Can't Stop, Won't Stop in Hartford

This is the most momentum for active and sustainable transportation that Hartford has ever seen during the Winter.  Well the most momentum since Colonel Albert Pope was on the scene in the 1890's and saturating Hartford with Columbia bicycles.  A season of abnormally warm weather brought to us by global weirdness has even kept the fair weather riders on the road.  The City of Hartford is waking up to the need for safe and sustainable human powered transportation with new zoning regulations that include an entire chapter on Complete Streets design - just approved in January.

College prep students at Center for Latino Progress just signed up for Earn-a-Bike!

• Weekly DIY Member Hours at BiCi Co. - We are holding these twice a week at 97 Park Street.  Wednesdays from 5:30-8:30pm and Saturdays from 1:30-5:30pm.  You can still become a member by buying in or earn your membership by volunteering 10 hours.  More info here.  Fix your own bike, shadow a mechanic and learn new skills, work on bikes to support BiCi Co. projects, or just hang out and talk about bikes!  Right now BiCi Co. Volunteers are working on a group of bikes for a developing Spring Break week project that we're calling BIKE LIFE - HARTFORD!  Stay tuned for more announcements on that soon.    Volunteers can just show up, but it's helpful if you let us know using this survey what days you are planning to attend.

Kevin learning how to straighten a woefully bent derailleur hanger

• BiCi Co. Women's Committee - Sunday, February 14th, 2pm-3:30pm at 95 Park Street, 2nd Floor - Third meeting of the BiCi Co. Women's Committee.  This committee was formed right up front to address known under representation of women riding bikes.  This is a national issue and by looking around Hartford even worse in our city.  Interested in joining the committee or getting into the loop for meeting notes?  Send your contact info to Tony Cherolis.

The Women's Committee is cranking!

• Friday, February 26th - IceBike (and Walk) to Work.  We're doing this every month in Hartford and East Hartford.  7am-8:30am.  Maddie's in East Hartford, right across from P&W on Main Street.  Ashley's in Hartford on Main Street, just south of Downtown.  Topic for discussion - The snow finally arrived.  Are you running studded tires?  Which kind?  Are they really that magical?  Share the event with your friends with this Facebook Event.

Time to put the studded tires on the cross bike.

• BiCi Co. Earn-a-Bike - Starting end of February.  We're recruiting teens and young adults from age 13 to 19.  This program will run for eight weeks and the teen will leave with a bike they tuned up themselves, a helmet, bike lock, and lights.  The teens will also leave with bicycle maintenance and safety skills and a bit of knowledge about Hartford bicycle history and bicycle science.  Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:30-7:30pm at BiCi Co.  Send contact information for the teen and parent / guardian to Tony Cherolis.

• <<SAVE THE DATE>> Bikes vs Cars, Monday, April 4th - After a sellout Bikes vs Cars movie in January Real Art Ways is bringing it back for a second showing on Monday April 4th.  In addition to the movie, there will be a passel of bicycle advocacy organizations and cycling clubs tabling in the galleries before the movie begins.  Let's sell it out again and park even more bikes on the railing.  Even if you're not seeing the movie, stop by for the expo and chat up your favorite (and new) bike organizations.  RAW is highlighting Earth Day in April at their monthly Creative Cocktail Hour on April 21st.  Check that out too.

Lets keep rolling!  Momentum is a terrible thing to waste.

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Why not every day?

East Hartford Bike to Work. Many of these folks cycled over from West Hartford.

Living in Connecticut and riding a bicycle for 90% of my transportation puts me in the curious position of being an extremely fringe element.  The thing that I do everyday, rain or shine, is something that the overwhelming majority of Connecticut residents consider absurd.  There is a small percentage (< 1%) that once a year think, "Hey! Driving to work every day is silly seeing that I'm less than 5 miles away and the weather is beautiful."  These open minded folks come out during Bike to Work Week in May, and try something new.   They have a great time and get their picture taken, but then the bike usually gets put back into it's marginal role of weekend recreational toy.  What is the mental block preventing more commuters from trying something that I've found to be an amazing alternative to single occupancy vehicle transportation?  Why not every day, or at least, why not many days?

Enjoying the camaraderie, food, and schwag

I'm torn between soul crushing frustration and the realization that this is a great opportunity.  The opportunity lies is the fact that only 0.3% of trips to work in Connecticut are by bicycle, that's even lower than the 0.6% national average.  That is a huge opportunity, a gaping hole of opportunity.  I was discussing with Pratt & Whitney's health and wellness coordinator our plant in Poland where 40% of the employees cycle to work.  How much healthier and wealthier would we be if just 10% of work trips were made using cycling, walking, or a combination of that with some public transit?  If anyone is interested in making that transition, or recommending a resource to a friend, they should check out www.ctrides.com.  CT Rides is a comprehensive resource for anyone trying to go "car light" - car pools, van pools, transit, telecommuting, biking, and walking.   Taking a two car family down to one car isn't rocket science, really.

Bikes overloaded the three racks by my office.  

In the interest of maintaining bike month momentum, I am organizing Dinner and Bikes on Saturday, June 7th.  You can get your tickets online, and tickets go up $5 at the door.  The tickets are sliding scale from $10 to $25.  The event is benefiting Bike Walk CT.  In addition to a vegan dinner, bicycle movie shorts, and a chat about Bikenomics, we will be highlighting Hartford Food System and local urban food production.

Because bikes deserve their own cultural events

The photo below has nothing to do with Hartford, expect that I rode my bike there.  This past Sunday I taught a Traffic Skills 101 course in Collinsville at the Canton Town Hall.  The support of cycling in that community was refreshing.  The attendees were sponsored by the local bike shop, Benidorm.  Folks were recreating joyfully on the Farmington Valley Trail.  The nearby coffee shop and deli was over flowing with bicyclists stopping in for a snack.  Bikes were organically taking over car parallel parking spots on the road.  Collinsville is looking to add bike corral parking, something I've suggested as a seasonal solution for Pratt Street in Hartford.  The East Coast Greenway is routed through Hartford, and would have a tourism draw and commuting utility like the Farmington Trail.   Instead of getting frustrated, I'm focusing on the opportunity.  Let's do this every day!

Not in Hartford, near Collinsville along the river.  Graffiti and rusty industry.

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Dinner and Bikes - Hartford, June 7th - UPDATE

*** UPDATED.  EVENT NEXT SATURDAY. ***

SATURDAY, JUNE 7TH

DINNER AND BIKES

Get your Ticket Now

Facebook Invite

After missing out on hosting Dinner and Bikes last year because I was out of town, I'm ecstatic that Elly Blue followed up with a 2014 Northeast Tour.  Elly Blue and  Joshua Ploeg will be bringing vegan dinner, bike movies, and Bikenomics to Hartford on this packed evening of bicycle love.  Doors open at 6PM, and the dinner bell rings at 7PM sharp.  Tickets are available online from $10 to $25, and go up $5 if purchased at the door on Saturday.  Please get your tickets online - so we get a solid headcount for the dinner portion of the event.

In addition to Elly and Co.,  Hartford Food System will be providing the tasty and locally grown greens for the dinner.  You'll have a chance to learn more about local, urban food production, community gardens, and youth gardening programs in Hartford.  Because of Hartford Food System, there are many more community members with access to healthy, fresh vegetables that they have grown and tended.

Tickets are available online and I fully expect all 75 tickets to sell out prior to the event.  If you are interested in committing time to the welcome table and setup / breakdown on the evening of the event, let me know.  There are a couple of volunteer spots available.  

Bonus karma if you show up on your bike, walk, or take the bus.  Let's fill the fence with locked bikes.  If you're driving, there is plenty of off street parking in the church lot on Hungerford.

Your evening wouldn't be complete without connecting multiple Hartford venues.  Within a short walk of Emanuel Lutheran you will find Redrock (friendly local pub) and Firebox (fancier local restaurant and bar).  Post event, I think I'll be heading over to Arch Street Tavern (a bit further, but a short bike ride and free parking) for the bands and DJ's - Shag Frenzy with 1.21 Gigawatts.  Since I'm headed to Arch Street, that is the "official" after party. 

Dinner bell rings at 7PM

The phenomena of event gravity has made Saturday, June 7th amazing for Connecticut bicycle lovers.  As Brendan previously posted, there is a Bike and Parts Swap Meet in Wethersfield that morning from 8:00AM to 12:30PM.  Looking for a commuter, cruiser, beater, or classic?  Got stuff to sell?  Parts to clear out?  Just like looking at bikes.  Check this out.  I will be there with some 60's and 70's Schwinn's I've been accumulating.  Free to attend, $25 to get a vendor spot.

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Rising from Ashes - Movie on February 4th

Heya bike folks.  I know you are jonesing for your bike that was put away months ago or is perhaps suffering with you through the winter on your stationary trainer.  Since Hartford loves you and we know that S.A.D. for cyclists is particularly harsh, there is a cycling movie at the Wadsworth on Tuesday, February 4th.

Here's the blurb.  Hope to see a bunch of folks out there.  Discount for Bike Walk Connecticut members.

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Don't miss the inspiring film "Rising from Ashes" on Tuesday, Feb. 4th at 7 p.m. at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. “Rising fromAshes” is a feature length documentary about two worlds colliding when cycling legend Jock Boyer moves to Rwanda, Africa to help a group of struggling genocide survivors pursue their dream of a national team. As they set out against impossible odds both Jock and the team find new purpose as they rise from the ashes of their past.


Informal happy hour meetup at the nearby Arch Street Tavern at 5PM, a short walk from the museum. In addition to popcorn, candy, and soda the theater has beer and wine available at their concession if you can't make it in time for happy hour.


Previous cycling films at have SOLD OUT so your best bet is to secure a ticket online ahead of time. For tickets, go to http://www.thewadsworth.org/events/films/. Discounted $10 admission for Bike Walk Connecticut and museum members, otherwise $12.

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Busy Bees, Removing a Stinger

While spinning around with Brendan after work a couple Fridays ago, I managed to catch a stick between the ground and my shin.  Just minutes after rolling up my pants to enjoy the warm weather.  I realized that there was a sizable scratch, but kept on riding.  Later in the ride I realized the scratch hadn't stopped stinging.  A piece of the stick was embedded in my shin, stubbornly refusing to come back out.  Finished the ride with plans to deal with the wood chip later, but heading home would make me late for the Hartfolk Festival.  I stopped at a bench in Elizabeth Park and improvised with a flashlight clip and multi-tool to pry out the unwelcome hitchhiker.  Glad that shins are light on nerves and major blood vessels.

This is your heads up for upcoming awesomeness.  Its time to come out of your hives and put the tires back on the road (or dirt).  Beat Bike Blog is your source for the best bike buzz.  Go get some.  Ha!

• Reveal the Path - Tuesday, April 16th.  7:30PM at the Wadsworth.
• Happy hour socializing beforehand at Arch St Tavern.
• $11 online, and $15 at the door.  This show is coming back because it sold out in February.
• Part of the proceeds go to Bike Walk CT.
• Trashion Fashion Show and After Party - Saturday, April 20th.  6PM at Hartford City Hall.
• The theme is recycled couture.  Wear your duct tape pants and represent.  I built a couple of tree stumps to add to the cardboard forest that will be transforming Hartford City Hall.
• acTrashion Fashion Show starts at ??.
• After party, Welcome to Bohemia, is at the Hartford Bicycle Studio right next to Arch Street Tavern.
• Tickets on sale now!  - If you get tix for both events, you save a couple bucks.
• Tim Johnson's Ride on Washington - Wednesday, April 24th
• Let's be welcoming as Tim Johnson and crew grace our state on the way to DC for some advocacy.
• Reception for the cyclists at Hartford Bicycle Studio around 7PM on Wednesday.
• The route - LINK.
• Bike Walk Connecticut Summit - Saturday, April 27th
• Want to help make things better and get up to speed on what's already in the works.  This is your chance.
• The Detour - For those that prefer pain and pursuit of the bonk to engaging bike / ped advocacy seminars.  Salem is touting the Wee Tour for those that can't stomach the full 118 miles (1/2 road, 1/2 dirt)

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WTF?

There are TWO bike centric events next week in downtown Hartford.  Just found out about the East Coast Greenway info / social yesterday.

Tues, February 5th - Reveal the Path movie has just about sold out. Limited number of tickets are available online.  We'll be meeting before the movie for happy hour at Arch St Tavern.

Thurs, Feb 7th - East Coast Greenway social get-together (also featuring Bike-Walk CT) and presentations, Thurs Feb 7th 6-9 pm.  Newly minted Spotlight Cinemas and Bistro on Columbus @ Front Street Downtown Hartford. Get up to speed on ECG progress in CT and elsewhere, an statewide bike & walk endeavors. Please share this with bike-minded people.  The ECG is extra special and it needs an army of supporters and advocates to keep the pressure on to close the gaps.

Huzzah CT!  Huzzah Hartford!  Maybe a few folks will even ride or walk...

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Fallsy Downsy

When I pointed out the "fallsy downsy" house up in East Granby, Ken remarked that "fallsy downsy" sounded like a technical engineering term.  I agree.  Fallsy downsy is the state of being just prior to falling down completely.

 

Winter cyclists are a bit fallsy downsy too.  Well, at least I am.  I have a pair of grippy studded tires, and I'll often rave about them.  They are a bit sluggish though, so I keep swapping them out for slicks right before it snows again.  Slipping on some ice is curiously fun, particularly if you see it coming.  No yard sales yet this winter, but I had a couple wagging dabs in the last storm.  The two chuckling pedestrians caught my squealing "Wheeee!" as I somehow kept the rubber side down.

Was surprised by the two other commuters who braved winter storm Helen (who didn't deserve a name really) to catch the IceBike to Work breakfast in East Hartford.  Chris tried to organize a parallel event in Hartford, but it looks like P&W employees once again whupped the risk averse insurance analysts.  We'll do this again in February.  Symbolically throwing a gauntlet down and farting in the general direction of Travelers Tower.  We'll see if we can ride on the frozen Wethersfield Cove this weekend.

If you're looking for an excuse to drink some beer, socialize, and gab about bikes in February, look no further.  Reveal the Path movie screening at the Wadsworth on Tuesday, February 5th.  Movie starts at 7:30pm, and is preceded by happy hour at Arch St Tavern.  Get your tickets ahead of time.  Last year's screening of Bicycle Dreams sold out at the door.  See you there.  The movie is presented by Bike Walk CT.

And I found this very snazzy "burner" down by the CT River near Charter Oak Landing.  Thought you might like it as well.

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Winter bike culture in CT - Bring it!

Hartford and East Hartford IceBike to Work
Next week.  Wednesday, January 16th.  A group of hardy winter bike commuters will be meeting up for breakfast at 7AM (or thereabouts).  Nothing formal, just tasty breakfast (and coffee) and hearty banter.

In East Hartford we'll be meeting at Maddies right across Main Street from Pratt & Whitney.  In Hartford they'll be meeting up at JoJo's on Pratt Street.

This month we'll be talking about riding in slush, ice, and snow.  What tires do you run?  Have you taken a digger yet this season?

Reveal the Path - Movie Screening and Bike Walk CT Social

Hey folks - We're screening a bike film Tuesday, February 5th at the Wadsworth Aetna Theater.  The movie is Reveal the Path, a bicycle travel / adventure movie.

Would love if y'all could join us and help get the word out.  A portion of the ticket sales goes to Bike Walk CT, so in addition to this being some great CT bike culture - we're doing a little fundraising to support our advocacy and education efforts.  Was very pleased with the movie we screened last year (Bicycle Dreams).  We sold out!  Tickets can be purchased online for $11 and will be $15 at the door.

There is a Facebook event (https://www.facebook.com/events/126046007556892/).   Invite your friends.

Similar to last year we're going to happy hour / socialize before the movie at Arch Street Tavern.  Happy Hour starts at 5PM.
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Two Months, Two Wheels

On the evening of October 9, I drove my 1996 Buick Regal to East Hartford, handed over the title and keys and left with my registration and a small handful of cash money. The next morning, I rode my bike to the DMV in Wethersfield to turn in my plates and became officially car-free. Today marks two months.

Not long before that day, on a late September Sunday evening, I drove the Regal to the Mansfield Drive-In with Schleppi for their last show of the season. We saw Premium Rush and Finding Nemo. The bike movie was a fitting choice. Beyond that, there was something particularly satisfying about sitting at a drive-in theater in an American car with a bench seat, a dying breed of machinery standing proud in its vanishing natural habitat. It was a fond and fitting farewell to the car I had inherited from my father in 2009. The Buick's residual sentimental value was sky-high, but that only goes so far. It was time to let go.

I liked my car. It was smooth and comfy, but I have little use for sedans and I drove it very rarely. Eventually, the battery died and wouldn't hold a charge. The car sat through the spring and summer as I prioritized paying the mortgage and other bills with my then part-time wages over resurrecting a car I didn't seem to need. It was vandalized in my driveway. When the insurance lapsed, Geico ratted me out to the DMV and I was fined $200 for failing to insure an undriveable car as it accumulated dust and pigeon droppings. It had become a compounding burden in my life.

A new full-time job at the end of August was the final push I needed. I bought and installed a new battery, repaired the damage wrought by vandals and others, changed fluids, touched-up, buffed, waxed, and detailed the paint until it shone and looked half its age. I insured the now-operable car for road use. I knew I wasn't going to profit from this final investment of time and money in a modest, 16-year-old sedan, but I had to feel like I was doing right by the thing. I needed to allay the guilt I felt about giving up that which I never stopped calling "Dad's car." The sale itself was unsatisfying, but it was done. The Yuba was my car now.

On that October 10 morning, It rained. A shard of glass on Wethersfield Avenue penetrated my flat-resistant rear tire AND the flat-resistant tire liner within it, popping the tire in the middle of the busy Airport Road intersection.
 

The tire change made me late for the DMV and subsequently late for work. The rain soaked through my jacket. My first official day as car-free transportation bicyclist was a cluster of setbacks, irritations and discomforts.
And it was fine.
Good, even.

Everything worked out. An empty strip mall portico provided shelter from the rain for me to change my tire. A previously forgotten energy bar in my pannier provided me with a timely snack and a wrapper-boot for my breached tire. The DMV visit took less than ten minutes. My tardy, dampened arrival at work was met with sympathy and hot coffee. I called Geico at lunchtime and saved hundreds on my car insurance with one immensely satisfying cancellation (though I still have the lapse fine to pay, eff you very much). The modest proceeds from the sale of the Buick covered the month's mortgage payment, a practical and necessary use of funds that would have likely met my pragmatic father's approval. It was the right thing to do, and I don't regret it.

A few days later, I rode out to Trader Joe's for an evening grocery run. My own procrastination meant I was running out of everything, so I ended up piling two bags of dog food, a cooler full of perishables and a couple of bags of canned and boxed goods into the Yuba's bulging panniers. The bike looked a bit ridiculous, and probably outweighed me at this point. I pointed close to 300 pounds of bike+rider northward and began the 5.5 mile return trip.

I rode home, unburdened.




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Mountain bike movie

Surprisingly, the genre "mountain biking" is not that big in cinema. None the less, they still make a few of those movie with guys dressed for motorcross on springy bikes. Readers of pinkbike are way into it. Me? I like those Danny MacAskill and Chriss Akrigg videos and bmx videos. The downhill videos have too much erosion and slow motion usually. But, maybe 45 minutes of it will change my mind.

Anyway, the Wadsworth, which house lots of awesome art, will be showing Strength in Numbers on Friday at 7pm. It's only $5 and perhaps it'll strengthen the numbers of the mountain biking community in greater Hartford. You should go.

If you were good at knowing where things are in Hartford, you could have got free tickets. Read more!

Another Bicycling Film at the Wadsworth

May 11th @ the Wadsworth Aetna Theater.  Mountain biking documentary. Strength in Numbers.

Holy bike culture Batman!  Guess the sell out of Bicycle Dreams may have started something?

Looks like tickets are only five clams.  Betcha it sells out too.

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Movie Night Tonight! Free! Critical Mass movies.

Critical Mass Movie Night at Alchemy/The Green Vibration
The CCBA Bike Everywhere Program and Alchemy Present:

Movie Night tonight at 7pm.

FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE! even i can afford it!

we're showing three short movies about Critical Mass.

Join us in celebration of the Bike to Work Week (May 12th - 15th) sponsored by the Central Connecticut Bicycle Alliance

The movies being shown:

We Are Traffic (1999, 50 min.) chronicles the history of the Critical Mass bicycle movement, now a monthly ritual in over 100 different cities in 14 different countries since its genesis in San Francisco in 1992. The movie tracks this leaderless, grassroots movement, which has brought together complete strangers in an exuberant, commercial-free public space filled with creativity and unpredictability.


Return of the Scorcher (1992, 28 min.) discovers an inspired and evolving bicycle renaissance. Filled with inspiring scenes of bike use filmed in China, The Netherlands, Denmark and the USA, this is the movie that gave us the term "Critical Mass".


Still We Ride! (2005, 37 min.) This action-packed documentary is a glimpse into the shocking showdown between the monthly Critical Mass bike ride and New York City police in the months after the Republican National Convention in August 2004.


http://www. thegreenvibration. com/calendar/fridayfreefilmbike/

www. beatbikeblog. blogspot. com
riding in hartford
And here is the rest of it. Read more!