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| East Hartford Bike to Work. Many of these folks cycled over from West Hartford. |
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| Enjoying the camaraderie, food, and schwag |
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| Bikes overloaded the three racks by my office. |
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| Because bikes deserve their own cultural events |
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| Not in Hartford, near Collinsville along the river. Graffiti and rusty industry. |
Bike to Work. Bicycle skills. Dinner and Bikes. The next couple of weeks brings a critical mass of bicycle based activity and I'll be trying not to drown in the sea of spokes and chain rings. I'm finding myself a bit over programmed, but it's hard to say no to the goodness of non-motorized transportation and what it does for a community, the local economy, and our much maligned planet. Any way you can chip in to spread the word or volunteer at an event would be much appreciated.
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| Overflowing bike parking at the Urbana Farmers' Market. |
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| Dinner and Bikes. Bikes and Dinner. We'll see you there. |
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| The Hockanum Trail is still a bit wet. |
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| South Green neighborhood had a cleanup day, and I needed to move the supplies across Colt Park. |
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| This absurd table base will be used somehow. Statue base perhaps? |
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| This Burley just followed me home and is likely to be converted to a cargo trailer. |
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| Dinner bell rings at 7PM |
Here's a question to get you thinking. How did you learn to cross railroad tracks at a ninety degree angle? Did you learn about the safer method in gym class at school, during your driver education course, or via a public safety announcement? Probably not. If you're like me, you learned the hard way - by having your bicycle abruptly disappear and finding yourself pitched head first into the traffic lane. I won't forget that lesson, but I would rather have learned it minus the crash. This is but one example of many dangerous situations that arise for cyclists that haven't taken a course in cycling safety. Based on the crash data, just knowing what those dangerous situations are and having a basic safe cycling skill set can address a large majority of the risk in using a bicycle - for both transportation and recreation.
There is a dearth (scarcity) of education for cyclists that are looking for information and skills on how to ride safely and competently. From grade school through teenage years and into adulthood, there really isn't embedded education that familiarizes cyclists with the tools needed to ride safely. Imagine if a fraction of the time and effort spent teaching teens how to drive was dedicated to education on safe cycling, pedestrian safety, and transit. The focus on one preferred means of transportation, the car, biases those teens toward driving as the socially acceptable option. It also leaves those that choose to do something other than drive a car pretty clueless. As captured in the introduction, I initially took the clueless route to earning my stripes as an occasionally bruised, but now much safer, bicycle commuter.
It's clearly not efficient, or safe, to learn how to ride by screwing up a lot and gathering advice in bits and pieces from other more experienced riders. After a lifetime of going about this the hard way, I took Traffic Skills 101 (TS101) and followed that up with the League Cycling Instructor (LCI) training. Now I can do my part to spread some very powerful information by teaching Traffic Skills 101 to other riders. The next course in Hartford is planned for Sunday, March 30th. You can register online through Bike Walk Connecticut. If you want to spread the word about the TS101 course, you should invite others to this Facebook Event.
Traffic Skills 101 is a comprehensive, full-day program for adults and mature teens who want to improve their street riding skills and increase their cycling knowledge. The course includes classroom time, parking lot drills, and a road ride. Many different types of cyclists will benefit from taking TS101. It is ideal for cyclists who want to build upon the basics, those returning to cycling from a long hiatus, people who want to be more independent on their bike, and those looking for more confidence cycling in traffic. The class also satisfies the requirements to pursue a League Cycling Instructor certification through the League of American Bicyclists.
Part of the reason for holding this early Spring course is to support the League Cycling Instructor course planned for April 17th through April 20th in Simsbury. The LCI course is a specialized bicycle boot camp to train the trainers, and it is intense. Those that pass the weekend course go on to teach courses like TS101 and other critical courses, including school based programs that have started in several CT communities, such as South Windsor and Simsbury. Educating children and teens about bicycle safety is part of the solution to allow a safe transition toward a less car dependent future.
I'm also excited to be organizing a June 7th event in Hartford, Dinner and Bikes. There will be a vegan buffet dinner, bicycle short films, and a book talk by Elly Blue on Bikenomics, How Bicycling Can Save the Economy. More info to follow in a later post, but make sure you leave that Saturday night open. Put it on your calendars now, as I know June can be a busy month.
Note to Loyal BBB Readers - I would love if all 9 of you would share in the comments something you "Learned the Hard Way". It doesn't even have to be about cycling. I've got so many that I could write a book.
CT DOT Commissioner James Redeker to Keynote Bike Walk Connecticut Annual Dinner Event, TUESDAY, December 13.More info if you want to enjoy yourself not as a member of the press? See bikewalkct.org
“I can’t give a complete answer that question because I have to save my fire power for delivery at Bike Walk CT’s Annual Dinner next week,” said the Commissioner at the recent CT League of Conservation Voters Environmental Summit in response to an audience question about CTDOT’s commitment to bicycle and pedestrian transportation. This annual event that includes a dinner, awards, and a silent auction is taking place at Central CT State University, Memorial Hall, Constitution Room. Members of the media are invited to attend the speaking program that gets underway at 7:45 and concludes by 8:30 pm. For more info, please contact Georgette Yaindl at 808-224-0219. Ride On.
In case you're asked to check your bags at the front desk of the oldest art museum in Hartford, you can use this photo as proof that your junk'll probably fit just nicely in one of their complimentary lockers. One locker holds: massive cargo bike pannier, two helmets, and a medium-sized purse. Sure, we could have taken two lockers and not gotten everything wrinkled, but I think the point needed to be made.
Before we reached the museum, we had to do some rush hour traffic riding. Before that, I practically got marriage offers from some dudes in my neighborhood. It went something like this:
DUDE ONE: We need us a simple girl like that.
DUDE TWO: Yeah, all these girls 'round here all they want's for us to get expensive cars and drive them around.
DUDE ONE: (to me) Hey, can I ride wit you? I'll behave.
This was one of the better random street pickup attempts I've been victim to, mostly because I agreed with them. Too many females see males as chauffeurs and ATMs. Relying on a man to supply one with these things is just setting oneself up for disappointment. Thus, I quote Destiny's Child: "I depend on me if I want it."
At the museum, we saw that someone thought himself too good for both wheels.
This is not the first time I spotted a unicycle downtown. Last year, someone sped around Main Street on one, doing tricks and hopping off the curb.
Before hitting the after party, we wanted to ride home to make some wardrobe adjustments. Interstatement picked up a passenger for the back of his bike -- a friend in the neighborhood who was too lazy to walk his self home -- and I once again dazzled onlookers by being able to pedal in heels. Here's a secret: it's really not that hard. In fact, it's way easier to ride a bike in heels than it is to stand still in them. What sucked about the ride had nothing to do with my footwear. The seat on Starry Starry Bike was still at this high, strange angle, and I've been spoiled riding the Jenny, which allows me to sit upright. I have a cranky back and any hunched over posture, if not immediately uncomfortable, at least promises to cause me discomfort the next day.
We rode home and then back downtown, locked the bikes on a random railing because there are no visible bike racks outside on Columbus Boulevard, and proceeded to check out the after party before running into a friend stumbling down from a mere few blocks away. Sure, he left later than we did, but I think this makes a sound case for why he needs a bicycle yesterday.
Also, if you need more information to pull out if the subject ever comes up, bike helmets and panniers were allowed into a swank restaurant in the Convention Center/Science Center vicinity.
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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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Any ride starting at 12:20am at the North Main Street entrance to Keney Park is pretty much expected to be interesting. I left Babaganush's house in Frog Hollow in a rush after a grueling, great, but losing table tennis match. North Main Street's clubs and bars were bustling with people. Seemed like everyone was having a fun, peaceful night. I arrived late to Keney Park. A tall person in a white T lingered in the darkness next to the entrance gate. He called out to me! Whew... it was Joel and he was full of stories of the randomn crazy shit he had watched while waiting for me.
"Where we riding?"
"I dunno, where do you want to go?"
"I don't care, but I'm kinda hungry. I want food. Or maybe a Frosty!"
Yep, conversations like that can only lead to dumb ideas. Joel suggested Wendy's at Buckland Hills. And with that, we took off to cross the river on the 291 Bridge. What a great ride. I got my ass handed to me several times on several hills, but loved every minute of it. Joel kept exclaiming how we were geniuses for riding at night, the coolest time of the day. It was hilarious! "WIll, we're freakin' geniuses! Everyone should be out right now! We're freakin' geniuses! Geniuses!" Too, too funny. And totally, completely true!
With Joel as a trusted guide, we wound through East Hartford and Manchester and finally arrived at Wedny's. I rode to the drive through window. A man sweeping kinda ignored me until I asked, "Are y'all open?"
"yeah...for cars!" He replied, smiling, but serious.
"Huh? Dude, I just rode here from Hartford C'mon now, hook me up!"
He consulted with a manager out of my view and quickly got permission to serve me. After taking my order and money I asked if i should pedal up to the next window. He cracked up and said yes. All worked out, but really!?!? Really Mr. Man at Wendy's!? Its onefrreakingthirty in the morning...so what if I am on a bicycle?!?!?
We ate. We joked. Joel seriously suggested some exploring. I seriously wanted a hammock. We retraced our steps most of the way. We parted ways at the East entrance of the pedestrian ramp in...in...I dunno. East Hartford or South Windsor? We actually got a bit lost and rode into SW for a ways before making a u-turn and figuring things out. Joel crossed the Connecticut River on 291 and went home. I decided to avoid the North End at this crazy hour and pedal South through East Hartford and cross at the Buckley Bridge.
Crossing at 2:56AM! What a random ride for crappy fast food. This is summer in Hartford to me. Fun rides with friends for no real reason. Life is wonderful.
By the way, if anyone reading this will be in Columbus Ohio tonight in the Short North, gimma a holla if you need a ride. I'll be pedicabbing for my friends' company; ECT Pedicabs! Holla!
And here is the rest of it.
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Dear reader, it's been some time since that nonsensical post about fish and parties last week, so you're probably assuming that one of those things claimed my life or caused me to quit this blog. Nope. In fact, I was doing lots of cool things and now I'm going to tell you about them.
Thursday was this:
People were drinking & dancing at City Hall!
On Friday, nothing really happened besides eating some Vietnamese food at the Vietnam Restaurant. Best bún around!
I also walked home from work in the rain on Friday and considered the necessity of Green Infrastructure in Hartford.
On Saturday, I went to Penwood with my newly rigid Stumpjumper and I found this (which I did not drink, because Mike's Hard Lemonade is nasty, not because I found it in the woods):
And, it caused my rear tire to go flat shortly after I took this picture.
The evening led to some more dancing courtesy of that Bacchanalian HartBeat Ensemble.
On Sunday, I went to Cockaponset and it wasn't all I hope it would be. Most of the trails were kind of overgrown. This description was a little hyperbolic if you ask me.
This above trail was kickass, but I'm not altogether sure if I was allowed to ride on it. There were bike tire tracks, but that's often a meaningless measure of the rules. I apologize if I screwed up and rode on a "no bike" trail. I know you aren't allowed on the blue blaze here, but this was blue & red and I know you were allowed on the red. There weren't any of those CT Forest & Park Association "NO BIKES" diamonds on it, though.
There was also this weird moonscpaed fireroad where it looked like they had done some logging.
I ate this bowl of soup, too:
Life is wonderful! I’m poor as hell, but so is most everyone else here right now. After pedicab shifts several of us walk across the street to the Green Parrot for free popcorn. Hungry, dirty, smelly, bicycle scavengers! Then its off to Cowboy Bill's happy hour for $1 yuenglings and PBR's.
Last Thursday I had a rare day off and went kayaking with the boys from Ohio. We basically just floated around the Gulf of Mexico between Key West and Stock Island, paddled to Cow Key Marina for a sixer and then floated to the Atlantic. A completely lazy afternoon under blue skies. I actually fell asleep in my ‘yak due to the sun and two beers. First time that ever happened. I liked it!
Riding around, both on the cab and my fixie, I see some strange, funny, beautiful, weird things. I most always take the full length of Duval Street on my ride home from the waiting gig. This is the main drag with about a million bars and another million tourist t-shirt shops. Its super fresh to see who’s pedaling and out and about and see how everyone's day went. Truly a wonderful, small town in many ways.
This guy rode up next to me near the end of my shift in front of The Bull. Moped? Check. Spear gun? Check. Time to get some dinner!
Mad props to this dude! I can’t wait to find out the whole story. This bike is flash! Wow. Airplanes can see this set-up! There’s fake fish in those tanks! And also some great beats you can’t hear in the photo!
Close up of the fish; and of course, blurry and out of focus as promised.
My new camera has died. But, as Coreylynn told me, the universe will give you what you need. So my old, dying camera that finally bit the dust when dropped into the water of a drainage tunnel under Oakland, is now working again. Yes, there’s a rubber band holding the battery door closed, but blurry photos are on and poppin’ again! Woo-haa! The Beat Bike Blog cannot be stopped!
Dozens of Civil War reenactment soilders paraded by Perfect Pedicab and the Parrot Saturday afternoon at the end of the dayshift. Amelia, I wish you were here this week. Civil War stuff, the Parrot and yep, it really does happen, Jimmy Buffet did a a very intimate, unannounced show at Margaritaville. Duval street was a mess!
Suenalo at the Parrot. Dang these guys are good. Wow! We caught their Saturday night set and both “soundcheck” sets on Sunday. Both night sets were packed with people dancing to the Latin grooves. The friday set prolly was too! Please, please, please check this 11 piece band out, Hotness! Soooo soooo much fun!
Here’s some randomn shit you see on a pedicab. Surfboard, paddle and snorkeling gear!
much more craziness after the jump...read more!
Here’s the Parrot and an idea of the bicycle situation here in Key West. All them bikes on the right are locked up to simple upside down “U” racks. These racks are everywhere on the island. Don’t worry, that motorcycle is only parking, no Harley Gangs terrorizing pedestrians!
Fellow pedicabbers; Roscoe of Serbia and Roy, a visiting pedicabber from Lauderdale/NYC, in deep conversation on Duval enroute to Cowboy Bill’s.
Between Suenalo sets on Saturday night we headed over to Cowboy Bill’s to see some peoples and check out the mechanical bull. There was some super thick fog smothering the city. This fog has been showing up the last few days and even the Conchs are having a hard time remembering the last time there was thick fog here. Freaky! 
Suenalo, second set! What a freakin’ great time dancing and vibing to such amazing music and a great crowd. I can't say enough how much fun they were! 
Monster and Roy and a lot of facial hair...I really don’t know what else to say!
Emily busting a few last moves before riding back to Mary Beth’s house. Everyone rides bicycles all the time here. Its beautiful! That building in the background is Perfect Pedicab! I can smell the popcorn at the Parrot when dropping off my trike at the end of a shift…Lucky!
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The second Annual CCBA Discover Hartford Bicycling and Walking Tour is this Saturday, September 13th. We had 1200 people ride the tour last year and it was a blast! Check in and Registration opens at 7:00am,Tour starts at 9:15am. This is an anti-sprawl, pro fun, pro sustainable city, anti pollution, anti-couch potato, pro bicycle, pro pedestrian event.
Check the link for more info, pics and video from last year and last minute registration info.
There is also a Friday night $5 pre-ride pasta dinner and celebration @ the Bushnell Park Cafe located in the southeast corner of the park. Drink specials too! And live music! This sounds like a great way to start a wonderful weekend in Hartford. See you in Bushnell Park!
if yer hardcore...
Then, after the tour take a rest and relax...and then, if yer hardcore enough, ride F'n hard and fast til you wanna puke @ the Hartford Alleycat 4 race. I almost puked last year from riding too hard and well, i reakon that tobassco shot i had to shoot at a checkpoint early on didn't help matters much either.
Sponsors include: Manhattan Portage Messenger Bags, Baileyworks Bags, and PBR.
Register @ 60 Evergreen Avenue backyard. 6pm start. Ride safe, Ride fast. I'll be rockin' the Gunnar and protecting my dome. I think TJ's even gonna ditch the fixie and ride with brakes and gears on his Bianchi and try and dust Valdez. This is gonna be a crazy-ass competitive race. Krash, the only way you are beating me is if I flat out...sucka!
The afterparty/show will be at South Whitney House @ 8pm. HipCops, the 40's. Oil Tanker and one more TBA. Bring some loot to donate to the show. Proceeds go to Recycle a Bike in New Britain.
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I missed the CCBA general meeting last night due to a work shift, but there is much going on the next few days...the next week actually! Check out these events:
Tonight! Thursday, July, 17th:
Bike Everywhere! to Happy Hour!
Prospect Café, Corner of Park & Prospect
Eat, Drink and be Merry! socialize,
talk bikes, talk beer, its all good!
this will also be a Bike Everywhere monthly meeting.
perhaps a jaunt to RAW for CCH afterwards?
Friday, July 18th. 7pm FREE
Bicycle Movie Night @ Eastern Mountain Sports in West Hartford
We’re Not Blocking Traffic, We Are Traffic, a Critical Mass Documentary and a 2ed undecided movie, we'll vote on it! Action packed mountain biking? another film on bicycles around the world? we'll vote!
free waterbottles to all who arrive on bicycle!
Saturday, july 19th. 10AM
Summer Cycling Celebration
East Rock Park, New Haven!
Time Trial Hill Climb, events
bring yer fast bike, sweet bike,
old bike, first bike, just go!!
http://www.thedevilsgear.com/calendar/summercyclingceleb/
next week? REI bicycle commuter clinic, bike to work, critical mass and an alleycat race!
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I established a sweet homestead last weekend at the beach for four days and nights and had a wonderful procession of friends drop by for a night or two or just a few hours. We biked to beaches, paddled to secluded beaches, paddled at night and ate like royalty thanks to Joel and Kristen who really hooked it up! I also took hardly any photos, but did spend some time pedaling around Mystic on my way home Monday afternoon and took this:
I always really liked this pub, but its been a few years and i didn't remember the bikes and the sign. very funny. I reakon the bikes would be a great bike rack too! well done!
My hand was still healing with stitches and it wasn't supposed to get wet; which as you might imagine, is a bit of a problem when spending time at the beach! I used a plastic glove and lots of tape the first few days and later went rawdog and just patted it dry when splashed. no worries! but no swimming either :(
more after the break, but its not bicycle related. well yeah, maybe it is! a chunk of wood in the fire was brought home on my bicycle returning fron the beach. i had to ride bow-legged as the log was like 8 feet long and bungied to my crate, extending along my top-tube infront of the bike as well sticking out the back for several feet!
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We should have a blog tag for Joel and his meat. that dude is always doing great things with steak! 
Marisa spotted this buoy floating and we all watched it for like an hour until it got close enough to shore for me to grab. The whole thing came alive after being out of the water for a few minutes. If all of southern Rhode Island is wiped out from some creatures from the deep...its all my fault...sorry y'all!
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