A Ghost Bike in Bloomfield

For anyone who knew Paul Hughes or is interested in showing support after this loss to Bloomfield and the cycling community I've added the information below on his funeral service and an associated memorial bicycle ride this Friday.

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Join us this Friday, Aug 1, Valley Cycling will host a ride to the funeral of fellow Cyclist - Paul Hughes at 10:15 out of Starbucks in Granby, CT (10 Hartford Ave). The ride to Paul Hughes Funeral will be slow, everyone will wear a black arm band - if you have one or can make one - bring it (piece of a black trash bag works fine).

Paul's service is at Old Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church, 59 Tariffville Road, Bloomfield - about .5 mile from where he was killed. Go past the ghost bike and take the Tariffville Road exit from 189 and go right at the end of the exit onto Tariffville Road. You will go down and then up a hill and see the church, a quaint, beautiful white New England structure, in front of you.  After the service, if anyone wants to visit the ghost bike and lay more flowers, please join Caryn Stedman in doing so.

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A reminder that we've got to look out for each other out there.

Heya folks.  Be careful out there, whether you're driving a car or riding a bike someone's life is on the line.  Looking at your lap for 30 seconds to check that random text message about cute kittens isn't worth someone else's life or livelihood.  A cyclist was killed last week in Bloomfield, and it probably wasn't an accident.  The cyclist was killed on a stretch of road that I've ridden often, and there is a wide shoulder.  I haven't seen the police report (if someone gets a copy I'll post it), but I'm guessing the driver was distracted and drifted into the shoulder striking Paul with the right corner of the car - where you see the damage to his truck in the news story.  Overtaking type crashes such as this are supposed to be very uncommon, but with distracted driving now the norm the trend may be changing.  Put down your fucking phone!  The fellow driving the truck may have been a nice guy, but now he's going to have to live the rest of his life knowing that he's murdered a fellow human being.

Note the huge shoulder!

The following information and photographs were provided by a friend of the cyclist that was killed, Caryn Stedman.

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Ghost Bike Installed for Fallen Cyclist

Friends and fellow cyclists installed a “ghost bike” Tuesday morning, on southbound Route 189 in Bloomfield, near the Tariffville Road exit,  the site of the crash that took the life of Bloomfield resident and Maple Syrup maker Paul M. Hughes.  Paul was an avid cyclist who rode for the joy of riding and for his health. He often rode the Duncaster Road, Tariffville Road, Route 189 circuit, a popular cycling route for recreational, training and fund-raising cyclists.  Paul was killed Friday afternoon, July 18th, at about 5:15 p.m. when he was hit by a pick-up truck along a section of Route 189 with a wide shoulder well-marked for various fundraising bicycle rides.

Ghost Bikes, an international movement, are eerie, haunting memorials to fallen cyclists. They are placed at the site of fatal cycling accidents to remind drivers of the fragility of life, that cyclists have road rights, and to drive carefully.  Ghost Bikes help remember the life and love of the fallen cyclist, provide comfort for the family and friends, and remind other cyclists to ride safely. Hartford cycling activist and blogger Anthony Cherolis donated the bike.

Paul is survived by his wife, children and grandchildren, as well as his maple sugar and cycling friends, and his Spaniel, Henry. Hughes Maple Syrup is well-known in the Hartford area for its quality and flavor, a craft he in which he took great pride.  A memorial service will be held August 1 at Old Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church on Tariffville Road in Bloomfield, just around the corner from where he was killed, on August 1.
For more information on the Ghost Bike movement, go to http://ghostbikes.org/.

Related Articles:

• Ghost Bikes: Moving Memorials and a Warning to Drives 
• Cyclist takes on mission to spread ghost bikes all over Houston
• Ghost Riders
• For Whom the Ring Tones

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Tim Johnson Summits Burnside Ave Bike to Work

*** Updated 4/23 with Burnside Ave info session details. ***

Ha!  Didn't think you'd read a post with such a purposefully confusing run-on title.  But it looks like you're doing it anyway.

I'm going to start in the middle.  Burnside Avenue.  It's crummy for riding on and deadly too.  After 3 cyclists died within 18 months, combined with several pedestrian deaths the CT DOT is proposing to drop the state highway down to one lane each way with bike lanes.  A road diet!  The first one the DOT has attempted.  Burnside Avenue is ripe for a road diet.  The dense neighborhoods, small local stores, and high percentage of non-vehicular traffic are a good fit.  The road was designed to carry much more traffic than it actually sees, and the DOT's traffic counts identified it as fitting for one lane each way.

Here's where it gets important.  You can't stop now.   There is a public info session on April 30th.  These are important.  The CT DOT and East Hartford officials need to hear why its important to you and the City of East Hartford to make Burnside Avenue a Complete Street.  A street designed for people, not just cars.  If you ride on Burnside, we need your voice.  If you live in East Hartford, we need your voice. If you would like to see the DOT look at road diets on other harrowing state highways, we need your voice.  This is the first domino.

Here's how you can be heard:

1. Show up at the public info session on April 30th.  The Connecticut Department of Transportation will conduct a public informational meeting concerning State Project 42-315, bicycle and pedestrian improvements on Route 44, Tuesday, April 30, 2013, at the East Hartford Town Hall in the Council Chambers (2nd floor), 740 Main Street, East Hartford, Connecticut.  Department personnel will be available at 6:30 p.m. to answer questions prior to formal presentation at 7:00 p.m.  For more information, please visit the ConnDOT website.
2. Send a note to the CT DOT's Bike Ped Coordinator Kate Rattan (Katherine.Rattan@ct.gov) and the Mayor of East Hartford, Marcia Leclerc (mleclerc@easthartfordct.gov). Let them know you support the project and what it means to you.
3. Do both!

And then I'll go back to the beginning.  Tim Johnson swoops through Hartford on Wednesday of this week (4/24).  He'll be traveling with a speedy group from Boston to Washington DC to reinforce the messages of the recent National Bike Summit. You might want to ride him (and his merry band of bike advocates) into Hartford or back out on Thursday.  There will also be a reception on Wednesday night at the Hartford Bike Studio, starting at 7:00PM.  Beer sponsor is Harpoon!

The Bike Summit.  Don't forget the Bike Summit.  That's this Saturday, April 27th in New Haven.  A responsible alternative to the DeTour de Connecticut sufferfest.

I'm on a roll planning a Bike to Work breakfast in East Hartford on May 23rd (a Thursday).  The downtown Hartford Bike to Work is on Friday May 17th.  Bike Walk CT is asking folks to register online, and it will put you in the running for a raffle of donated swag from local bike shops.  You can also sign up with the National Bike Challenge.  Last year Pratt & Whitney absolutely stomped Travelers in the National Bike Challenge.  Wonder if we'll do it again, or if Travelers and other Hartford employers might give us some competition this year.  P&W is looking strong.  12 bikes on the racks by engineering building this morning, in April.  Not something I would have seen a couple of years ago.  

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It's not alright. He was 8 yrs old.

Last Thursday Elijah Montalvan was struck by a car and he died on Saturday, September 1st, 2012.  He was riding at night, pretty damn late, and was struck by a driver with a suspended license and no insurance.  It doesn't say in the article, but I can almost guarantee that there wasn't a bike helmet or bike lights involved.  How many things are wrong with this?  Too many.

The street where Elijah was hit is a curving, dense neighborhood drive thick with parallel parking.  No one in that neighborhood should be driving over 25 mph.  When we put up the entirely avoidable ghost bike on Monday  there was a lot of car traffic, much of it moving much too quickly.  When someone gets in a car, why is it that  concern for others usually gets left behind?  Shaving 20 seconds on my 5 minute drive to the grocery store somehow warrants risking life and limb of children in the neighborhood.

Linda was our inspiration for putting together a ghost bike for Elijah.  She is just one year past the death of her partner, Will Laramie, who was struck by a repeat drunk driver.  Linda was planning to put up a ghost bike back up on Burnside, locking it securely this time so the bike isn't lifted by scrappers.  The intersection where Will was struck, Burnside and Larrabee, needs some work.  While mounting the bike, we chatted about how the intersection would be safer for bikes and pedestrians if instead of a speed encouraging Y-intersection, the streets came together perpendicularly.  This would reduce speeds through the intersection and provide better sight lines.  Much thanks to the always vigilant and motivated Kevin Sullivan for finding the youth bike and towing the bikes over to East Hartford.

The question is, "Will East Hartford take the tragic death of Elijah, and many other cyclist deaths in their city, and choose to take action?"  Bike Walk Connecticut has education programs that can be implemented in schools, and the annual Will Laramie Benefit Concert was organized to help benefit / support that type of education.  Ghost bikes can only do so much.  The next step is making bicycle safety education part of a child's education.  Kids learn how to play bean bag dodge in gym class, why not basic cycling safety?  Cycling safety education could even be worked into a recess program.

Note:  For those that know me well.  The Burnside ghost bike is the Huffy Sweekstakes, also known as Good Vibrations Deluxe.

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East haven

Ken doesn't ever seem to want to write blog posts here anymore, but with our poor writing quality, it's no big surprise.

None the less, here's a moving piece just written.

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It's bigger than us.

Colleen was run over by a box truck last year.  She died.  Twice.  But somehow with modern medicine and lots of donated blood she survived.  Join her in person our in spirit tomorrow as she puts up a ghost bike.   I'm getting up early and riding the 40 miles from Hartford, a minor trip considering Colleen's experience.

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Tomorrow morning at 9am at the School House Deli in Madison on Boston Post a Ghost bike will be placed where I was run over. Join me and other cyclists, the Madison Ambulance, and supporters of safe roadways as the bike is put in place. Also, please consider bringing a LIVE potted plant to put beside the bike to symbolize LIFE. Although my life was taken twice, I am here and living. We will gather with hands held, prayers lifted up, seeking to work towards change. I will be wearing my triathlon swim bikini top, and Tri swim shorts, with my helmet, gloves, and cycling shoes, scars exposed, working to help save another's life. If I wasn't an athlete, I could not be welcoming you to help me create change. Also, bring YOUR bike-Depending on weather, we will take a GROUP SAFE ride afterwards and grab some brunch. Pain and fear can be crippling, but it can also be the greatest moving force on the planet.. As Jody Williams says, Anger without Action is irrelevant. Well, Im pissed, and Im acting. By the Grace of God, Go I.
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http://countytimes.com/articles/2012/01/31/news/doc4f281437dd01a682959639.txt

Ken K will be bringing the bike down.  We also placed a memorial in East Windsor for a cyclist struck and killed July 1st.

http://www.kenkrayeske.com/2012/07/11/on-placing-a-ghost-bike-for-jay-albert-rip/

Stay safe kiddos.  And make a difference.

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