Do office chairs belong in bicycle racks?

Sometimes you don’t want to walk to the bar. Obviously (i hope) driving isn’t an option. I suppose for some reason you may choose not to ride. And, every once in a while, i am sure we all will ask a friend to push us to the bar in an office chair. It happens. Where should the chair be left? This and other hardhitting deep issues of Key West bicycle culture are being discussed and debated. Well, maybe not, but they sure make funny photos. I'm going to continue to post random postcards from this crazy little tropical island as well from roadtrips on the BBB every now and then, but mostly I will be writing and photographing for my new blog, Key West Velo.


Expect more of my same blurry photos and long winded stories but without any snow or ice...ever. Although, I must admit, the cooler weather down here lately has been great for riding. Mid 50's at night are chilly if you're sitting around, but feels great if speeding around on a bike. And we got lots of bicycles here of every type and rustitude. Here's a typical sight outside El Alamo when Scott, Dave and I are cruising around. There's thousands and thousands of bikes everywhere, I love it. Its truly the best way to get around.


Here's an unusual sight inside on Christmas night...IT SNOWED!!! Even though it was plasticky and not cold, people went nuts! BTW, this spot has $1 PBR's and $2 Yuenglings all day every day! mmmmm!

I will also be contributing to the Fixed Gears Bicycle Shop Blog and writing and photographing all the assorted road, time trial, cruiser, choppers and various crazy looking bikes that come through the shop. Its my new fulltime job; managing, organizing, learning and having a great time at Fixed Gears Bicycle Shop. The links between the two are hard to find, so here they both are. That was an awkward paragraph, my bad! But life is good, i encourage everyone to follow their hearts and manifest their dreams.

Fight the winter blues and live vicariously someplace warm through the blog, or plan a trip and come on down and visit! Hope to see y'all down here smiling and pedaling.

Ride on,

chillwill
Key West Velo

click read more for a naughty elf picture





Read more!

BBB Pub Crawl III: Celebrate Good Times, C'mon!

From the BeatBikeBlog's behind the scenes department of marketing and public relations:

As Brendan mentioned, your humble beatbikeblog has turned a year old! While we have somehow just fallen short of claiming the "Best Blog" honor as a rookie in the Hartford Advocate's "Best of Hartford 2009" issue (Really?? Noted beauty pageant judge Perez Hilton got more votes than us as the best blog?? Where's the local love, Advocate voters?), the comments demanding a celebration have been nothing but overwhelming. Good news! We have listened to ourselves commenting and have decided that holding a BBB Pub Crawl is the perfect way to mark this blessed occasion. And you, our reader and savvy bicyclist, are invited to join us on Saturday night, May 9th. You don't even have to celebrate our birthday...there are lots of things you can choose to celebrate instead:

1) Nueve de Mayo: For people who took too long of a siesta and missed Cinco.
2) Mother's Day Eve: air out all your best mother jokes from the past year
3) The unofficial, irreverent kickoff to Bike Week
4) Springy-Sproing: Warm weather has returned!
5) Ghostface Killah's birthday
6) Just being alive and free on two wheels in the Beat.

So Saturday May 9th, we're hitting places with outdoor seating. We'll be meeting up at Dulce in downtown Hartford around 7pm. From there, we'll head over to Hook & Ladder on Main St. at 8 pm. Then we'll make a nice ride through the city over to Plan B on Park St. in West Hartford and aim to arrive at 9:30. The crawl will finish up at Kenny's on Capitol Ave. starting around 11:30. There are loads of good food and beverage options at each stop.

Hope to see you there.
Read more!

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.


Read more!

All Quiet on the Western Front: BBB Pub Crawl Deux-Over

Thanks to poorly timed rain last week, our first bike pub crawl was called off. So we're pushing off on Wednesday evening and marking the 90th anniversary of the Armistice that ended The Great War. Since the odds are good that we won't run into any WWI vets to honor, we'll also be remembering all the veterans of the armed forces. It's a day late for Veterans Day, Remembrance Day, and Armistice Day, but I don't think anyone will mind. You could mark the Nov. 12th expulsion of Leon Trotsky from the Communist Party, but I like my idea better.

Rather than start at the Corner Pug, we'll instead convene at the CCBA Bike Everywhere meeting at Lena's on Park St. (Bike parking in the rear parking lot). The meeting starts at 6 pm, and attending is a good way to let your voice be heard and contribute to the advancement of cycling in Hartford. We can carb up with some of Lena's good food and then head all the way across the building and officially start the crawl at Sully's Pub. The forecast is for a seasonable night for mid-November...somewhere around 40 F. Dress for it!

Here's a loose schedule:

• 6 pm - 7 pm: CCBA Bike Everywhere Committee Meeting, Lena's, 2053 Park St., Hartford, CT
  
• 7:00 - 7:45 pm: Sully's Pub, 2071 Park St., Hartford, CT
  
• 8:00 - 9:00 pm: Vaughan's Public House, 59 Pratt St., Hartford, CT
• 9:05 - 9:45 pm: McKinnon's Irish Pub, 114 Asylum St., Hartford, CT
• 10:00 - 11:00 pm: The Half Door*, 270 Sisson Ave., Hartford, CT
  

* Note: The Half Door usually has a band for their $2 pint night on Wednesdays and therefore charges a nominal cover charge (~$4).

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

— Lt.-Col. John McCrae

Read more!

Bike Pub Crawl I: Postponed

Late Notice:

Just like Guy Fawkes, our plot has been foiled. The forecast for tonight has gotten worse. Now we're looking at a 90% chance of rain with accumulations between a quarter and a half-inch from 8-midnight. That's not fun for all when it's cold. I'll still go to the Corner Pug for a couple, and to inform those participants who didn't get this update and show up.

We'll push it back a week, and make it a ride to honor our veterans and the WWI Armistice. So get some rest from your post-election reveling/sorrowing, and we'll see you next week.
Read more!

BBB Bike Pub Crawl I: Bonfire Night

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I see no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

For our first bike pub crawl in the Beat, we're going to blow off the last of that election tension on Wednesday, November 5th and check out a handful of the Hartford British/Irish pubs on the traditional date for "Guy Fawkes Night" in the United Kingdom. True, the celebration normally includes the burning of effigies, but we're taking a break from the destruction and just enjoying a few fine brews here in this "New" version of England. Everyone with a bike is welcome to join the crawl. We'll start at The Corner Pug and allow some time for food while the stragglers get in. Below is a rough schedule, in case you can't make the whole shebang (very loose schedule and subject to change on a whim)

• 7 pm - 8:15 pm: The Corner Pug, 1046 New Britain Ave., West Hartford, CT
  
• 8:30 - 9:30: The Half Door*, 270 Sisson Ave., Hartford, CT
  
• 9:45 - 10:15: McKinnon's Irish Pub, 114 Asylum St., Hartford, CT
• 10:20 - 11:00: Vaughan's Public House, 59 Pratt St., Hartford, CT

* Note: The Half Door usually has a band for their $2 pint night on Wednesdays and therefore charges a nominal cover charge (~$4). It varies, but usually if you get in before 9 pm, you can beat the cover.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;

Read more!

Spoooooky goings on in the Beat!

Alright...so we messed up in joining the Hooker Day Parade on Sunday. We had a plan, we had a theme idea. I was in Vegas, Joel found himself in Wethersfield, El Prez in New Haven, Karma was most likely working, Chillwill is in Cali, Ken was confused, and I think I heard that Brendan was ready to go. Oops. Well, it sounds like the parade was a lot of fun, and it got people in Hartford excited, so that's always a good thing.

But what's on tap now that fall has fallen, you ask? Good question! Here's some things for your calendars for the next 1.5 weeks:


Friday, Oct. 31st.

Bike to Work??
Old State House, 7am - 9am
last Friday of the month
Hmmmm...this event appears on the BBB calendar over there on the right. It does not appear on the CCBA Bike Everywhere calendar. There it says that they ended in September. I know last year, they had "Icebike to work" things for the colder months. I'll look into this in the next day and report on the status, and I'm sure future scheduling will occur after the next Bike Everywhere meeting in a couple of weeks.

Critical Mass, Halloween Edition!!!
Meet at 5:30pm, Bushnell Park Carousel.
It’s the last Friday of the month! Celebrate with riders around the world for this global, grassroots celebration. Join a hundred of your newest friends on a ride around the city at a chill pace for about an hour and a half. Check old posts to see past rides. The summer’s rides were wonderful, and now we can REALLY freak out!!! It's October 31st! All Hallows' Eve! Helloween! The last ride in Daylight Savings Time! Dress up yer bike! Dress up yerself! Bring some candy! Get some candy! By the time we push off, it'll be dusk, the leaves will be flying, and it'll be extra spoooky! Seriously, feel free to ride in costume. Creativity encouraged. Anything can happen!
http://critical-mass.info/


Tuesday, Nov. 4th.

Progressive Happy Hour (PHH), Election Night Edition.
Kenny's (Red Rock), whenever to whenever.
Holy Shit. HOLY SHIT!!! Really??! The election?! We've only been exposed to this election cycle since about 1971. That's what it feels like. You know...Canadians held a national election in October. Guess how long that took from the time they announced it to the time it was over. No seriously, guess. 30 days. By law. Anyway...hell, here it is in the US of A. Obama. McCain. Nader. Barr. And the rest, with Palin & Biden popping in to provide comic relief. Polls in CT close at 7 pm, so I'm thinking of getting there early to start drinking the pain away while we watch the pundits on the teevee make big asses of themselves. I'll probably be making up the drinking game as the night goes on and others are welcome to join in. Early rules I've thought of are 1) sports metaphors, 2) calling a state before 20% of precincts have reported, 3) unnecessary and excessive use of expensive touch-screen zoomy maps, and 4) any appearance of a dry-erase whiteboard. I'm also going to bring presidential games and activities. Points to those who show up with trivia about our lesser-known presidents like Millard Filmore. Anyway...show up. And for cripes sake: VOTE. Or exercise your right not to vote. Freedom, baby.

Wednesday, Nov. 5th

BBB English/Irish Pub Bike-Crawl
7 pm - 11 pm
After the success of Beat Biketoberfest, it was suggested that we try some sort of irregularly scheduled bike-based pub crawls around the Beat. Well, my first thought was to try to do them on some sort of occasion. November 5th is known in the British empire as "Guy Fawkes Night" (aka "Bonfire Night") in commemoration of some catholic extremist dude with an unfortunate name who tried to blow up Parliament with gunpowder on that date in 1605, but was a complete douche and failed miserably. So the Brits, with no 4th of July celebration because they lost that whole silly affair in the colonies, put this as their holiday to blow shit up. Well, we aren't going to blow shit up, so I'm leading a tour of popular English/Irish drinking establishments in the area to mark the date. I think the order will probably go: Vaughan's, McKinnon's, Half Door, & ending at the Corner Pug, unless someone can come up with another viable stop. Yeah, yeah...it's a school night, so it won't be a big blow out all-night affair, but a classy traipsing affair as our first public pub bike-crawl. We'll start at 7 pm at Vaughan's on Pratt Street in downtown Hartford. All are welcome. "Remember, remember the 5th of November!"
(someone want to add this to the blog calendar, please?)

Saturday, Nov. 8th

THE EEL
Charter Oak Landing, 3 pm
A gentleman's race along the river that is both on the road and off. This is so going to rock. Any further updates and promotion will be provided by Brendan.

Read more!