos of traffic-choked European city streets from a decade or so ago to help illustrate what a dramatic transformation can take place with the right actions.


The presentation moved from what has been done to what needs to be done to increase bicycle use and awareness. One matter that was touched upon was that many people feel intimidated by bicycling in different ways, all of which I could identify with. Risk of injury from motor vehicles is always on people's minds with good reason. The image of cycling as a hardcore competitive sport can serve to alienate the would-be everyday bike rider as well. Clarke spoke of surveys that showed that many customers rate visiting their local bike shops as an unpleasant experience. I've had all of these experiences myself, and I'm decidedly more of a bike nut than the average U.S. citizen. Clarke showed examples of humorous ad campaigns geared toward getting people out of their cars and onto bikes. The main (and obvious) point is that we need to get more people riding bicycles. Let it be fun, let it be social. Let it be something that isn't a huge commitment or a daunting undertaking. Identify the obstacles to getting more people on bikes and work to overcome them.

Make cycling the most convenient option and people will ride.
Go back and reread that last sentence out loud. It's important.


There were a few handouts, the most informative being the League's "Bicycle Friendly America Yearbook." I have not yet read it from cover to cover, but skimming it showed profiles of 95 Bicycle Friendly Communities and 13 Bicycle Friendly Businesses, and a hell of a lot of ideas and standards to aspire to. All of this information and more can be found on their website.

There were no bombshells or revelations here. There were a lot of useful ideas and examples as to how we could try to make bicycling in the Hartford area a better experience. Hartford's specific issues were not really discussed per se, but there was nothing so unique or revolutionary about the ideas that bike friendly communities had implemented that would prevent us from adapting them here. There is strength, safety and overall benefit in numbers. I'll be happier when I don't have to improvise a bike rack at many destinations or venture outside of city lines to pick up a few bike parts or accessories on short notice. Hartford's bike scene is small. There's a certain allure to being part of a small group, but bicycling as a whole should not be that small group. I'd love to see bicycling become ordinary and ubiquitous enough to support multiple thriving fringe elements. The fanatics and purists have been there all along and they are important, but it's detrimental to cycling if most people are not comfortable making a bike part of their everyday routine. We can all do something better to spread the word, and would all do well to think about how.

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