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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Cyclists must realize that the road belongs to the driver and they are merely borrowing it..... A Retort

Another letter in today's Courant offers a retort to yesterday's letter to the editor which minimized cyclists' rights to the roads in favor of the free rein of motorists. The comment section of the original publication sparked some good conversation (minimally ignorant and threatening) and I can guarantee this retort will do the same.

Let us know you think the argument yesterday shaped up. Fair and even or pure lunacy?

Warning: Gun-toting conservatives at play. Read more!

Critical Mass: Southbound

So while most of us will still be fuming from the post I put up earlier today we can still appreciate the fact that our own (albeit much smaller, yet growing) Critical Mass was celebrated this past Friday with little police fanfare.

The crew met up for the standard pre-ride libations and found the riverfront well flooded...

We sat and watched the river race by full of debris from upstream and waited for it to wash away Will's ride...

After a little while we headed over to the park and gathered our ranks.

Click "Read More" because there is much more after the break!!!

The weather was gorgeous and we looked to have the solid 30+ riders we have averaged the past couple months (tell your friends folks we'd love to see more!)

Joe agrees!


So does Ben!

After everyone was assembled we headed South out of Bushnell Park onto Elm St. and into Pulaski Circle. Its always fun to do things on your bike that people only usually do in cars so it was inevitable that the crew would have a good roundabout in the rotary...

Around...


And around...


And around...

Until we took a quick glimpse at the street signs. Lets see, New York, New Haven, Springfield, no thanks. The Bushnell, Hartford Hospital, and Trinity, yes please.


We headed down Hudson St. Turned onto Jefferson, and then cut across to Maple Ave.

When I first saw this shot I thought Medusa was chasing me but realized through the blurriness that it was only T.J. looking super mean on the tandem.

After rolling down Maple Ave. we turned onto Franklin and made our way through the South End...

Your standard over-the-shoulder-shot (yes mom I wore my helmet)...

And what this? A bike lane?


I do appreciate the attempt but the whole lack of connectivity of Hartford's bikeways is at times frustrating. We headed down Franklin Ave. until we neared the Hartford line where we turned onto Victoria Rd. This little residential street headed straight into Goodwin Park and was lined with people who waved and honked cheerfully as we passed.




After heading down Victoria we cruised through Goodwin Park (check another Hartford Park off the list)...



We promised blurry pics... I think im just moving so fast the camera can't pick it up.

After departing Goodwin Park we turned South on Maple Ave. and headed into Cedar Hill Cemetery.


Its a gorgeous cemetery equal in aesthetics to any of Hartford's parks.

Here is Ben soaking in the views of the pond.


Dead people. Not a bad final resting spot (if your views are in accordance with this belief).

We rode around Cedar Hill for a bit traversing up and down the rolling hills. The living parted from the dead and we cut through Trinity...


and popped out on Broad St...


One of my favorite parts of Critical Mass is getting a bunch of poeple into parts of the city that they might otherwise never get to go to. As such, I loved seeing this picture of the crew at the intersection of Park and Broad...


We headed back towards Bushnell park and caught a glimse of a group taking wedding photos, nice spot!


And finally cruised under our own Arc de triomphe.


Par usual post-ride drinks were held at a local watering hole which always appeals to the anti-auto, biking crowd...

While I cant support their beer choice, I like their argument.

We even caught a glimpse of two Hartford bike cops NOT riding on the sidewalk but rather in the middle of the road, perhaps carrying out their own mini-crit. I think they were jealous.


After a few beers Kenny's bike, which hadn't been locked, took off and climbed into a tree. we were kind enough to throw a u-lock on it so it would attempt any other shenanigans.


He explained that this happens a lot and that we shouldn't worry about it. We tossed back a couple more beers and faded on our individual ways into the night. See you all next month!

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Another random bicycle picture of the week...

No its not a Tour de France team support car, its what your car looks like when you go on vacation and cannot be away from your bike for even a week.....


We dubbed it the "Ridiculousmobile."


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Jazz Fest, or Lurking Under Bridges.

After working out some technical difficulties I have finally managed to upload my personal photos for posting and as such now can publish this very belated post. One of the most fun nights of riding bikes around Hartford I've had to date...

So after getting out of work early the Saturday before last I had ambitions of riding down to the riverfront to take in some cool jazz (or jass, as Brendan has pointed out it should rightfully be refered). However, as is often the case with Saturdays plans were slowly pushed back and it was not until after a quick ride out to Bloomfield, a couple post-ride beers, and a friend's delayed arrival, that Ben, Sonny, and I made it down to the river around 7.30 as the Jazz was wrapping up. Being as hot as it was and wanting to partake in a couple of cold beverages, we cruised across the plaza, descended the stairs past the bandstand, and took a nice spot on the grass down the walkway where we could simultaneously grab a cold drink and listen to the music.

We took some random bike pictures, including my Panasonic laying in the grass with the river meandering in the background.....


Chillwill showed up shortly thereafter and we all sat among our bikes in the grass and enjoyed the excellent resource that the riverfront really is.

He particularly enjoyed his envelope coozey on this hot summer day, all business...


After an hour or so hunger took over and we decided to roll into West Hartford to BBQ. However, as we got ready to leave Chillwill declared that we really shouldn't go anywhere as it was going to pour. The sky was starting to darken and a breeze was picking up put we didn't think much of it. Will, however, was unwaivering and insisted if we wanted to go we could but he wasn't going to leave the protection of the bridge we had ridden under by this point. I kept going, but upon getting out from under the south side of the Founder's bridge felt a few raindrops and thought Will might be on to something. Turning around I concurred that we might want to sit it out and the others agreed. Ben, however, was already gone, about to ride into the eye of the storm.

A storm it was, though the three of us that remained were happily tucked under the bridge as the rain came down in sheets and we sat on the levy finishing our beverages and shooting pics...
The light was quite low but the pictures are kind of interesting...

Sitting on the levy with the rain kicking up light spots on the river....


Rain pouring off the highway and out of a culvert...


While we sat comfortably on the levy, Ben, however, was not so fortunate and rode like a madman through the rain and wind all the way back to West Hartford wet and alone (sorry buddy). After the rain finished up the three of us who remained nonchalantly rode home reasonably dry and safe (excepting of course Sonny's run in with a gate, no harm no foul.) Food was eventually had in the form of Park Lane grinders where we happened to catch Brendan and Johanna rolling down Quaker. Good to see other bikers out in the storm.

All in all a good night to be in the city and the perfect time to get caught under the protective spans of a bridge.
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