suenalo!

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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BBB Pub Crawl II: Repeal Day

Friday, December 5th marked the 75th anniversary of the ratification of the glorious 21st amendment to the US Constitution, and an end to 24 years of prohibition! And we celebrated! Many weeks ago our loyal reader(s) read Rich's original call to action! Well, we acted, and drank that action well!


I rode up to the rear of the spigot and found a dozen bikes locked and chained in all sorts of various configurations. Some looked familiar and i looked forward to seeing friends as well as finding out who the new bicycles belonged to. It was super wonderful to see a bunch of friends after being away for almost two months.


Rich gave a passionate sermon extolling the wonderful virtues of the 21st amendment. His hand gesturing was so full of energy his right arm is captured only as a blur, speedy beyond the realm of digital photography. We reveled, we gave thanks, we stayed late past the schedule and enjoyed the breaking of such earthly rules.


Mere glass cannot stop the energy flow of BBB dap, especially if involving Rich and a liter of beer and el Presidente de China. I believe I once got a text from Lucas proclaiming vegas as "the place where wasted happens!" Yep, pretty much. Two Fridays ago i stayed for two rounds of the special, a liter of any draft and any shot for $10. Dang. But as usual, a good time was had. More amazing photos after the jump including Joel working the stripper pole at Mad Dawg's!




Is Rick doing an anti-flat ritual of some kind as Rich double fists multiple liters of beer and Julia laughs nervously and protects her pizza.


el Prez pimpin' on my old Mercier. Well done!


As promised, Joel working it for Kristen and looking quite sexy!


A few went to Sully's, the most at the Spigot, half made it to Mad Dawgs and a few to the Red Rock. A great night and a hell of a way to return to Hartford! Read more!

BBB Bike Pub Crawl II: Repeal Day (+ Chill Will is back!)

Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

Friday, December 5th marks the 75th anniversary of the ratification of the glorious 21st amendment to the US Constitution, which gave us back the hooch. Did our country, the home of the free and all that, really outlaw alcohol from 1919 to 1933?? That's a serious WTF.

Some trivia: The 21st is the only amendment ratified by state conventions rather than the state legislatures. It was rejected by South Carolina, and eight other states to this day have not ratified it. Michigan was the first to ratify on April 10th, 1933. But can you guess which 3 states clinched the passage on Dec. 5th, 1933? Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Utah. Yes, that's right...UTAH put us over the top. Oh, what a night that must have been. I'm thinking similar to the famous VJ Day photo but much more embarrassing and grope-tacular.

So get gussied up in your best rum-running 1930s attire. This calls for the 2nd Bike Pub Crawl. This Friday night Dec. 5th, in and around Hartford.

There is even more reason for celebration, as beatbikeblog denizen Sir Chilliam William is back in town and will be attending! He has repealed his stay in California! So this is the perfect opportunity to come ride and hang with Chill Will!!!

I'm going to sketch out a suggested route here, but I'll take suggestions in the comments and update this post as needed.

• 8 pm - 8:50 pm: Sully's Pub*, 2071 Park St., Hartford, CT
  
• 9:00 - 10:00: The Spigot, 468 Prospect Ave., Hartford, CT
  
• 10:10 - 10:45: Vegas Boulevard, 233 Sisson Ave., Hartford, CT
  
• 11:00 - 11:45: Federal Cafe & Mad Dawgs, Union Place, Hartford, CT
  
• midnight - close: Kenny's (Red Rock Tavern), 369 Capitol Ave., Hartford, CT

* Sully's has a band that starts at 10:00. If they're charging a cover at 8 pm, we'll call an audible and start at West Wings (which is around the corner on Prospect next to Wendy's) instead.


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Pure Autumnal Joy

Saturday, Oct. 4 was a day of special events for the writers on this blog. Not only did many of us lend a hand to the greatness of the Source-to-Sea cleanup of the Park/Connecticut confluence, but that evening we all kicked back and enjoyed our own celebration of the season: a fun, fall-filled festival of frothy frivolity. An event that became dubbed:

Beat Biketoberfest 2008!

Or Beat Bike-to-beer-fest! Or Beet Bike-tuber-fest, only neither of those vegetables were actually present.

Our concept of what Beat Biketoberfest should be, other than avoid trademark infringement on something else called "Biketoberfest (tm)" (which involves loud, annoying combustion engines), was an Oktoberfest-themed apartment bike crawl where we could enjoy each others' company as well a sampling of the tasty brews of the season. Since we all live in the Hartford/West Hartford corridor, it wasn't very difficult to plan a route, and there was only one part of the ride that had any type of distance to it at all. Each host was kind enough to supply the hardy revelers with a case of beer and some snacks along the way!

I'm not sure who has photos they'd like to post, but I know I only remembered to take 3 lame photos, and I saw various flashes going off all evening. So maybe we'll continue our 2-post tradition of events where one person describes it, and one person dumps the pics. I'm obviously here to do the former.

photo credit: WTIC

Just about everybody but Brendan got to the meeting point under the Founders Bridge near downtown Hartford quite a bit late. But this was actually a good thing because as the sun went down, we got to see the Bulkeley Bridge light to life! Last week, the bridge was lit with new-fangled colored LEDs in order to mark its 100th anniversary. We got to see it change from red to blue before we headed out on the tour. The weather was simply perfect as we climbed the stairs to start the party! The stops were as follows:

1) My place first, where the group got a chance to look at the city from a different angle whilst enjoying an assortment of beer I brought from exotic Upstate NY. We also got creative in the elevator when we had to return a utility cart back to the lobby. As we were unlocking our bikes from the front fence of my building, we had the unfortunate opportunity to hear the words "spike" and "testicles" in the same sentence. Thanks for that, Shoupy.

2) A quick ride through Bushnell Park got us to ChillWill's pad in Frog Hollow. It was very chill of course, and various swag was handed off to people as chillwill was just dumping his crap on us prior to his move. There were also festive tatoos that worked well to give most of us some rockin' street cred. I don't think anyone used them on their knuckles. There was also the first harvest of delicious candy corn.

3) A hop over the tracks and highway got us to Krash's apartment, where we had to actually go in the front door, due to the fact that his back porch had just been whitewashed. Probably by ol' Tom Sawyer himself. We kicked back with some Harpoons and gorged on what was either Cheez Itz or Nips. I think Itz.

4) The shortest ride of the night got us to Joel's, where he provided us not only with some Sam Oktoberfests and fun-sized Cheetos, but also luxurious bike parking in his historic carriage house. Luckily, Joel was also proactive at providing the party some toilet paper, courtesy of stop #2.

5, 6) Finally a ride! A real ride. The overall Beat Biketoberfest peloton split up into several groups, with some of them even knowing where El Prez lived. The Karma krew split off to pick up some more party supplies, and eventually we all arrived at El Presidente's manor in West Hartford. By the end of the this leg, you could really feel the chill of the fall night starting to settle in. The master of the house himself greeted us with a hot grill already cooking up some delicious chow. The Magic Hat was cold, and the various meat and veggie products were hot. The hit of the evening was the squash soup! Absolutely delicious. Karma biked in the final beer-stop of the night (finally, the beer biked to us! What a scrumptious turn of events!), where I finally got to enjoy my first bottle of Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale. Yum!

What a fantastic night! Thanks to all who were able to ride, drink beer, and enjoy the city. Special thanks to my fellow bloggers for opening up your homes. I'd also like to thank some form of a higher being for making bikes, beer, and fall. It was probably Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Edison who invented all three, so praise be to him. This was truly one of the most enjoyable nights I've had here in the 'Beat. Not only would I like to try to put this on the calendar again in 2009, but I think this has laid the groundwork for a casual series of bike pub crawls coming up in the future. Advance notices for them will appear on this blog.

Sure, go ahead and Read More.

El Prez's house was the end of the official Beat Biketoberfest, and as we basked in the glory of full gullets and good times, an overwhelming tiredness seemed to smack just about everyone in the face simultaneously. The friendly buzz of the beer, taste of soupy-goodness, and smiles on our faces made everyone realize how good that night's sleep would feel. Slowly, we all trickled out in spurts. Brendan & Johanna were first to sneak out. ChillWill's posse left next. The bulk of the group still remaining saddled up not long after. I wiped a nice, fresh layer of dew off my seat and as we hit the road to head home, it was absolutely striking to me how starkly empty the streets of West Hartford were. No cars to be seen, as about a half-dozen of us completely owned the road. The only sounds I could hear were the cranking of our own gears, the whoosh of that welcome autumn air, and our own laughter as we spread out across the lane.

Karma and Meg peeled off first, and the few remaining pedaled on and hit the Hartford city limits in no time at all. Joel was next to veer off to his place, and soon I was saying my good nights to Shoupy. All alone, with a big, stupid grin on my face, I rode on silently into the night. Into Fall.

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The Hartford Alleycat 4

Sean passing out the prizes

Sean has thrown this alleycat for four years now and really hooked up a great race this year. Baileyworks and Manhattan Portage sponsored with a few bags and there was plenty of PBR and Schaffer after the race at South Whitney House. Joel, Lauren, Krash, Tony and I rode the 30 mile Discover Hartford Bicycle Tour that morning/afternoon and then raced that night. I heard Valdez won a mountain bike race that morning as well. Wow. That's a lot of pedaling y'all.

the list from Sean...unsure of after 10 hub stati

1 Valdez
2 Tj
3 Goo (fixie)
4 Abe
5 Jeremy (fixie)
6 Chillwill
7 Ryan (fixie)
8 Krash
9 Lauren (fixie)
10 Dale
11 Jimmy
12 Drew
13 Nate
14 Sabrin
15 Rob
16 Shane (fixie)
17 Jeff
18 Dan
19 Joel
20 Steve T
21 Willy
22 Darcy
23 Katie
24 Orion
25 Brendon
26 Tony
DQ's Ashley Ross Smitty

ladies
1 Lauren
2 Sabrin

1st out of town Jeremy

The checkpoint on the East Hartford side of the Founders Bridge was a bit of a challenge due to the Pilobolus performance at the Riverfront Recapture tent/ampitheater. There were lots of people and rangers and cops along the park on top, which connects Constitution Plaza with the Founders Bridge. The more racers that passed through the area, the more the cops and security yelled. Eventually riders were being stopped and lectured and threatened with arrest! I heard some crazy stories and was super happy i got through very early on with little trouble.

I left Union Place and was about to head to Townley Street when i realized i skipped the freakin' Ancient Burial Ground checkpoint. Fuck! Shit! Damn! Hell! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I prolly lost 4 or 5 minutes backtracking and then rebacktracking right past Union Station again to get to Asylum Hill. ARRGGG! But i did ride extra hard at that point. Cussing myself helped alot.


Steve T, Tony and Rob

more photos after the jump






Nate and Sabrin


Kristen and Bianca are always ready to sign yer manifest!



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Bicycle Tours and Alleycats in Hartford this Weekend

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. Read more!

Bring Your Rubbers alleycat roundup

Holy Shit that 1st band was loud! The hood was scared!

The alleycat popped off very well indeed. The police only came twice and the fire department once...not too shabby. We had three super loud bands and a super unloud stereo for the afterparty as well as a keg and other libations. Many thanks to Krash, El Presidente de China, all the bands (Fruit Punch, Dirty South Revolution and Own Life), the peeps who held down the checkpoints and all the racers. And the sponsors! Manhattan Portage, for the 1st prize messenger bag, Play in Traffic Productions, for the Monster Track DVDs, 5-Boro Generals, for the t-shirts, and CCBA for the stainless steel, non-carcinogenic water bottles and Brendan for the whiskey.


TJ proudly wearing his medal of fastness. He shoulda paid attention and worn some rubbers as he found himself thigh deep in the flooded Connecticut River carrying his bike to the bonus checkpoint. That’s core dude!


manifests and maps

Here’s the list full of misspellings:
1 TJ (dreads)
2 Shanesaw
3 Valdez
4 Sean
5 Aaron
6 Jeremy
7 Tony C
8 Mourad
9 TJ (no dreads)
10 Steve
11 Rich's eyeglass case
12 Robin
11, 12 or 12,11. Who knows!?!?
Opton missed a checkpoint and got a flat, but won a 40 for the breakdown
Rick and AmyZ never left my checkpoint!
Two others?…Orion and Matt didn’t finish? Got swept away? Traded to the Mets?

the checkpoints:
pope park pond, keney park pond, elizabeth park pond, lincoln's horse EH riverfront, park river @ asylum and woodland, constitution plaza fountain, chillwill's backyard, and prove you went to wendy's on airport road. bonus spot: hock river ped bridge in EH


The band, the crowd, the keg, a MP lanyard...i dunno, its freakin dark!

there's prolly another dozen photos after the jump.
click on "read more" fool!


pay up!


robin and jeremy enjoying the park


lauren and that dude whose name i got wrong at the park...help!?


15 minutes til "GO!"


Tony C, an army of one.


where's that sculpture of Lincoln's Horse!?!


that's right suckas, you gotta climb two sets of sketchy fire escape stairs to get yer shit signed.


jeremy and aaron navigating the Stairs of Death


this dude was flying down Cap Ave


steve trying not to eat metal steps


once they pulled out the buds...there was no leaving!


dirty south revolutionaries


steve, bianca, ozzy and more manhattan portage schwag


own life


tony makin' all the right moves


krash, chris, and that dude from the dirty dirty. he was mad cool.


i am not sure i improved much from the 40 i had the night before


ken demands the 'stache is back


bicycles, bicycles, bicycles, bicycles, bicycles, bicycles


el prez lookin' el serious


eva chulita and meeeyoo! i don't sleep anymore cuz of these chicas, but its all good. (be nice when you tell me how to spell yo name)


watching the van back out and in and out and in to get out was funny. i have a cargo van and feel thier pain in that parking lot.


wow! the pope park checkpoint and friends. eva, wizzzzzzy, laura, meeeyooo and leslie who also won the pullup competition!



rich is proud of his DFL prize, an acryllic block with a CT quarter that says, "you belong in connecticut."



el prez on his Xootr just seconds before bailing on going to the diner at 3am






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