Good Things Come in Tens

Tomorrow, 10/10/10, please consider grabbing your bike and taking part in 350 for Hartford's 375th. This 350.org Global Work Party event will begin at noon at Hartford City Hall (enter at the rear of the building) with a one hour bike maintenance and repair demo/workshop. From there, the group will ride to clean up some of the bike paths and bike lanes in Hartford that need some attention; Sandpit of Death, anyone?

Finally, all attendees can rest their bones and fill their gullets at Kenney's. See the first link for details. Read more!

Ultimate sandwich

It's important to have a good sandwich at some point during the day. Sometimes it's breakfast and sometimes it's another time. Today, it was breakfast.

Check this thing out:


tomato, brie, egg, veggie burger, sriracha sauce Read more!

Bikes on Dikes

It began with what was meant as a short detour on the way home from Colt Park -- a jaunt along the paved Riverside path.

But Saturday was the first time this summer that we were not faced with disgusting humidity, 85+ temperatures, or some crazy hail-tornado-thunderstorm-Armageddon warning. Instead of turning back when the pavement ended, we kept going on the path between the Connecticut River and the flood barrier.

Every single time I have ridden past the paved part of the path, I have encountered less than optimum riding conditions -- ice, mud, and most recently, sand. Starry Starry Bike would be awesome for these rides, but for some reason, I am always finding myself here on a bike that lacks awesome knobby tires.

Still, it's quiet. As Interstatement reminded me while I was kvetching about the precarious ride, we had not seen any pesky baby carriages in some time. Nothing makes me happier than being away from screaming babies and their often smug, entitled parents, as one is wont to be subjected to in the disputed territories.

A deer jumped across the trail. We did not encounter anyone once we reached the sandy part of the path, though we could hear the whining of dirt bikes across the Connecticut River.

The path dumped us out somewhere near the highway, a dike, and a giant billboard advertising pizza, which is basically torture when there are no decent pizza joints in that neighborhood. We rode alongside the tracks for a bit before finally finding ourselves back on the pavement, cutting through Keney Park, and then heading home.

*Somewhere along this route, I believe, is where I picked up a case of poisonivy. I won't post pictures of that.
Read more!

Starting 2010 late

So, I guess I'm done with my hiatus. I rode my bike to work yesterday and went mountain biking after work (and as long as they haven't changed, the conditions are awesome for riding a bike in the snow). Those are pretty run of the mill things for me, leading me to believe I'm inching back to normal. Some people seem to bounce right back from car altercations, but I suppose I'm emotionally fragile. The Surly, on other hand, isn't going to recover from the event. Johanna and I went to South Carolina between xmas and new years, which was nice because there are bike paths and beaches, for people like me who are temporarily terrified of riding on roads.


Last year around this time I wrote some reflective stuff about 2008 and what would happen in 2009. In terms of riding a bike, 2009 was pretty good. I met some new people to ride with: Dario, Salem & Peter and rode in interesting places. I seemed to also have become better at riding a bike, or at least faster in my amateur races. In the races I entered, I finished on the podium in all but three. D2R2 was a big a disappointment for me, but there always this year. I'm better aware of my shortcomings and ignorance, so hopefully I'll ingest some electrolytes this year.

Hartford 'Cross was a veritable success and I'm excited about putting it on again. There was good feedback on how to make it better, but also many people who were excited about it happening again in 2010.

One sad result of this year seems to be the I've alienated a lot of people who used to ride with me. Chiefly, Johanna has no desire to ride with me any more. So, resolution #1 is to stop being a jerk.

What's your plan for 2010?

Oh, and in political news, I like Merrick Alpert's walking style.

I walked here, not Merrick.

And further, I really hope that I can get the police report from Farmington. I don't want to be stuck in insurance hell.

Read more!

Sandpit Con't

You know, if you do a google image search of "sand pit of death", the first picture is of a cyclocross race.

On my way to work this morning I noticed that our feared sand pit behind the Armory was creeping back as of late. But lo! I saw a man with a broom this morning stem the tied of silicon danger. Praise be to those who work at the Armory.

----

Also, you may have noticed "THE EEL" on the right hand column. I've never thrown a race before, so please help me by racing in it. I think it's just going to be cash prizes, because sponsorship seems like too much work and I'm bad at begging. None the less, I think it'll promise to be awesome. We don't have races around here that leave the road very often, so this will bring variety. I'm going to work on a flyer today.

----

Oh, and gay marriage is now legal in Connecticut. :)

Read more!

Sandpit update

After going through the sand this morning on my ride to work, I ran into DPW in Bushnell park doing some mowing and sweeping. A lot of the stonedust next to the park's paths has gone into the paths. Intrigued by the presence of brooms, I asked them if there going to doing anything about the sand our blog discusses. Sadly, they said no. It's not City property on the other side of the bridge. So, there you have it.

Wait, no! That's not good enough. I knew I could figure out who owned the sand. Part of my job is constituent services, right?

Awhile ago, I met the chief of the Capitol Police, a fellow named Michael Fallon, and he told me to ring him up if I had anything issues that he could help me with. It looks like now I have a reason to say what's up.

ps. I hope you're happy, I like riding through the sand.

Read more!