Frankengoose

It was the bike nobody wanted. A barely-used Mongoose hardtail with a short-travel suspension fork and chunky tires that hummed loudly on the pavement. My upstairs neighbor gave it to me when I inquired about his much-nicer Nishiki mountain bike years ago. I found it too heavy for serious mountain biking and too redundant to use instead of my Trek 720. I gave it to a friend's teenage son. He wasn't interested, and it was too big for my friend or her daughters, so she gave it back to me. I offered it to another friend's teenage son, but he scored a sweet Giant on the cheap, so I was stuck with it once again. I disassembled the bike and installed a 700c rigid fork from a Trek, intending to make a sort of low-rent 96er winter beater. There wasn't much of a winter. It languished.

Enter friend #3. Her son was going to college and needed a city/commuter bike to get around. Did I have anything that might fit the bill? Yes I did, and this time I had an inspiration. At some point I had noticed that the rear stays were really long on this frame. It turned out there was enough room to fit a 700c x 32 rear tire with a fender. I got a used rear road wheel with a 7 speed freehub and a new front wheel for peanuts at a swap meet. I swapped a MTB axle and a 5mm spacer onto the rear wheel to make it 135mm and re-dished and trued it. I found a brand new Vittoria 700x32 tire on the curb in my neighborhood (?!) and found a matching one on sale at a local store. I had two front fenders left over from another project, so I mounted them front and rear, adding an orange strip of Scotchlite reflective vinyl for added visibility and snazziness.

The 'Goose originally had V-brakes front and rear. I mounted the original front brake on the Trek fork, installing a pair of the large original pads from my Yuba. Out back, the original canti posts were too distant from the 700c rim to use anything shy of a super-adjustable, super expensive Paul Components brake. I used a rear sidepull from an old 70's Nishiki road bike that is likely bound for single/fixiehood. By adjusting it wider than I usually would, I found that it worked quite well with the V-brake ratio lever. The slightly used original pads from the front brake fit nicely and made for perfect toe-in. The vestigial brake posts remain, which looks goofy, but I had no interest in grinding them off and repainting the frame, so they remain. I was pleasantly surprised with how well the bike stopped without squealing.

Gearing-wise, this bike is a 1x7, with a Hyperdrive-C cassette swiped from my disassembled Skykomish, Gripshift from a mid-90's Trek and a derailleur from a Peugeot mountain bike frame I have. I had modified a welded triple crank to a 38 tooth single long ago with this bike in mind, but it made for an abysmal chainline, so I had to get creative. I started with a ubiquitous late 80's/early 90's 28/38/48 Shimano Biopace mountain triple. With 10 nylon spacers from the hardware store and the stock chainring bolts, I was able to space the lone 38T ring inboard. That combined with a deliberate flip of the asymmetrical bottom bracket spindle (from a Fuji folding mountain bike) made the chainline just about perfect.

The cut-down flat handlebar and Sakae stem used to live on my Trek, and both came from trash-picked bikes (I installed the grips after the pictures were taken). The frame, headset, bottom bracket cups, seatpost, saddle and front brake are all that remain of the original bike. I messed with so many major aspects of this bike that the geometry was a blind crap-shoot, but it turned out to be a nimble-handling bike without being twitchy. The high-riding bottom bracket gives it bonus cornering and curb clearance. It earned barrio approval, with a few shouts of "Nice bike!" as I test rode it on Park Street. I was pleased. Most importantly, I'm told the bike's new owner loves his new ride, and it's unlikely to come back again. Third time's the charm! Read more!

Fenderella

WAY BEFORE:
No fenders on the everyday bike. Quite often, back of coat or backpack coated in mud. Not unheard of to get some dirt on face, specifically, in mouth. Once, got bits of mud on ivory-color dress while riding to art opening because there was a puddle that wanted to be ridden through. Except for the dress incident, perceived this all as an exercise in building character.

IMMEDIATELY BEFORE: Functional SKS fenders that were plain black and boring. At least they weren't navy blue.


AFTER:

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a little Key Wierdness to warm your day

Handcuffs for bike locks are as common as rusty fenders here in Key West; but this awesomely strange combination of handlebar and bar ends is certainly not. I wondered who the rider was as I passed this bicycle going into the Bottle Cap Lounge as well as when I left. Perhaps the owner was sitting next to me? Perhaps they are seven or eight feet tall? Or enjoy riding standing up with good posture? I dunno, but bless them for making me smile!


Many people here simply do not have cars and use bicycles for everything; commuting to work, grocery shopping and towing their jet-skis! This dude prolly ain't getting into the large chainring anytime soon.


A fixie with a basket isn't too weird, but jumping sharks!?!? Really!?! Luckily we didn't have to dodge any this night during our pier tour. I bet a bite from one would mos def leave a bruise.


But...if a jumping shark had attacked us, I would have whipped out my sword and used my pirate skills to battle to the death! I have also found it to be very effective when drunk tourists stumble into the street in front of me while riding. A loudly yelled "ARRRRRRR" and a sword over my head usually sends them running back to a sidewalk of laughing bystanders. (yeah, go ahead and call me trash for not yet taking down my Christmas lights!)



We've all seen the Hartford messengers stacking their fixies on parking meters and poles in front of Mad Dawgs, Vegas and other spots. Well, down here in Key Weird, we hang our cruisers in trees when going out for swanky dinners. There's actually a second cruiser in the back of the tree and both are locked up in the branches.

a few more after the jump...




This installation, part of Sculpture Key West can be found at Fort Zack until April. Have a seat here in the shade if the sun and beach gets too hot for you.



Considering I took this during the Holiday Lights Bicycle Tour, it isn't really weird. There were also a few other bicycles with dogs, actually a lot, but only one trike with a dog and so many lights. Well done!


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Bikes Outside: Bikes on Ice

This Monday we have a couple of the bikes that stopped off at Jo Jo's for this past Friday morning's Ice Bike to Work breakfast. A total of six people showed up according to the sign-in sheet. Friday morning was bitter and windy, well below the day's predicted high of 22 degrees Fahrenheit, which probably affected turnout. I arrived on the late side, so there were only two other bikes present.


Dave's nice Rockhopper is very well equipped for just about anything. I'm pretty sure most of the cars I have owned have had fewer electronics on board. Legend has it that Specialized switched to oversized tubing in recent years just so they could write their name larger.


I remember digging that left hand bar-end mirror tree on Kevin's Trek at another CCBA event and wondering how far I could go with that concept, clamping more and more bar ends and mirrors to one another until my bike either had aluminum antlers or became the human-powered version of a 60's Mod scooter. It may be for the best that I not admit how much thought I've devoted to the idea of building such a bicycle. Of course the mod bicycle would need a Rocker-style counterpart, which I also may or may not have thought about between one and fifty times.

A minute into my Friday morning ride, I discovered that some water from last Mondays rain-soaked ride had apparently found its way into my cable housings and frozen there. My rear derailleur (interesting note: spell-check only accepts the French spelling) failed to shift at all and my rear brake would stay clamped against the rim after releasing the lever (arguably a safer failure than not working at all). Luckily, the front brake was 100% functional and the sluggish front derailleur could be coaxed into position with a quick toe-tap. I decided to experimentally spray some lock de-icer in the cable housings as a dessicant/cable lube to free things up. I've been riding my internally-geared Robin Hood since then, so I have to take another sub-freezing ride on the cargo bike to see if this actually worked (it functions perfectly well in the heated indoors, of course).

My late morning and afternoon left me feeling thoroughly spent, so I skipped Critical Mass this month. Did anybody go?


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Reinstated

The weather is turning nasty and yesterday I got a really wet butt riding home. This was unacceptable.

I've been trying to wrestle the bottom bracket out of the Long Haul Trucker for months to no avail, well I've availed myself of a damaged wrench. So, I took it to the bike shop and paid $25 for two men (maybe three) to fight with it for a half an hour and get it out. I brought it back home and put the UN-54 in. The spindle wasn't as long as the old one, so I had to take the 28t inner ring off the triple. I never used that chainring anyway, so no loss. It looks a little sleeker now anyway with 48 & 38. A low gear of 38x30 is enough. I rode it to work this morning and my butt stayed dry.


UPDATE! I even took the thing off to the reservoir for some cumbersome "mountain biking" and it passed the test with flying colors. My partner was on a fixed gear; we were certainly a mötley crüe.

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bicycles and sailboats and jugs of wine

I get to write about a blog appropiate afternoon of sailing that actually involves a few bicycles. Sweeeet! My unexpected day on the water began when I shouted “hoo-dee-hoo” from my yard as my neighbor Maya rode by on her bicycle. She swung a u-turn and came back into my driveway and asked if I wanted to go sailing on a 19 foot sailboat for the afternoon. Five minutes later I had a drybag packed with a few sailing sundries and was pedaling with her and her roommate Redbeard towards Garrison Bight. We arrived at the Key West Sailing Club and locked up our bicycles on the half-full rack. Maya checked out a sailboat and soon we were on our way; powered by the wind and totally enjoying the ride.


We cruised past Rat Key and through the Seaplane Basin towards open water and just wandered aimlessly for a few hours as Redbeard and I shared a jug of wine he had brought along. On our way back, we spotted the cruiser on the side of the sailboat and circled around for a good shot of the bicycle. Thanks Captain Maya! I love seeing bikes on boats. Another person doing the dingy/bicycle commute and avoiding paying rent on land!


Yep, another hard day in paradise. I really wish I knew some Viking songs. We were really wanting to sing Viking songs as we passed several different Navy SEAL boats on training missions that kept messing up our tacking. I hope I spelled that right. There was talk of outlaw canoes taking over the Navy and controlling the oceans. I am not sure I still think that’s a great idea. Anyways, we made it back to the dock and pedaled home, quite content and sunkissed.

Click READ MORE for an inappropriate photo for the blog!







A few weeks ago Mary Beth and I were returning from a kayak trip around No Name Key. We spotted a waterspout about a mile away and watched it slowly grow and drop down from the clouds to the water. We threw on our life vests and watched as we pretty much just continued paddling towards it to get to the take out. We were far more worried about the lightening suddenly coming at us from two different storm cells. It began to dissipate in 10 minutes as we continued hugging the mangroves on the coastline under the flashing sky. Its official…summer in the keys!


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No Parking.... or be careful what you ask for!

I am now living in the Conch Republic, better known as Key West. Yes, technically it is in Florida, but the vibe and architecture is certainly far more Bahamian than American. Moving here after a dozen and a half visits over the last 10 years is a dream come true. The friendly people, the amazing weather, the island's charming general weirdness and the amount of bicycles have drawn me here year after year. So, how's living in a bicycle centric city!?

Lemme tell you, Portland and Berkley ain’t got nuttin’ on the bicycles here. Many people don’t even own a car to get around the four by two mile island. Bicycles, racks, pedi-cabs and trikes are everywhere! Unfortunately, this can actually be a problem when trying to get to work on time. My first waiting job ever is at the Turtle Kraals, right on the water at Key West Bight Marina; and finding bicycle parking at 10AM can be hard!


Here’s the restaurant’s employee only bicycle parking! Almost full! I got a spot this day!


But here’s a shot near the front of the restaurant with no less than seven actual bicycle racks completely full! Overflowing actually!


Even the giant anchor had bikes and trikes chained up to it! Dang! It's not even a bike rack!


This shot is for el presidente de china. Folding bicycles are actually super popular here. And the biggest retailer for such steeds? West Marine, a boating supply store! Why? Many live-aboard sailboats are anchored off shore and the owners will float in on a dingy with their folding bike and then use it to get to work, run errands around town or get to the bar. (or prolly a combo of all three) Now, that's a sweet multimodal commute!

There are many, many sweet rides all over the city and I’ll be posting more pics as soon as I can. There are mostly single speed beach cruisers, but also many mountain bikes with wide slicks. In the mean time, check out Conchscooter's blog, Key West Diary for two recent posts about bicycles: Duval Bikes and More Duval bikes. Great posts!

I met a dude who rides old school fixed gears, I mean OLD school as in pre-1900, but haven’t seen any of his rides yet! I hope to soon. I am told there’s a dude on a blue track bike too, but I haven’t met him or his bike yet. And that’s is for fixies! TJ, come visit and bring the Steamroller!

Its super convenient and really fresh to be in a town where the bicycle is truly the preferred way to scoot around town! Life is good! Ride on!


ps. there ain't no mo' to read!




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Carl's Bike

This isn't actually Carl's bike. But this is what it looks like.

I work with a guy named Carl.

He's a great guy. I think he's in his early 70s. He is past the normal retirement age, but he doesn't want to retire. And I know our company doesn't want him to retire. As another coworker once told me, "we're here because of Carl." He's a senior scientist, and is, to put it succinctly, a genius. He never wanted fame, or fortune, or any type of crazy stock-riddled compensation. No. Carl likes to do what he does.

He's one of the most gentle people I've ever known. All he wants to do is tinker in his corner in the lab, where he comes up with lots of brilliant new ideas and solutions to a lot of tough problems at my engineering company. When they force him to take vacation, I think he just likes to work on his bikes in his garage in East Hartford. Oh yeah, Carl is a cyclist.

We have our office in East Hartford so Carl can bike to work from his home on Forbes St. Carl has told me how he finds bikes on the side of the road and fixes them up. You see, Carl was one of the chief inspirations when I decided to buy a bike to start commuting to work in the first place. He bikes to work just about every day. Heat or rain. Mud or snow. Carl bikes in on his trusty 1960s era Raleigh 3-speed with a Brooks saddle. When I got my bike he came out to the warehouse which was the only place we could store things like bikes in our old building and gave it a real look-over. We talked about bikes and accessories for the better part of an hour. I told him I was committed to bike in year-round too. I like to think we bonded over that. Comments soon came at me from other coworkers: "You rode in today? Who do you think you are...Carl?" "But it's snowing out! You aren't becoming another Carl, are you??" Before I started, it was just kooky ol' Carl riding his bike in like some sort of eccentric. When I started and gas prices went up...well, maybe Carl wasn't so kooky after all.

Thursday, Carl's bike was stolen.



It was stolen right from in front of my office building. We have 2 buildings, a couple blocks away from each other in the Prestige Park industrial park in East Hartford. When Carl has to go between them, he usually rides over. My building has a set of stairs at the entrance, so there's no easy way to get a bike inside, and since it's set back from the road a bit, it's a corporate park and he's not there very often, Carl usually just sets his Raleigh 3-speed on its kickstand out front by the bushes and takes it back to his building when he's goes back. Thursday around 5 pm, I was at a workstation in my lab and Carl came up holding his vintage helmet. He asked me where my bike was. I told him I keep it in my office. Then he told me his was gone. They left his helmet that had been hanging on the handlebars on the ground.

If you've never been heartbroken before, the look on Carl's face would've fixed that. Whatever anger you have for any geopolitical situation you have wouldn't match the personal anger that hit me at that point. I couldn't believe it. I immediately in my anger ran outside looking for anything in my field of view that resembled a bike, or anyone who might still be riding it in the neighborhood. Of course that was futile. I checked the bushes. I checked the dumpster. I even ran over to the side street to look. We determined from talking to people entering and leaving the building that the theft occurred between 3 and 4 pm. I guess some school kids cross through the tech park, but who would steal an older gentleman's bike?

I don't often wish other people ill-will no matter what my disagreement with them. But whatever lowlife stole Carl's bike in East Hartford on Thursday afternoon: I hope you get head cancer and die.

This story has a happy ending.

On my way home Thursday, I took many detours. Scouring the neighborhood. Looking for any bikes. I wasn't alone. My coworker Mike took his motorcycle and did the same thing. Miraculously, he happened by a service station on Burnside Ave. and saw a bike abandoned on the side. It was Carl's Raleigh 3-speed with the Brooks saddle. Being on a motorcycle, he couldn't take it himself. He called back to the office and told our lab-guy Dave the situation. Dave gave Carl a ride over. Carl somehow got his bike back.
Read more!

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!

We don't need no...

There was some discussion on this blog last month about the overall driver/biker viewpoint-rift that exists which is demonstrated specifically in the comments section of the Courant. We also talk a lot about the need for better bicycle infrastructure around this region as well as more education for rude drivers and noob cyclists. I found this post about bike education over at Bike Commute Tips Blog to fit in pretty well with some of the topics that were raised here and on the Courant discussion forums (minus the ignorant haters).

That blog, run by a dude named Paul Dorn, is a pretty excellent site that's worth a read if you're into community bicycle advocacy. Paul does a really good job at aggregating stories from newspapers around the country (he's picked up Hartford Courant articles often) that pertain to urban commuting, infrastructure, and advocacy, without including every little "Area Man bikes to work" article. He also makes insightful and forward-thinking commentary on each.

Anyway, as far as education goes, it's pretty difficult to get the bicyclists who really need it any type of bicycle education. All that can be done on our level is to continue shouting at people riding on the wrong side of the road and publicize the CCBA and classes such as the ones at REI. Including more bicycle awareness education for DOT drivers licensing tests is an option that probably won't get looked at very seriously.

For my part, before I started commuting by bike every day, I got my hands on a copy of Bicycling Street Smarts by John S. Allen and read it. Just doing that, I became much more confident about my role and responsibilities are as well as more aware of common hazards and dangerous situations that I would encounter. It's brief and basic, and I recommend it to anyone who is either starting out commuting or feels hesitant about biking around the streets of greater Hartford.

http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/usa/index.htm

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The Sandpit of Death Clean-up

before the clean-up!


after the clean-up!

This is the Sandpit of Death if you are riding a bicycle on the pedestrian sidewalk and bridge connecting Bushnell Park to the LOB/Armory area. Well, pedestrian except for the all the various police cars that drive across the narrow bridge! The soft sand has been threatening many a riders’ balance for years now, but it’s gotten much worse in the past few weeks. Many of us have almost busted our asses here lately, especially with skinny tires! I made a spur of the moment plea via texts and emails Sunday afternoon to friends while eating lunch at JoJo’s on Pratt Street. As fate would have it, Maureen had ridden through the sand only minutes earlier and thought someone was gonna bite it soon there. She and Hanna volunteered to help out at 6pm! Good on ya, mates!


We met up at my house for a beer and some delicious homegrown salad. We happily packed up my bike with a snow shovel, a heavy metal rake, one spade shovel, 2 brooms and a pickaxe garden hand tool thingee.


Here’s me, Hanna and Maureen taking a break as a Statey watches us from his cruiser in front of the LOB parking garage. We were certainly not looking for attention, but figured, due to the location between Amtrak and the National Guard, we’d be getting harassed. But up to this point, no one had paid us any attention and he soon drove off without a word.

There was a whole lot more dirt and sand than we had realized. Most of it was at least a few inches thick and the middle half was all 3-4 inches thick with a very solid bottom layer. We had a bit of an assembly line going for the thicker parts. First the heavy metal rake or spade shovel was used to loosen it up. Next was the snow shovel to move the stuff to the edge of the sidewalk. Most often the above was repeated, as the dirt was quite stubborn. Finally the broom whisked away the remaining dust. And it was quite dusty indeed.

Hanna and Maureen helped with most of the job before leaving due to dinner plans. Helder of Mira Hartford passed by with his doggy minutes later as I was continuing with the work. Soon after that we were joined by the Statey who pulled up to us in his cruiser, got out and walked over to us.

Click Read More for the rest of the story and more pics!




The officer walked up politely and asked what I was doing. I explained that the dirt and soft sand had made the sidewalk super dangerous for bicycles and a few calls to 311 had not gotten the walkway cleaned (311 is a city services phone line). I mentioned the situation had gotten considerably worse in the last few weeks. He agreed that skinny tires were super sketchy on that type of service and asked, “ And so y’all just decided to clean it up yourselves?”
“Yeah, pretty much” I answered, “We’re sick of almost bustin’ our asses here!”
He laughed and explained he had seen us and needed to check it out and left with a smile. No worries, no problems! I had also worn my 2007 CCBA Discover Hartford Tour t-shirt…perhaps that gave me the bicycle cred I needed!


I pretty much finished it up except for some very damp, sticky dirt that wouldn’t move easily. It’ll dry up in the sun manana and then be easy to scrape and sweep away.


This kid passed by Hanna, Maureen and I on a scooter. This would not have been possible an hour earlier due to all the sand! Great job guys!


Here’s the next mission. I will call 311 again on Tuesday and see what happens. There is quite a bit of sand on the lower right side of the bridge where water tends to pool up due to drainage issues. Also, both sides of the bridge sorely need a sweeping. The whole bridge would benefit from a sweepin’ actually. Hopefully the city can send over that sweet street sweeper gator thing and make it happen.

Mad thanks to Hanna and Maureen for all their help with the hardest, thickest and most brutal part of the battle with the sand monster. Helder pushed a broom for a bit until his doggy protested with much vocal vigor. My landlord, Mary Lee unknowingly helped as I used a broom from the garage and Joey Babaganoush unknowingly hooked us up with a snow shovel.

UPDATE TUESDAY, SEPT 2ed.

here is the email i sent to 311:
Good morning,

The sidewalk and bridge connecting Bushnell Park with the Armory and LOB is in need of a very good sweeping. There is much dirt, sand and broken glass along the walkway.

There are also two spots with drainage issues, that will continue to cause a sand problem after it rains, the southwest end of the bridge and the sidewalk along the armory.

If possible, could the larger cracks in the sidewalk also be repaired. It is easy to trip on them while walking and can damage bicycle wheels.

Thank you for making the city cleaner and safer for cyclists.

William


Read more!

ride daily, celebrate monthly...or all the time!!!

Start friday morning with a ride to The Old State House for Bike to Work and enjoy a free breakfast of coffee, juice, bagels, bananas and other tastey morning goodness from 7am to 9am. Mingle with other commuters, check out bikes and loiter around as long as you can get away with! tell yer boss yer late cuz of a flat! mmm....bananas!


Need a fun ride after work? its Critical Mass! Meet at the Bushnell Park Carousel 5:30pm. This informal ride leave a little after 6pm and wanders around for about an hour and a half. Where? There's talk of going to East Hartford. Or the farm-made icecream spot in Bloomfield on Cottage Grove Road. Bring yer ideas, bells, whistles, energy and have a great time. Always an afterparty somewhere!

Come earlier to try out some bike polo, sez Dave M, "“Pre-Mass Mallet Bash” - jumpstart your c-mass ride while wielding a mallet and netting some fun trying up bike polo. 5:00pm in the field near the Carousel."
wow, that's alot of "quotation" marks!

next month has some really big events mid month, again both on the same day!
The CCBA's Discover Hartford Bike and Walking Tour is Saturday, September 12. Last year about 1200 people had a great time on the tour, don't miss it this year! Sign up and more info on the website!


but save yer legs, cuz that same night is Hartford Hardcore 4! The 4th year of one of the best alleycats in the city. We were easy on y'all with last month's Wear Yer Rubber's race, Sean and company will not be so nice! good luck suckas! ride fast, ride safe. Read more!

Get out and ride somewhere!

The beatbikeblog’s day by day, play by play calendar for a mad busy week of great events. Wow. Summer is in full MF’n effect! Lots going on, great rides, parties, food and people. Check it:

Tuesday

Bicycle Commuting Clinic
July 22, 2008, 7:00 to 8:00 PM REI West Hartford
Want to refresh the basics of commuting on your bicycle. Enjoy the
summer weather and reduce the amount you drive your car by commuting to
work and around town on your bicycle! This July 22nd from 7-8pm will be
reviewing safety, equipment, rules of the road, defensive riding, and
how to pick an appropriate commuting route with Central Connecticut
Bicycle Alliance member Dave Enos. Please join us for this very
important clinic that is geared to keeping you safe on the roads.
Space is limited please call REI customer service to reserve your spot today
860-233-2211. This clinic is free and open to the public.Bike Commuter Clinic


Wednesday

Critical Splash @ Goodwin Park Pool 6-7:45pm
Julie sez, “Celebrate adult swim hours and assert our adult swimmers’ rights!”
Organized by Julie from liveinhartford.com cool off, swim laps, chit, chat, enjoy the hot summer night with some new and old friends. There’s no charge and be prepared to hand over all belongings to an attendant of the storage area.
More Details here!


Thursday

Farmers’ Market @ Billings Forge 11am – 2pm
Broad St. 2 buildings south of Capitol Ave.
buy fresh! buy local! Corn, pies. fruits, meats, eggs, cheese,
and live music too!
Farmers' Market at Billings Forge

Friday

Bike to Work @ the Old State House 7am – 9am
A free monthly breakfast organized by the CCBA for bike commuters in the middle of downtown that attracts about 100 people. Wake up with coffee, drink some juice, make a bagel or eat some fruit. There’s always a great spread and lots of mingling, smiling and stories to share. There’s a raffle too with great prizes like tents, sleeping bags and other goodies. Don’t forget to grab some flyers, stickers and schwag.
This month’s sponsored by Healthy Gears
Bike to Work

Critical Mass. meet at 5:30pm, Bushnell Park Carousel.
It’s the last Friday of the month! Celebrate with riders around the world for this global, grassroots celebration. Join a hundred of your newest friends on a ride around the city at a chill pace for about an hour and a half. Check old posts to see past rides. This summer’s rides have been wonderful, especially last month’s meandering through Keney Park.
Anything can happen!
http://critical-mass.info/

Saturday

Wear Yer Rubbers! alleycat race.
5:30pm register for race, volunteer for checkpoints @ Bushnell Park Carousel.
6:00pm race starts
This will not be a short, fast race; expect to pedal fast and long!
prizes include: messenger bags from Manhattan Portage, Ghostship clothing, schwag, condoms, water bottles, and special love for DFL.
race ends/afterparty backyard 364 Laurel st.

Bike Everywhere! to Bloomfield
Meet at Elizabeth Park at high noon and seek out some lunch. Then pedal to Bloomfield to tour to the Hooker Brewery and sample some tasty beverages. The tour costs $5. see links for more info.
Bike Everywhere!


LoRes Fest 3.0
A whirlwind weekend of community video fun in Connecticut’s Capital City.
Make your own short video in Hartford! In 24 hours! No experience or equipment needed. Watch yours and other LoRes videos at the 3rd Annual Hartford InternationalFilm Festival in November!

Friday, July 25 to Sunday, July 27 LoRes Fest ‘08 Headquarters: Red Rock Tavern, 369 Capitol Avenue, Hartford. Registration- $50 ($60 after July 23)-includes video equipment and LoRes Fest ’08 DVD

For more information and to register contact info@capitolcinemacollective.org or (860) 830-6222.

don't read more...ride more! Read more!

I got baggage!

Its Wednesday! Delivery day! ARRGG! i wanna go back to sleep. My kayaking trip got rained out yesterday, so i got to drive into work this morning since i still had my van with me. otherwise, it would have been another early morning at Dunkin' Donuts trying to fit all this stuff in my bag. Anywho, here's an older photo showing my typical Wednesday morning cargo carrying commute! Read more!

The Scenic Commute

One sunny morning last week I took the East Hartford route to work and cruised the riverfront in between crossing two bridges. This is only slightly longer than my short commute and i get to ride along the river and avoid Wethersfield Avenue's traffic, potholes and prostitutes. Cap Ave, Bushnell Park, Constitution Plaza and over the Founders Bridge and down, around, under the overpass and over the dike, tight hairpin to the left to avoid i84 and yer all downhill to the riverfront. Then its just a sweet ride on the greenway next to all these great, big ‘ol river trees and of course the river itself.


Just after passing under the Founders I saw this massive horse. Freakin’ Huge!


Here’s some beta about President Lincoln, also a towering presence!



South of the boat ramp the trail weaves through trees whilst other hang over the river, trying to stay rooted into the eroding bank.

Two more photos after the jump! read more!






City line. Everything here is so clean and pretty.


A nicer shot of the city. Since none of these pictures were blurry, I thought slightly askew would suffice

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Bike Everywhere! (to Happy Hour)

CCBA Bike Everywhere Bike to Happy Hour. friday, may 16th


I’m going to cut to the chase here, and give props ASAP to the core group that laughed at the rain and rode their bikes to the Bike Everywhere Happy Hour at the Corner Pug today. Big ups to Steve Tudisco, Ben Bare, ChillWillme!), Rich H, Matt Spader, Kevin Sullivan and Robyn Baena. Good on y’all mates! Well done! ‘nuff respect.

All in all, we were 11 strong, with most people biking or walking, and only three or four drivers. Long commutes (from Enfield etc) and massive bicycle tire and clothing issues resulting in wide spread wetness and bandaged fingers all get free passes...this time! Its great to see people putting the B of the CCBA to good use! Woo-haa!

So what happened? Well, what happens at CCBA happy hours stay at CCBA happy hours. I can say many wings and nachos were consumed and washed down by rounds of pints of frothy, beautiful beer. mmmm…beeeer! Flyers were passed out, stories shared, plots schemed and other things occurred as well. The club even bought the first few rounds of brew and noshes. Good lookin’ out CCBA!

Expect another CCBA Happy Hour next month and we shall welcome the weather no matter what mother nature feels like sharing with us! Rain, sleet, snow, heat, river mud or locusts, we shall ride on. Hopefully in June we will be sitting outside in the late evening sun; plotting a late night ride through Bushnell Park, snaking through downtown and down the stairs and along the riverfront and across the river. Bridges! Hells yeah! Y’alls know what I’m talking about.

Always bring your lights and spares/tools etc cuz ya never know what might happen.

Also this summer: Bike to Jazz in the Park. Live jazz in Bushnell Park Monday Evenings. Picnic blanket republics form and establish pot-luck trade routes of noshes and wine under summer night skies. Enjoy the city, the music, the people, the entire vibe of the park. This annual series is always an evening my city shines and I am super happy to live and work here.

more photos after the jump:
(hey! that means click READ MORE!)




Rich (seen in the backgroung looking quite amused) has the most amazing eyeglass case. take a good look at him. if you ever see him out at a party, perhaps enjoying happy hour or about to sit down and enjoy the theater … make a point of saying hey, hello, hi, how ya doing and ask to see his eyeglass case. Its brilliant!



Ha! Double B leaving “coincidently” right after the CCBA tab runs out. hmm….






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