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!
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HA! YOU CLICKED MORE SUCKA!!



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Blog post and video from NYC Critical Mass

BikeBlog (NYC) has a great post about the May Critical Mass in NYC. Reverend Al Sharpton showed up and either made a great, quick speech or hi-jacked critical mass; depending on how you see it. There's some great ideas to think about in the post, especially as the Beat's mass grows and has to deal with new issues and differing opinions on how things should go and what the ride is about.

There's some interesting twists and turns to the NYC story and i think if he had done a few things differently, he would have been embraced; but sending out press releases saying he was working with the bicyclists for a "slowdown" protest....not cool! Not true. We should all be united, i'm down with that, but you can't unite when you also alienate and divide by saying things that aren't true. Then we all loose and divided we fall.

Here's the LINK to the post. Give it a good read and definetly watch Chris Ryan's video.

I also have to give mad props to both BikeBlog(Michael Green) and Chris Ryan for lots of great reading, videos and inspiration. Its a great site! Check it often. Thanks guys!

Please also know, the NYC CritMass has had a long(and documented) history of serious police harrassment since the 2004 Republican National Convention when some serious stuff went down. Much serious stuff has happened since then as well. Google it and check it out. Lots of videos and posts from the two guys above.

More Critical Mass Reading
CM Tickets

Critcal-Mass.info

Team Spider

Wikipedia


Check this movie out! Ted White makes some great films. i got many great quotes for my flyers by the original organizers in their interviews.
We're Not Blocking Traffic, We Are Traffic

Eastern Mountain Sports in West Hartford will be showing the above movie and a second bicycing movie on Friday, July 18th. I'm not sure if the second movie will be Return of the Scorcher or a documentry about the August 2004 CM in NYC with the RNC crackdown.


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"Hey hippie! Get me some drugs!" ....... Critical Mass May 2008

The best quote from the entire ride was yelled at us from the sidewalk on Park Street just after crossing New Park Avenue.

I am pretty dang sure i can't sum things up better than Karma, but i have something he doesn't have....photos from the ride! ha! i will add photos and a few words to his thousands of words...

We unfortunately lost a few riders enroute, but happily actually picked a few along the way and they rode for the rest of the ride. Kick ass! Next month will be even bigger and better!

Some new people had the same reaction I did my first time, concerning when the ride starts. i was kinda annoyed to arrive at 5:30 and not leave for 45 minutes. Well, we meet at 5:30, but never leave before 6pm, which is a good thing, because then we can all pass out the new flyers we made, talk about where to take the ride and, of course, socialize a bit. Its all good! We're in a beautiful park! Enjoy it!

here's my soapbox 2cents and then i'll shut up about such things. Its everyone's ride, which i love and respect, and there aren't really any rules, which is awesome, but we all should take ownership and try to make the ride the way we envision it. so i will!

my critical thoughts about the mass:

We shouldn't take up two lanes, or ride against opposing traffic when we don't need to, but that said, we do need to take a full lane at all times. ALWAYS! Take the lane! Its ours! We should stop at red lights, but if the light turns red as the group is passing through, we should cork the street and keep the group together (google critical mass and corking for a primer.) Stopping at red lights allows helps the mass to regroup. same with speed. we have to keep a pace that keeps us as a group. Together we conquer and we are safer. Divided we are not so safe and not so much of a mass. I am all for drinking beer, mmm...beer, but not littering. Please don't throw your shit in the street y'all, not a good look.

ok, agree with me, hate me, its all good. That's what the comments are for! ride your own ride. ride daily, celebrate monthly. off the soapbox and on with the ride!



Riding down Farmington Avenue in West Hartford.


The begining of the Park Street adventure which was also my favorite part of the ride. Unlike much of West Hartford, where lots of drivers were in a rush and speeding around us, here most of the drivers waited on the side streets or drove slowly behind us; beeping, yelling, smiling and waving. People were ALIVE and full of life.


I'm not really sure how Jimmy managed to make himself in focus, but as long as he continues to use his special powers for good...its all good. but he's tarnishing my blurry photo rep.


Want to see more photos and read about how Poser Dave's bike got stolen on Park Street while he was peeing in the bushes?

Want to see the strangest butt photo ever taken at Mad Dawgs?!?


click READ MORE below!





While poser was doing something in the bushes involving whipping it out, he just left his freakin' bike on the grass near the sidewalk. Krash promptly cut infront of me announcing he was stealing the bike. I wasn't really sure if he was going to A) trade bikes B) hide it somewhere or C) i have no idea what C was!

so Krash just grabbed it and rode off with the two; holding his new bike with one hand and steering his own bike with the other. Eventually Poser finished and started running after his bike. and running. and running. Several of us almost crashed laughing at the shananigans. I am super glad someone decided to detour us through Pope Park. Great idea!


Ahhh, back onto Park Street, which, except for the pendejo who tossed the plastic bottle out an apartment window and hit Corey, was mad fun; full of people, life and energy. The Puerto Rican Day Parade is on Sunday and vendors were selling Boriqua merch everywhere and a few riders bought flags and joined in the celebration. Most everyone on the sidewalks and in cars cheered us on as we cheered them on. Life was GREAT!


MaryLynn rockin' the aforementioned Puerto Rican flag on Main Street on her sweeeet cruiser. Niiiiiice! She even managed to buy a hotdog a little later and ride and eat at the same time. Skills!


Pratt Street was owned!


bicyles! bicycles! bicycles! bicycles! bicycles! bicycles!
The post ride party was at Mad Dawgs which was great for many reasons.
Lots of Misfits got play on the juke.
Free happy hour 6 foot grinder.
$2 Miller High Lifes and $5 40's.
mmmm...beer.


Alcohol is a hell of a drug!

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The Scruffy Peloton: Bridges and all the Windsors

I have only recently recovered from the adventures of happy hour til last call on Friday night and that’s not yet a full recovery mind you! So this is kinda late.

The Scruffy Peloton rode again on Thursday in pursuit of more bridges on a 30 mile ride mostly along the Connecticut River. We altered the end of the planned ride in order to cross the Bissell bridge. We left the Mark Twain house and headed north towards Keney Park. I really enjoy every ride through the park, its quite lush and green and there’s even an actual ravine there as well as ponds, trees, roads, greenways and a little bit of everyone. Cricket too!


Here’s 3 of us, blurry as promised, passing through the park the first time, headed north to Windsor Locks and the Rt. 140 bridge. Not too much to write except to continue to gush over Keney Park. The ride south, once in East Windsor, was fantastic! Farms with sheep, rams, turkeys and some randomn dude peeing on the side of the road. We cheered him on and he cheered back.



Crossing the Bissell Bridge and not too blurry! check the Beat in the background.

We eventually made it back to Keney Park and altered our second route though a tiny bit and saw more of the area. I love this park! Later, after some of us showered (some of just went and bought beer instead), we had an afterparty with a few others. I had bumped into Marisa at the Billings Forge Farmers Market earlier in the afternoon and we schemed and decided to buy a fresh pie and some farmfresh ice-cream and have a party! Mmmm…….best idea ever after a bicycle ride!


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Ride of Silence. May 16th. 2008

Ride of Silence.



Lightening, thunder and downpours of cold rain didn’t deter nine riders from meeting in Elizabeth Park yesterday and riding together to honor and remember fellow cyclists who have been killed or injured on the public roads as part of the international Ride of Silence. The worst of the weather occurred just before the ride as Rachel, who rode all the way from New Britain, got to experience in all its wet glory! And DANG! Did it rain! I think it started just as I left my house and continued for a while after I got to the park.

We all certainly enjoyed the ever-changing weather. The ride left Elizabeth Park in a light sprinkle and retuned with sun shining between brooding clouds. All went well. No issues with downpours, motorists or flat tires.

We rode down Asylum Avenue into downtown, under the arch, around the Capitol Building, down Capitol Avenue, down Boulevard in West Hartford, right onto Raymond Rd, past the Police Station, meandered through Blue Black Square and its live and rockin’ 50’s band and returned east along Farmington Avenue and down a side road back into the park. wow. Can you say that all in one breath?

I kept stopping myself from talking, which was hard, as part of the ride. It was also hard as I am sure there were things other people wanted to say or share as well. It was weird not talking at all and knowing there was a line of people behind me! But it did force me to think and ponder much more, which was interesting. A few times I felt more celebratory than somber and wanted to smile and shout…but didn’t.

Though we all knew what we were doing, nobody watching us ride by had any idea of what was going on; we were just nine people on bicycles. The Ride of Silence idea wasn’t clear. Next year I will certainly make a pair of signs to put on my rear rack and will encourage others to make signs as well. “Ride of Silence” or remember “Joe Smith” or “share the road” would all be great messages.

I did make a sign incase we needed to block traffic that said “Thank You For Waiting” on one side. The other side is for people who feel the need to honk their horns and reads, “Honk If You Love Bicycles.” I never got to use the sign on the ride, but I did later on by accident at The Half Door. I was showing it to Rachel, Rich H (the cool eyeglass case dude) and Steve Tizzle when another table must have seen it and a young woman gave us a “HONK” later as she left. Good times. Good Times.

Well, I have no idea who everyone was and I was a bit nervous, but I think it all turned out well and I am super happy so many people braved the weather and came out to support something important. Thank you to everyone. Keep riding safe and see you next year.



one last photo, and what a great one too! i think i really captured the essence of everyone's shoulder.


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Bike Everywhere! (to Happy Hour)

CCBA Bike Everywhere Bike to Happy Hour. friday, may 16th


I’m going to cut to the chase here, and give props ASAP to the core group that laughed at the rain and rode their bikes to the Bike Everywhere Happy Hour at the Corner Pug today. Big ups to Steve Tudisco, Ben Bare, ChillWillme!), Rich H, Matt Spader, Kevin Sullivan and Robyn Baena. Good on y’all mates! Well done! ‘nuff respect.

All in all, we were 11 strong, with most people biking or walking, and only three or four drivers. Long commutes (from Enfield etc) and massive bicycle tire and clothing issues resulting in wide spread wetness and bandaged fingers all get free passes...this time! Its great to see people putting the B of the CCBA to good use! Woo-haa!

So what happened? Well, what happens at CCBA happy hours stay at CCBA happy hours. I can say many wings and nachos were consumed and washed down by rounds of pints of frothy, beautiful beer. mmmm…beeeer! Flyers were passed out, stories shared, plots schemed and other things occurred as well. The club even bought the first few rounds of brew and noshes. Good lookin’ out CCBA!

Expect another CCBA Happy Hour next month and we shall welcome the weather no matter what mother nature feels like sharing with us! Rain, sleet, snow, heat, river mud or locusts, we shall ride on. Hopefully in June we will be sitting outside in the late evening sun; plotting a late night ride through Bushnell Park, snaking through downtown and down the stairs and along the riverfront and across the river. Bridges! Hells yeah! Y’alls know what I’m talking about.

Always bring your lights and spares/tools etc cuz ya never know what might happen.

Also this summer: Bike to Jazz in the Park. Live jazz in Bushnell Park Monday Evenings. Picnic blanket republics form and establish pot-luck trade routes of noshes and wine under summer night skies. Enjoy the city, the music, the people, the entire vibe of the park. This annual series is always an evening my city shines and I am super happy to live and work here.

more photos after the jump:
(hey! that means click READ MORE!)




Rich (seen in the backgroung looking quite amused) has the most amazing eyeglass case. take a good look at him. if you ever see him out at a party, perhaps enjoying happy hour or about to sit down and enjoy the theater … make a point of saying hey, hello, hi, how ya doing and ask to see his eyeglass case. Its brilliant!



Ha! Double B leaving “coincidently” right after the CCBA tab runs out. hmm….






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The Scruffy Peloton rides again!

The Mark Twain House to the Spigot, a 25 mile ride? yep, if you do it Brendan's way via Avon's Rails to Trails! Check the ROUTE.

Our group shrunk to four riders for last thursday's ride, Brendan, Johanna, Joel and ChillWill. The ride over the mountain through Talcott Notch wasn't bad. The twisty road by Avon Old Farms was fun and cars couldn't pass you due to the width of the road, so they had to go slow. No worries. No honking. The Rails to Trails path was mostly empty and flat and enabled lots of conversing, scheming and planning. I bunny hopped over a speed bump in some randomn parking lot off Hopmeadow. Yes! I am no longer a virgin thanks to pedal cages!


Ahhhh.....bridges and bikes! We should maybe rename this blog!

Some jack-ass in Porche hooked Johanna and missed her by a few feet on rt. 185. Jerk!!!

The wings from Wings and the pitchers at the Spigot were delightful after the ride.

i am looking forward to the next ride of the Scruffy Peloton. Read more!

The 5 Boro Walk Your Bike Tour

The Beat was well rep’d this past weekend by a hardy group of current and former Hartford peoples converging in the rotten apple in what was prolly the most blogged event in the long, extinguished history of the Triple B. Woo-haa!

El Cinco Burros! There is far too much to think of organizing into a digestible meal of a post; so instead I shall cook up a stew free of high-fructose corn syrup and full of beer and pedaling…lots of pedaling. I suppose about now is a good time to explain that the 5 Boro Bike Tour is a 42mile car free ride with 30,000 of your closest friends though all five boroughs of NYC including riding on the FDR, the BQE, and crossing the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge. In case you can’t do the math, that’s over 60,000 bicycle wheels spinning and avoiding NYC potholes!

El Presidente de China has well educated y’all about the ride from the Beat to Dirty Water, so I’ll just curse him one last time for that one massive hill and mention again…shorter isn’t always better; like cock size for example. Otherwise, besides the evil hill, and Klan drive, the ride was pretty nice and scenic. Doing 30mph down a hill through the Waterbury ghetto is also worth a mention I reckon.


In this exciting photo one can barely see the bikes of Chill Will and El Prez de Cheeenay with all the action going on riding the train to Bridgeport. Though no accommodations for bikes, this train was all good. On the train from B-Port to NYC we had them in the middle doorway of the car which was a pain depending which door opened. The idea of spending a few days in the city with my bike and living out of my messenger bag made me as happy as the lack of Metro-North in Hartford pisses me off. Amtrack sucks. Go fuck yourself with your overpriced tickets!!!!

Upon arriving at Grand Central we were greeted by Shoupy, the Shoup Shoupsta! I am not sure if he rode there from Ann Arbor, but he very well might have. El Prez decided against the formal motorcade and instead bombed the crap outta Broadway; speeding through the traffic, checking cabs and leading us quickly and dodge-ily to the Brooklyn Bridge. We soon split, to meet up later; as I was going with Shoup to Park Slope to his friend Megan’s apartment, who was hooking us up with a spot to crash. Thanks again Megan, good lookin’ on the couch…very comfy! And puffin' on the rooftop was sweeeet!


Shoupy and I met up with el Prez much later in Bed-Stuy at a party with some of el Prez’s administration, lots of bikers, assorted hipsters, and three fireman with large iron tools suitable for hunting wild boar. We drank, talked and tried not to inhale burning particle board before retiring early as we were to assemble the Beat Crew at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge at 6:45AM the next morning. Shoupy and I arrived at 7:15AM the next morning! Our crew of about a dozen soon took off for lower Manhattan.


Lots of people. This was the first taste of the 5 Boro Walk Your Bike Tour. As the day progressed the sun burned away all the clouds…and a few faces too I imagine. The day turned out wonderful.





Real men wear leg warmers. Later, in a bizarre twist, Shoupy removed his shorts and finished the tour in bike shoes, leg warmers, a hand-carved wooden cod piece from Turkey and his tour vest. Sexy? Yes, of course! But somewhat disturbing to the elderly and those younger than them.


A media circus surrounded El Presidente de China through most of Queens and was quite a spectacular sight. I was harassed for my crate of bootlegged bananas that I was selling 3 for $10 or one for free.


Welcome to Brooklyn! Woo-haa! I had a freakin’ good time chillin’ here the night before as well as the ride through on the tour. The only sucky thing was walking my bike for 45minutes in a bicycle traffic jam on the Bronx-Queens Expressway where four lanes became one. This was where the ride officially became the 5 Boro Walk Your Bike Tour. The car traffic jam on the other side was moving more quickly! The trike next to me had a louder stereo system than the cars! It was total fuckin' bizzaro world!!!

Eventually we were able to pedal again and riding on the highway along the water with a cool breeze felt great. Crossing on the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge is always super cool. Guinness and grinders at the irish pub was even better.


Taking pictures of groups of three on a ferry always has funny results. See above!


And again if you need further proof!



Much, much later, after learning the 7:20 train didn’t exist and I’d be taking a 9:07train back to CT, I decided to scoot on down to the west-side to watch the sun set over Dirty Jersey on the Hudson. I soon found myself pedaling unexpectedly through Times Square. Sunset, libations and a chance to rest and relax on the riverfront was a wonderful way to finish my visit to NYC.

On the train ride back from Bridgeport to Dirty Water I had to again store my bike in the middle doorway of the car, but this time the conductor made everyone get out the end doors and never opened the middle doors. Thanks dude! Metro-North is pretty good. Amtrack, not so good.



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CCBA Annual Dinner 2008

Wednesday was the perfect evening for a great bike ride to Manchester from Hartford along the streets and bike paths. Josh, Breandan, Krash, Rick and Joel and I met at 5PM on the Founders Bridge and took off without the pre-party brews i accidently left at work in the lunchroom fridge! ARRGG!!! The notes posted on the CCBA website were long but worked well and soon we were navigating the streets of East Hartford and made it onto the bike path just in time for a flat.

The flat tire provided a great opportunity to enjoy a fine bottle of wine and find out who carries spares and tools and who doesn't! I also noticed the few bits of trash that were around were mostly glass bottles and plastic bottles, no cans! no cans at all! there was a lot of broken glass on the trail though. earliera woman riding the other way warned Rick about it and didn't make eye contact with anyone else...and Rick got the flat! was it a hex? a coincidence? we will never know!

Many rights and lefts later, we turned right onto Adams Street and soon took over the lane to make a left into the Adams Mill Resturant (i told you lots of rights and lefts!). We locked up our bikes to some farm machinery and walked inside to the dinner, well, to the bar for drinks i should say. To our dissappointed surprise, we seemed to be the only people who rode? huh? but that was fine, we drank, bid on silent auction items, mingled and enjoyed dinner and a few speakers.





The ride home was more fun. We made a quick stop at a gas station for sundries and then took off with blinking red lights and white headlights shinning the road ahead...until mine fell off. That was pretty much the end of my light shining, which was good, especially when we got to the dark bike path. Who wants to see all that ugly broken glass when you can just speed through it, hurtling through the darkness!?!? no worries though, no flats from glass; it was as if we were lifted! and flying high above the sharp, tube eating menaces! now, that one, dark, curve where we all sped off the path, noooo problem.



speedbumps. now that was a problem. this time Joel was hissing. we stopped just inside a parking complex and quickly had lights pointed towards a removed wheel. Such skill and teamwork was displayed that some dude in a nearby second floor apartment watched us intently and maybe even video taped us. wow. maybe its all on youtube!

Back in Hartford, i snagged the forgotten beers from the fridge and we chugged them while pondering about the recently burned-down Virgin Mary Shrine. Why ohh why?

A few sprinkles of rain encouraged us to get going and Krash lead us on a fun route through the southend and eventually down Washinhton Street. Josh took off down Park Street to go home. The rest of us ride till two of us split down Russ and two continued down Capital Ave; all with the intention of a quick afterhours at my house.

All in all a great night. thanks for ridin' all.

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