Flinging Mud

In the spirit of the Red Sox, I also had a completely bootleg opening day for cycling. Now, it's not that I stopped during the winter. It's just that my cold weather cycling was transportation-only, not joy riding. So, with today's forecast of temperatures in the 50s and sunshine, I was excited to get out and go down by the river, where it would not be flooded anymore.

I loaded up the Jenny, who does not go out when there is snow and ice on the ground. The plan was to ride around, read a book in the sunlight, and maybe stop for coffee before meeting up with friends on the other side of town. Everything is all set and ready to go, and I realize the tires are really soft. I usually make such observations once I'm miles for home. Oh, and I have no idea where my pump is. I had to unload everything and take Starry Starry Bike, which does not have a basket and which still does not have the seat/handlebar arrangement quite to my liking anyway. I like to sit upright, not hunched forward.

Since the tires are all inflated and I needed to get out for fresh air, I was not going to be too annoyed about it. Anyway, it's got working brakes, which is more than can be said for most local bikes.

The first thing I notice is that everything is out of whack. The shifting is rough. There are three separate sounds coming from the bike that ought not be. But the brakes work and the bike can move, which is all I need for the time being. I just wish it would be a more stealthy ride.

The public path is, of course, blocked with a gate. There's enough room to walk my bike around it, but a cargo bike wouldn't fit. This is total bullshit and there are other barriers that could be put into place that would allow bicycles to go through more easily, while blocking cars. Patrolling of the Riverfront is sporadic -- heavy during the week and less so on the weekend -- which is only a concern in so far as I wanted to immediately complain about the gate to someone.


So, there is a new crop of graffiti, none of which is impressive. Really, if you're going through the trouble of making illegal "art," why not write something worth reading? Step it up guys!

My irritation with how inaccessible this awesome path is continues. The elevators to the elevated plaza were marked "closed for season." It's April, sunny, and warm. What season are they waiting for? So, I have to either go all the way around from the edges of the Riverfront path (which I do) or I have to portage my bicycle up all the friggin steps. I can't walk up half the stairs without getting winded. Those are crap options.

A large section of the path is now muddy from what the Connecticut River gifted us when it overflowed its banks. It ended up being better that I took Starry Starry Bike because the Jenny's tires probably would not have liked it. As sloppy as it was, the mud only got on my boots, thanks to my fenders.

It was fun watching people sliding around on the path. Looked like the MDC trucks had trouble with the path too. Suckers.


When I got to the Riverside Park I saw that there was a festival of fire or something on the East side of the river.
One marvels at the things that go on over there. Fires. Dirtbikes on sandbars. It's comforting to have a river in between us and that nonsense. We only have to contend with uninspired graffiti and drunks passed out on the stone benches.

Like a drifter I was born to bike alone.

When I finally abandoned the riding around in circles aimlessly, I thought I'd stop off for a late breakfast. After manhandling the quaint sidewalk cafe so that I could lock up my bike, someone came over the inform me that the new cafeteria-with-canned goods has a bike rack inside of the parking garage next door. They might want to post signs advertising that. Anyway, I sat where I could see my bike just in case some ironic young professional decided to mess with it. Next time, the bike is coming in with me. If people can bring strollers into stores, I can bring my bike. There's nothing on my bike, after all, that wails or shits itself.


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Inaugural boardwalk ride of 2011

As a devoted rider of the boardwalks of the Hockanum River, you can imagine how it pained me to be unable to ride them for nigh on three months. While the water is high, the lowest spot is right by the East Hartford town hall. The rest isn't so bad if you're fendered. Thusly, Salem, Dario and I rode them today and visited Salem's house-to-be on top of some steep hill out by Bolton Notch.

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The cusp

I can tell that Spring is almost here, because I've seen some the sprouts of some flowers pushing up through the mud, but it's not in full enough force that the world smells bad. The woods are still impassable, but so close to passable that I keep getting fooled into venturing in.

Last year's thaw took mere minutes. This year, I'm guessing we won't really able to ride in the woods until the beginning of April.

If you were concerned that pasta was no longer on the move, here's some evidence that it (lasagna) is still moving.

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No particular place to go

We've been having weird weather lately. All of my typically visited spots are wet and gross, because in Hartford we're in some kind of doughnut hole (unrelated to Medicare Part D). There was an article about the lack of snow in Hartford, but the ring of heavy snow around us in the Courant, but I'm unable to find it. The article called it a snow doughnut hole. I wasn't creative enough to mint the term.

Anyway, the weird weather makes me not want to ride for very long, because rain in the 30s gets you sick. Actually, I was already sick last week, so I guess I didn't want to get worse. So, I've just been pedaling around neighborhoods trying not to get rained on. On Friday, I rode down to Wethersfield and then all this sleet started to fall on me. While it was intense and cool looking, it made me want to go home.

On Saturday, I went to the bank, but via the Cigna/Met Life campus. It was reminded of high school, because I spent a lot hanging out in office complexes. Tobacco fields, too. I prefer office complexes because I find corporate architecture pretty.


On Sunday, I attempted to ride at the Reservoir, but even my newly beloved Racing Ralphs can't ride through six inch deep wet snow (35mm is too wide to cut down to traction and far to narrow to float on top). Although, slogging through that crap was formidable exercise, even if other trail users think you're a moron.



In closing, I hope Spring comes for real soon and firms up the earth, because if my side yard is any indication, the world continues to be impassable on a bike. Read more!

My submission to velospace?

I realized last week that I'm not sufficiently zen. I was once, when I did a book report on The Cat Who Went to Heaven. I made this board game called "Nirvana or Hell" or something like that. You rolled a stone, drew cards and strove towards asceticism. The more you slept on an uncomfortable bed, divorced yourself from worldly trappings and wondered down the eight fold path, the closer you went towards winning the game. Although, you couldn't really win, because there's nothing zen about board game competition.


Anyway, I bought this old Colnago 'cross frame (with Reynolds 531!) off eBay awhile ago. I have no idea why. I already have one old and weird 'cross bike, but for some reason I felt that a second was needed, especially because it would be shipped from the Netherlands if I won. It arrived packed in newspapers I couldn't understand, lots of bubble wrap and milk cartons. It was actually quite a pretty looking frame and some other parts came along with it. I acquired a couple Nuovo Record parts off of eBay and then it just sat. Unsure of what to do and feeling paralyzed by the presence of this strange fancy bike, I ended up posting it on craigslist. Of course, the only responses I got were from TJ and Salem. Salem just wanted to buy the Mafac brakes.


Then, like in a lot of religions, I had an epiphany: I should make this into a fixed gear! It had sliding (and elegant) Campy dropouts and would be suitably absurd. So, I plunked down $120 on some CR18s laced to Formula hubs and built it up.



Admittedly, 38:17 is a little low of a gear for riding on the road, but it's very comfortable off road. I'd really like to have a 40t chainring, which would put me at 63 gear inches, right now I'm at 60 1/2". But, the bike performed quite well as a silly fixed gear 'cross bike on the yesterday's factory tour.

A lot of the parts aren't period correct, especially the Bontrager seat post of my mid 2000s Gary Fisher. I actually have a 27.2mm NR seat post, but I got so fed up with the stupid position of the second bolt, that I gave up and threw the single bolted one one.

Also, I have no plans to take the brakes off. They're very pretty as is. Read more!

Filler

I've got nothing profound to write about, but I went down to the Great Meadow and the rocky hill and took some pictures yesterday.




Also, in Hartford bike messenger news, TJ is building patios this summer and not downtown. I saw him at The Spigot last night. Don't get your hopes up, though, I don't think there's a job opening. Read more!

Strange Terrain

On Sunday, I took a mostly bad mountain bike ride. It rained for most of the time and was super muddy even at the beginning of the ride before the rain started to fall. I probably shouldn't have gone. But, as you know, weekends only come once a week, so you really have to exploit them. I had also endowed my Stumpjumper with a working drive train, so I wanted to test it out.

Despite the bad riding, I did see some interesting things:

The weirdest pavement ever.


What remains of the West Hartford leaf dump.



A secret gazebo, about a half mile south of Heublein Tower.


A south branch of the Park River watershed plaque. I had seen this plaque many, many times before, but never took the time to read it.


I also wanted to see if the Avon Land Trust's trails on the west slope of the mountain below Heublein were any good for a bike. They're pretty tough and were profoundly muddy. I forgot to take a picture. I don't know if I really have an opinion. If you're coming from West Hartford or Bloomfield, they strand you on Nod Road, which sort of sucks. Read more!

Prisoners and Glastonbury

I just read this article in today's Times about a bizarre prison program in France that involves cycling. While the article doesn't mention it, are we supposed to equate cycling with punishment or is it a reward for good behavior. The article explains that the French believe that cycling will help reintegrate the prisoners into society. Things must be different in France, because cyclists pretty much feel like outcasts here.

Also, I made it down to Keeney Cove in Glastonbury finally yesterday. I was on an attempted mission over there once before, but a persistent flat tire scattered the plans of the intrepid. There's a trail, mud and some farm fields. It's pretty cool, though very buggy. I also hit a branch with my right eye, but didn't get a black eye. Here are the pictures:




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ATVs and Trains

I'm not going to lie: I don't like ATVs. As a mountain biker and periodic hiker, I don't see the need for a engine to get through the woods. They also ruin parks in my city, race dangerously down the street and tear up trails in the woods. Often, other people and I think that if they had their park, they wouldn't abuse and destroy trails and parks where they don't belong.

So, yesterday as I rode past the Connecticut River Motorcross Park, I was thinking to myself about how it must be nice how ATVs and dirtbikes stay out of the nearby parks because they have their own park. Then, I entered a nearby park (Quarry Park) to find that the trails had all recently grown ruts because morons on ATVs were riding through the park.

Oh, also, you may recall that El Presidente had written about some kind of weird train/bike/walk thing that he wanted to do. I don't know what ever happened with that, but I have been exploring much of what his proposed route would be along the river. Last week, Salem (lover of Sun Tour and winner of The Eel) and Dario (Trinity professor and rider of a fixed gear Fat Chance) went north and I learned that there's a trail through Windsor Meadows State Park up to Loomis. I also learned about the crazy Hockanum River Park! And yesterday, I went south towards Cromwell and discovered the very boring Bukley Park in Rocky Hill.

Here are some pictures:

Wethersfield's river mud is nasty, but fertile.

I also signed up for the D2R2 today. Read more!

The Unexpected Dryness

This is more of a question out to those who read this and mountain bike.

I know that you're not supposed to ride during the spring thaw because it makes huge ruts and ruins the trails. I respect that and in years past have stayed out of the woods for weeks this time of year. Strangely, this year it doesn't seem to be the case, though. At least in this area, we had one "thaw" day two days before the last storm when everything was really gross. The weather was nice, so some people went out and their ruts are still there. Apart from that day, though, the trails have been fine, super-solid except where there's always mud. Am I the only one noticing this? Am I going to be crucified by NEMBA for suggesting this?

Update!

I went for a ride after I wrote this post and took a picture to prove the solidity of the trail:


Second update:
I didn't go on the ride to take the picture. It's more, I went for a ride and took a picture. Read more!

Romance

Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday. I love love. If you love love or love your love and are wondering what to him with him/her, here are two cool things happening on Saturday:

Sorry about the recycled picture.

Opa Opa Wintercross! There's no reason for me to explain how late season cyclocross and valentine's day are inextricably linked, because it's so obvious.

This guy is going to play one of these things.

This is a reminder and invitation to the second CATALOGUE show at:

56 Arbor Street
Hartford, Connecticut 06116
Suite 216 (second floor)

When: Saturday, February 14, 2009 at 8:00pm (performance)

Rodrigo Queiroz, the Brazilian-born-heavily-and-

awardedly-accomplished
classical pianist from the Hartt School of Music and UConn, will be
performing his current repertoire at 8:00pm for our February installment.
CATALOGUE will take place each month (debuting with Jamie Horgan's
drawings this past January) and is hosted by Joel VanderKamp and Joe
Saphire.

The studio is located at the front of the building (Real Art Ways is in
back). For directions or questions, please contact:

Joe: saphire.j@k-o.org 860.216.3826
Joel: joel_vanderkamp@yahoo.com 773.259.2669

CATALOGUE Ahead:
March will showcase Sam Ekwurtzel, the sculptor, and all-around good guy.

Please pass this invitation to those who might be interested and we might
have missed.

Joe Saphire
Joel VanderKamp

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Urban Mountain Biking

Lucky for me, I was able to join two beatbikeblog expeditions exploring some East Hartford and East Windsor riverfront north of the railroad bridge two different days last week. We also passed under said bridge as you can see in the photo above. We found a sweet network of trails heavily used by ATV’s and motorbikes. Dang, we had fun speeding around the berms and turning and twisting into brand new territory.


Brendan and I encountered this third world track suitable for an old school Landrover. We were somewhere east of the river? Maybe East Windsor?


Sadness overtakes Joel as he looks at the plastic bleach bottle littering the riverside. Please don’t litter! It makes Joel, and the rest of us, sad.


But then happiness uplifts Joel when we travel down to the river to rub mud on us to relieve the burning itching from this evil plant we often encounter on the Hartford side. Its washes off easily with river mud and has no ill effects. Much unlike poison ivy. After a good scrubbin’, Joel decided to just jump in and go for a swim. He’s always doing that.


We eventually had to submit to biking on paved roads and headed north to the pedestrian access ramp for the Bissell Bridge to cross the Connecticut River into Windsor and then return south to Hartford. Very soon after crossing the city-line on rt. 159 we turned into Keney Park and went for a ride on the roads, the car-free paved trails and some single-track along the Leadership Trail. I love this park. So many pretty vistas, views of the skyline and picturesque open fields. The only problem so far are the speeding drivers on the narrow, twisty, tree lined roads. I guess another problem is this car that’s been rotting here for a few weeks. Look familiar? Call the HPD!

and that's all she wrote!
don't click READMORE!


HA! YOU CLICKED MORE SUCKA!!



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bridges and mud. and mud.

Bridges and mud and gin and juice. Well, as my esteemed blogging collogue mentioned; last Tuesday night was all about the bridges. Unknown to us before the ride, it was also gonna be about mud, river mud! We prolly ended up on a dozen bridges, including the nice metal pedestrian bridge over the Hock in East Hartford.


The pedestrian bridge over i91 from the back of a Market Street Parking lot to Riverside Park is like pedaling in prison. The only thing missing was razor wire, but as you can see, Joel doesn’t seem to mind. None of us did, it’s BRIDGE NIGHT! And we were laaaaid back.


We had a nice break on a dike with a great view of the city, but noisy due to the interstate. This was the first spot Josh whipped out his musical camera tripod. I took the above soon afterwards on the next bridge. T’was much more peaceful and quiet there.


We rode another dike in East Hartford and wound our way back to the riverfront to cross on the Bulkley Bridge (i84), which is super loud and hectic due to all the traffic. Not fun. And we realized getting back down to the river to bike along the water to Charter Oak Landing wouldn’t be quick and easy. We pedaled up to Constitution Plaza, crossed a bridge over Columbus Bulevard and then carried our bikes down the stairs to the river, under the Founder’s Bridge. After a rest we decided to head north, just to see the flooding. The river walk dips down under the Bulkley Bridge and the path we were on would soon be under water. We sped up, racing to the edge of the water on the sidewalk…soon realizing…well before hitting the water in the dark…there was slick river mud! Like ice, but oozey. Fun!





Josh ain’t the only blogger with rare shots of a lost sneaker in the mud! (no, it doesn’t belong to us.) (and no, I am not sure how we all managed not to loose a sneaker too.)


We turned around muddier for the visit and headed south along the river, criss-crossing sides of the dike and flood wall and arrived at Charter Oak Landing. Here’s a massive amount of trees and random stuff that floats and is really big; all collected on the lower dock area. Oh yeah, there’s Josh too!



Our next bridge was the Charter Oak Bridge. We all had issues getting to the beginning of the ramp. My short-cut wasn’t shorter. It actually wasn’t a good idea at all. Joel had a chain issue as soon as he hit the path and Josh dropped something...i think. But we all persevered. I still like the view of the city from this bridge, but its super noisy.



Here’s a trilogy of GREAT ideas:

Carry our bikes down the stairs, down lots of stairs
Assume the East Hartford Riverfront is not under water
Assume any leftover mud will be pedalable. (don’t play scrabble with me if you don’t think that’s a word)

All went as well as one might expect. Joel bravely lead the way and took one for the team as the slick mud took him down. Soon we were actually pedaling on slick mud that was under water. It was treacherous and energy draining. Joel wisely (insert juvenile verbal attacks on his manhood here) bailed and fled for higher ground; but Josh and I somehow pushed on through deepening mud on the sidewalk until the path ahead was completely submerged. We didn’t want to leave the river. We talked of a boat, perhaps building a raft, but the upstream paddle didn’t appeal to us. We had to retrace our steps and find a way around, eventually passing through a school parking lot and regaining river access, and Joel, at the boat launch parking area. Mud. We actually pedaled through water!


This is the best photo I have of the three of us. We’re crossing Founder’s Bridge; returning to the Beat; and really wanting to eat chicken tenders and sweet potato fries at kenny’s…and drink beer. The freakin’ barrel of gin and juice was long gone at this point.


The other half of this pair of gloves was also gone at this point. If you find it, holla at me! The only exciting thing I can remember after the last bridge and before Kenny’s was hearing Joel come down the stairs behind me. Then I immediately saw him in front of me and realized Josh just took the stairs on his folding bike. Yeah!


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