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!

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Do It Yourself - BiCi Co. Hours Announced!

The membership, teaching bike shop starting up at 95 Park Street has this thing called "Member Hours."  BiCi Co. members have access to the shop during these scheduled hours to attend and use the workstands, tools, and get guidance from experienced mechanics.  Members can come into these hours and use them to pick up new bike maintenance skills - like changing a tire or replacing a worn out chain.  For anyone that rides further than a mile or so from home, knowing how to change a tire is something you should know.  The confidence and mobility one gains from mastering basic maintenance on their bicycle is important to how likely someone is to be a regular bicycle commuter or longer distance recreational cyclist.   Being worried that you'll be stranded for hours for every flat tire really damps the enthusiasm of someone that would otherwise enjoy a 10 or 20 mile bicycle ride.

BiCi Co Membership Campaign on Indiegogo

What do I get with membership?  Why bother with this BiCi Co. concept of empowered and independent cyclists? Good questions.  In addition to access to DIY member hours, you'll get a 25% discount on bicycle parts and accessories.  Members have special pricing for scheduled bike safety and mechanic lessons.  Some might be intimidated by the thought of tuning a bicycle, but consider how much simpler a bicycle is than your standard car.  It's not rocket science.  Almost anyone who wants to learn the basics of bicycle maintenance (including basic repair) can do it.  With hands on lessons and patient experts on hand, you can do this.

Five work stands and a full complement of bike tools.

This fall we are holding a trial version of the BiCi Co. Member Hours for those that want to try before they buy.  BiCi Co is also recruiting volunteers, both for member hours.  If you're interested in volunteers, send me an email.  The shop will have basic repair parts and accessories.  Since we're in the startup phase of the project, we won't have a fully stocked bike shop.   There are multiple full sets of bike tools, work stands, a wheel truing stand, and work benches.  The shop is beginning to accumulate used bike parts, and those are also available to support your bicycle repair.  Being a BiCi Co. member puts resources, experts, and parts at your fingertips.  I know personally that it's expensive and takes a lot of space to set up a bike workstation in your home.   Being a member at BiCi Co. is a great option, with a side benefit of social connections and skill sharing.

BiCi Co. - Demo Member Hours - Weekly!

• Wednesdays from 5:30-8:30pm.  Starting on October 21st.  No hours on November 25th due to holiday weekend.
• Saturdays from 1:30-5:30pm.  Starting on November 7th.  No hours on November 28th due to holiday weekend.

BiCi Co Membership Campaign on Indiegogo

Last year's parade - Anne Cubberly's Night Fall crew.

BiCi Co. Special Event - Save the Date - Hooker Day Parade 

Saturday, October 24th for the Hooker Day Parade in Downtown Hartford.  We'll be riding bikes in the parade.  More information soon.  Stay tuned for the BiCi Co. FB Page for the latest info.  Excited to pull in bicycle commuters and riders from Transport Hartford, the Slow Roll, and BiCi Co. to participate in this rollicking annual Hartford parade / party.

Hooker day costume from 2013.  Photo credit Greg Garcia.

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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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