Noticing the details

Truly, the little, fleeting details of our busy lives are the things that make it all worthwhile. Case in point, this bumper sticker:

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Police Brutality

So waking up this morning I had planned on finally posting all the pics and beta from Critical Mass this past Friday only to come across this article. As many of you know NYC's Critical Mass and its barbarous police force have increasingly clashed over the event and it has gotten to the point where inclusion in the ride is grounds for immediate and unquestioned arrest. As the article states, however, and as the Youtube video shows, these hosilities are also manifested as physical violence on the part of police. As can be seen in the video a cyclist participating in this Friday's ride was selected from the crowd and bodychecked from his bike onto the sidewalk and immediately arrested. The brutal calm in the officer's behavior is enough to make one sick.

On a positive note this singluar event just happened to be captured on camera and a sliver of justice was served as the officer was "stripped of his badge and gun." The article notes, however, that the officer remained on police duty relegated to desk work most likely until this event falls out of media attention. As of publication the charges to the cyclist still stand. Read more!

¡Exito! La carrera Wear Your Rubbers estuvo caliente

[A member of the BBB crew decided it would be fun to have a version of my previous post in Spanish. So I translated it. Enjoy.]

Los dioses del clima estuvieron de buen humor el sábado, de tal manera que la misma tarde rogaba a los ciclistas de Hartford, "¡Sal a andar en bicicleta en mí! ¡Hay una mezcla embriagadora de sol y brisas refrescantes!" Afortunadamente, había una carrera fijada para esa tarde, nuestra propia carrera Wear Your Rubbers (eso no lo voy a traducir, porque no logro captar en español el sentido doble de "Rubbers," cual palabra significa botas de hule para lluvia y condones), y fue, según lo que cuentan todos, muy divertida. En este espacio habrá varios reportes y fotos (inclusive una lista de los ganadores), y pueden ver todas las fotos que saqué en mi sitio de flickr. Además, muy pronto haré disponible el video que saqué de todos los ciclistas rapeando espontáneamente, trabajo que les obligué a realizar antes de que yo firmara sus papeles en en la parada de la carrera sobre la cual presidía. (Tengo que decir que de veras, nadie estuvo muy bueno en eso de rapear, así que quizás tendré que intentar hacer un remix con un ritmo llevadero, para que sea más fácil de escuchar. Eso ya vendrá.)

Mientras tanto, aquí les brindo unas fotos del jangueo antes de la carrera y la fiesta después de ella. Además, mando mucho amor a nuestros patrones, Manhattan Portage, quien proveyó la bolsa de mensajero que fue el premio de primer lugar, Play in Traffic Productions, quien proveyó los DVDs de Monster Track, 5-Boro Generals, quien proveyó las camisetas, y CCBA quien proveyó las botellas de agua no cancerígenas de acero inoxidable. Y mucho amor a las bandas que tocaron en la fiesta después de la carrera (y pedimos mil perdones a los vecinos que tuvieron que aguantar el ruido).


Llega T.J. (en la bicleta, con el pelo de rasta) antes de la carrera, mientras que Ken distribuye las listas de paradas y recauda el dinero. T.J. más tarde ganaría la carrera.

¡Haga clik para más fotos!



Siendo casi abogado, Ken obligó a todos los participantes a firmar una renuncia del derecho de demandar en caso de heridas. Por suerte, no hubo ninguna herida al terminar la carrera. (Todavía se desconoce si hubo nuevos casos de enfermedades venéreas provenientes de vínculos amistosos emprendidos en la fiesta.)



Presidí sobre una parada de la carrera al lado del lago en Keney Park, cual sitio era una belleza. También había una fiesta familiar muy animada en la Pond House, la cual aseguró que yo pudiera disfrutar de buena música mientras hacía mi trabajo allí.



La fiesta después de la carrera tuvo por atracción principal una gran cantidad del rocanrol estridente preferido por los jóvenes de hoy. También había cerveza y deliciosos batidos de fruta preparados por Ken.


Muchas de las personas que acudieron a la fiesta estaban muy dedicadas a reducir su impacto ambiental y por ello eligieron viajar al evento en bicicleta.
Read more!

Success! The Wear Your Rubbers race was hot

The weather gods were feeling good on Saturday, to the point where the late afternoon was practically begging Hartford's cyclists, "Come out and ride in me! There is an intoxicating mix of sun and cool breezes!" Luckily, there was a race going on, our own Wear Your Rubbers alleycat, and it was, by all accounts, a good time. You can expect a number of posts and pictures here (including a list of winners and such), and you can see all the pictures I took on my flickr site. Also, I will soon upload the video of all the freestyle rapping that I required of the racers before I would sign their manifests at my checkpoint. (I have to tell you that nobody really brought their freestyle A game, so I might try to re-mix it and lay it over a hot beat to make it more tolerable. Stay tuned for that.)

In the mean time, here are a few shots of pre-race hanging around and the post-race festivities. Also, mad love to our sponsors, Manhattan Portage, for the 1st prize messenger bag, Play in Traffic Productions, for the Monster Track DVDs, 5-Boro Generals, for the t-shirts, and CCBA for the stainless steel, non-carcinogenic water bottles. And mad love to the bands who played at the afterparty (and mad apologies to the neighbors for the noise).


T.J. (on the bike, with the dreads) arrives pre-race while Ken gives out manifests and collects cash money. T.J. would go on to win.

More pictures after the jump!



Being a good almost-lawyer, Ken required all racers to sign a waiver of liability. Luckily, there were no injuries reported at the close of the race. (No word yet on post-afterparty cases of the clap.)


I manned the checkpoint at Keney Park Pond, which was idyllic. There was also a lively family reunion going on at the Pond House with a live band, so I could chill out with some hot tunes.


The afterparty featured a healthy dose of that raucous rock-and-roll music that all the young kids are listening to these days. Also beer and delicious fruit smoothies prepared by Ken.


Many of those in attendance at the afterparty cared deeply about reducing their carbon footprints and thus elected to travel to the event on bicycles.
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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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Alleycat Prizes What What!

Who said the Beat Bike Blog doesn't treat you right, baby? You thought the Wear Your Rubbers race this Saturday was going to be blood, sweat, and tears with no hot prizes? Come on, now! Our best friend at Manhattan Portage, the lovely and talented Lauren "Vermouth Criminal" Hoffman, came through with a nice new messenger bag; Our Brooklyn connect, Chris "Bed-Stuy Massive" Kim, is sending some Monstertrack 8 DVDs, courtesy of Play In Traffic Productions, and a complete set of t-shirts from the 5-boro Generals series of races (go check out the links, give love to our sponsors, who are also our friends). There will be live music. There will be the greatest agglomeration of pre-recorded music ever witnessed by human ears, courtesy of Mixmaster Chillwill. There will be human beatboxing. There will be booze. You know who will be there? Everyone who's awesome. You know who will not be there? Suckers. Read more!

Food for thought: Utilitarian Cycling vs. Sport Cycling

A post at www.commutebybike.com (which, as the name suggests, is a blog about sous chefs), argues that there is too much emphasis in the U.S. on high-end sport cycling, to the detriment of commuting and such. I have often been frustrated by this at bike shops in Connecticut, where all the floor space seems to be devoted to multi-thousand-dollar road machines, but I don't know if I agree with Commute By Bike guy, who says we must "take bicycling back from the sports enthusiasts." What say you, dear BBB readers?

And here is the rest of it. Read more!

How bike cops get to be so awesome

I like the idea of cops on bikes. It makes good sense for an urban environment, where bikes are often the fastest and most versatile way to get around, and it makes the cops seem less disconnected from ordinary people than they would in an idling cruiser. (Also, gasoline costs, environment, carbon, etc.!)

One of the things I've often wondered, though, is how the departments choose their bike cops: Do the biking enthusiasts who are already on the force volunteer for bike duty, or is it a punishment ("O'Malley, because of your failure to obtain a warrant, the chicken bomber got off on a technicality! You're gettin' six months of two-wheel duty!" "OK, Sarge.")? The main reason I wonder this is because I think it would make a difference if I ever had to outrun a bike cop on my bike, something I don't recommend but always like to think about. Because if bike cops are actual bicycling enthusiasts, they might be able to catch me. But if they're just regular cops who have been obliged to ride bikes, I might have a shot.

I mention all this is because I got a rare glimpse on Tuesday into the rigorous process by which ordinary police officers are hardened into nimble, fast-moving dispensers of two-wheeled street justice. I was at the University of Bridgeport, which is right by Seaside Park, and there in the park, about twenty cops were straddling their mountain bikes while some other guy on a mountain bike (presumably some sort of bike cop expert) talked to them and showed them moves. I watched for a while, and while I was unable to discern whether the trainees were cycling aficionados (although I might hazard a guess about the guy in the orange shirt on the far left of the photo below), I did learn something important: Bike cops learn how to do some super-tough bike-to-bike grappling! Seriously - the instructor guy would ride up to his trainees and do crazy judo-style takedowns while remaining on his bike. It was very impressive, in a wow-I-really-don't-want-to-fuck-with-cops kind of way.

Here is a photo of the learning process in action. You should definitely click on it to see a larger version with more glorious detail.

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A ride gone wrong...

So while about 90% of the time I get lost while riding it can be attributed to google maps telling me there are roads where there are not a recent ride gone wrong I can only blame on myself (or perhaps as I later found out, the town of Simsbury).

A couple weeks ago I was scheduled to work a six day week which meant that on a couple days I was going to get out at 2.00. I had not been out on a 40+ mile ride yet this summer so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity. Unfortunately, however several factors would prove to derail my plans, shorten my ride, and leave me cold and wet trapped in the rain.

While I had planned to leave work at 2.00 this happened to be the week (much like this week) where we saw rain and thunderstorms every single day. The day had been fair but at about 1.45 a brutal thunderstorm rolled in that soaked the roads and kicked up the wind. I saw no point in trudging through the rain so I delayed my departure till the rain stopped at about 3.15. I raced home, quickly changed, and pulled up the radar. It showed a series of small thunderstorms moving in a line with 30 minute gaps between them. Not a fan of modifying my plans due to the weather I calculated a route by which I could race ahead of the storm, head West, and loop through Simsbury, into Barkhamsted, and South around a second storm. I wrote down my route which was a loop along routes 309, 179, 219, and 44. I stepped out the back door to the sounds of rumbling thunder, again questioned the intelligence of my decision, and hopped on the bike. As I rode North along Quaker, Asylum, and Steele St. and jumped onto 185. The whole time I was right on the edge of the storm as a picture taken over my shoulder along Elizabeth Park looked as such:


And this...


After moving down 185 towards Bloomfield the view to the West looked like this...

The view to the East however, was less inviting...


I headed up over Simsbury Mountain and noticed this foreboding sign on the way down which made me again question my choice to venture out...


READ MORE after the jump!



The weather was great though and I continued on through the back roads of Simsbury which turned out to be much more scenic than I thought. Here are a few pictures of the rolling hills and fields that remain in this increasingly sprawling area...


And...


I wanted to ask this little lady the answer to the proverbial question but left her to her bug hunting...



Things were going smoothly until I get to the intersection of Stratton Brook Rd and Rt 309. My route list informed me to turn left on 309, however I came to realize at this point that none of the roads are signed with route numbers!! (I found out the next day from a customer at work that allegedly Simsbury only recently moved away from the route numbering in favor of road names. Perhaps the numbers were a little too urbanizing in a pristine town like Simsbury (note sarcasm)). This I knew would turn out to be quite the problem as I would have to guess which road was which. I made my series of turns not confident that I was heading in the right direction. Eventually, however, I turned onto a major road which I sensed was Rt 44 and felt a little better as to my situation. After a couple miles, however, I realized that I was rather on Rt 202 and not only very far from my intended location but heading right back into the heart of a round of storms.

Along the river....


Clouds coming...


I had meant to travel counter-clockwise but somehow while making the same series of left and right turns had gone clockwise and was now heading South back into Simsbury. This meant that I had not only lost about 10 miles of my intended ride but that I had NOT ridden around the storm and would soon be soaked. The rain started slow at first and I rode on but soon it was coming down in sheets and the lightening started to pick up. At first I grabbed a spot under a tree but then noticed a nice awning across the street.

Here is my pathetic set-up as I waited for the rain to clear.


After about 20 minutes the rain cleared and I made my way back over Simsbury Mountain and home again. A few shots along the way proved that had I been about 20 miles West I'd be nice and dry...



The roads were quite wet...

As was I when I got home...


All in all still a pleasant ride but I sure learned never to ride without as much route information as is possible. Because everyone remember, Simsbury hates route numbers!!!
Read more!

How to make a new trail

Whenever I try to take a picture of a trail, it doesn't look like a trail. It just looks like some rocks.

I haven't subscribed to a mountain bike magazine for awhile, but when I did, they would tell you once a year in some advice column to ride the trail you ride the most in the other direction. I suppose the only applies to loops. I never really did. I'm a boring nutmegger.

So, for the first time in my ten or so years of riding the West Hartford Reservoir, I rode it counterclockwise. It was crazy! It was a totally different trail. The lighting is different. The rocks are sharper. Curves are banked differently. There's more climbing (that may have just been in my head). That walk-a-bike section at the far southern part of the powerlines is not actually a walk-a-bike section; you can go down it.

Those mountain bike magazines are right. It's definitely a way to get out of the local trail doldrums.
Read more!

Get out and ride somewhere!

The beatbikeblog’s day by day, play by play calendar for a mad busy week of great events. Wow. Summer is in full MF’n effect! Lots going on, great rides, parties, food and people. Check it:

Tuesday

Bicycle Commuting Clinic
July 22, 2008, 7:00 to 8:00 PM REI West Hartford
Want to refresh the basics of commuting on your bicycle. Enjoy the
summer weather and reduce the amount you drive your car by commuting to
work and around town on your bicycle! This July 22nd from 7-8pm will be
reviewing safety, equipment, rules of the road, defensive riding, and
how to pick an appropriate commuting route with Central Connecticut
Bicycle Alliance member Dave Enos. Please join us for this very
important clinic that is geared to keeping you safe on the roads.
Space is limited please call REI customer service to reserve your spot today
860-233-2211. This clinic is free and open to the public.Bike Commuter Clinic


Wednesday

Critical Splash @ Goodwin Park Pool 6-7:45pm
Julie sez, “Celebrate adult swim hours and assert our adult swimmers’ rights!”
Organized by Julie from liveinhartford.com cool off, swim laps, chit, chat, enjoy the hot summer night with some new and old friends. There’s no charge and be prepared to hand over all belongings to an attendant of the storage area.
More Details here!


Thursday

Farmers’ Market @ Billings Forge 11am – 2pm
Broad St. 2 buildings south of Capitol Ave.
buy fresh! buy local! Corn, pies. fruits, meats, eggs, cheese,
and live music too!
Farmers' Market at Billings Forge

Friday

Bike to Work @ the Old State House 7am – 9am
A free monthly breakfast organized by the CCBA for bike commuters in the middle of downtown that attracts about 100 people. Wake up with coffee, drink some juice, make a bagel or eat some fruit. There’s always a great spread and lots of mingling, smiling and stories to share. There’s a raffle too with great prizes like tents, sleeping bags and other goodies. Don’t forget to grab some flyers, stickers and schwag.
This month’s sponsored by Healthy Gears
Bike to Work

Critical Mass. 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. This summer’s rides have been wonderful, especially last month’s meandering through Keney Park.
Anything can happen!
http://critical-mass.info/

Saturday

Wear Yer Rubbers! alleycat race.
5:30pm register for race, volunteer for checkpoints @ Bushnell Park Carousel.
6:00pm race starts
This will not be a short, fast race; expect to pedal fast and long!
prizes include: messenger bags from Manhattan Portage, Ghostship clothing, schwag, condoms, water bottles, and special love for DFL.
race ends/afterparty backyard 364 Laurel st.

Bike Everywhere! to Bloomfield
Meet at Elizabeth Park at high noon and seek out some lunch. Then pedal to Bloomfield to tour to the Hooker Brewery and sample some tasty beverages. The tour costs $5. see links for more info.
Bike Everywhere!


LoRes Fest 3.0
A whirlwind weekend of community video fun in Connecticut’s Capital City.
Make your own short video in Hartford! In 24 hours! No experience or equipment needed. Watch yours and other LoRes videos at the 3rd Annual Hartford InternationalFilm Festival in November!

Friday, July 25 to Sunday, July 27 LoRes Fest ‘08 Headquarters: Red Rock Tavern, 369 Capitol Avenue, Hartford. Registration- $50 ($60 after July 23)-includes video equipment and LoRes Fest ’08 DVD

For more information and to register contact info@capitolcinemacollective.org or (860) 830-6222.

don't read more...ride more! Read more!

Concerning the usefulness of comments on newspaper websites

Every blog post deserves a picture, even if it is unrelated to the content of the post. So here is a picture of a billboard for Super Duper Weenie, in Fairfield.

Hey, remember that whole kerfuffle concerning the comments on the Courant's website, and how they're racist and stupid? Sure you remember - Hartford's dear Mayor, Eddie Perez, had a rally to decry the Courant's lax monitoring of the posts, and BBB's own Chillwill held a one-man counterprotest, which got him in the Courant, which took pains to point out that he is a high school graduate (it is worth remembering). (Oh, and later, Stan Simpson mentioned Chillwill in his column, suggesting that Will mounted his protest not out of civic concern but as a stooge of the Courant's corporate owner, New Mass Media, which employs Will.)

Well, I read a much more articulate argument for getting rid of comments on newspaper websites today at Gawker.com. Their thesis is, "Newspapers have professional reporters who break news. Well-reported news is useful, while most user-generated content is crap. If people want to respond to what they read in the paper, they can sit down and write a letter to the editor, just like in the good old days, and leave the ignorant vitriol for the blogs." I like this thesis.

What say you, denizens of the interwebs? Putting aside Chillwill's excellent point that the mayor of a city with the second highest child poverty rate in the nation would do well not to spend time sweating the comments section of a failing newspaper, is there any real value to having a comments section on a paper's website at all?
And here is the rest of it. Read more!

Some pictures from my bike riding around our lovely state

We're always singing the praises of bike-riding here at the Beat Bike Blog ('cause it ain't the Meat Bike Blog, you know?), and one of the great things about the old two-wheeled locomotion is that you go at just the right pace to see and enjoy everything around you, and if you want to stop and take pictures, you can. (You can achieve this with a golf cart, too, but bikes are cooler and never run out of gas.) So here are some pictures from around the state that I've taken lately while riding my bike (or taken a while ago but only had developed lately) (click on each for a larger view, if you like):


Bridgeport


Norwalk


Hartford


New Haven
And here is the rest of it. Read more!

Sponsor update: We still love Manhattan Portage

Hey - remember how Manhattan Portage sent us some free bags to review and enjoy? Well, they're sending along another to be a prize in the alleycat on Saturday, so I might as well hit you with an update on that businessy bag they gave me. (Also, any other folks want to throw some prizes into the pot? We have some good stuff, but if we have more, then we can give more away, which makes everyone happier, increases the profile of the fine companies that donate prizes, and generally keeps the terrorists from winning.)

First of all, my MP bag continues to serve me well in a business/bikin' capacity. I took it to Cape Cod a couple weeks ago and it smoothly made the transition from workaday bike riding bag to weekendy child-provision-carrying bag. Here is a nice picture of the bag soaking up the sun on the beach in Provincetown, Mass.



Also, I busted out the needle and thread to make a modification to the bag. You can learn more about this oh-so-exciting development after the jump (along with a slightly NSFW picture of the best graffiti ever).

When Lauren (our favoritest person in the whole world, who works at Manhattan Portage) sent me the bag, she conceded that the backpack straps weren't the most comfortable. And while it is true that they are simple nylon webbing straps, at first I didn't mind too much. But another problem they do have for me is that they are not long enough propoerly to span the rippling musculature of my strong, sun-dappled back and powerful shoulders. After a couple trips carrying heavy stuff, I started to see the shortcomings of these straps. Luckily, I had an old backpack from Target, a pair of scissors, a needle, and some thread, so voila:



Not bad, right? It took about 45 minutes, and increased the comfort of the bag by about one bazillion percent. There's not much to it - luckily, I was able to connect up the buckle-strap-holding thingy on the original MP strap to some webbing on the new strap, so I only needed to sew the two straps together at one place - right at the top. Also, because I used black thread with black webbing, you can't see how haphazard my hand-stitching is.

I know this is sort of a boring post, so here's a photo of the best graffiti ever in the whole entire world, which I saw on the inside of a porta-potty in Truro, Mass.



It says,

Derek Jeter blew me here, 7/2/02 (he did swallow and applied the "shocker")

Crass? You bet. But strangely earnest.
Read more!

no subject

I didn't use one of these to move furniture. Would people have respected me more if I did?

I didn't get to ride much this weekend because Johanna and I are moving. In fact, I think the longest ride all weekend was either to the uhaul place to pick up the van or to my friend Jacob's house to play ping pong.


However, I just discovered this: http://mtbdee.blogspot.com/. It belongs to a mountain biker in Rhode Island named Brendan. Finding that was weird, but not that weird. He's into the Drop Kick Murphies and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. I'm not into them. Cool blog, though. What was weird was the time a Brendan, with the same last name as me and the same age, was prank calling the Ned Lamont office I ran in West Hartford. That was totally bizarre. I thought he was going to try to kill me, but according to the police he just wanted an absentee ballot.

Here's that oft-viewed Street Films thing about moving by bike. Read more!

Busy Bicycle Calendar!

I missed the CCBA general meeting last night due to a work shift, but there is much going on the next few days...the next week actually! Check out these events:

Tonight! Thursday, July, 17th:
Bike Everywhere! to Happy Hour!
Prospect Café, Corner of Park & Prospect
Eat, Drink and be Merry! socialize,
talk bikes, talk beer, its all good!
this will also be a Bike Everywhere monthly meeting.

perhaps a jaunt to RAW for CCH afterwards?

Friday, July 18th. 7pm FREE
Bicycle Movie Night @ Eastern Mountain Sports in West Hartford
We’re Not Blocking Traffic, We Are Traffic, a Critical Mass Documentary and a 2ed undecided movie, we'll vote on it! Action packed mountain biking? another film on bicycles around the world? we'll vote!
free waterbottles to all who arrive on bicycle!

Saturday, july 19th. 10AM
Summer Cycling Celebration
East Rock Park, New Haven!
Time Trial Hill Climb, events
bring yer fast bike, sweet bike,
old bike, first bike, just go!!
http://www.thedevilsgear.com/calendar/summercyclingceleb/

next week? REI bicycle commuter clinic, bike to work, critical mass and an alleycat race! Read more!

Long weekend at the beach!

I established a sweet homestead last weekend at the beach for four days and nights and had a wonderful procession of friends drop by for a night or two or just a few hours. We biked to beaches, paddled to secluded beaches, paddled at night and ate like royalty thanks to Joel and Kristen who really hooked it up! I also took hardly any photos, but did spend some time pedaling around Mystic on my way home Monday afternoon and took this:


I always really liked this pub, but its been a few years and i didn't remember the bikes and the sign. very funny. I reakon the bikes would be a great bike rack too! well done!


My hand was still healing with stitches and it wasn't supposed to get wet; which as you might imagine, is a bit of a problem when spending time at the beach! I used a plastic glove and lots of tape the first few days and later went rawdog and just patted it dry when splashed. no worries! but no swimming either :(

more after the break, but its not bicycle related. well yeah, maybe it is! a chunk of wood in the fire was brought home on my bicycle returning fron the beach. i had to ride bow-legged as the log was like 8 feet long and bungied to my crate, extending along my top-tube infront of the bike as well sticking out the back for several feet!

Read More!



We should have a blog tag for Joel and his meat. that dude is always doing great things with steak!


Marisa spotted this buoy floating and we all watched it for like an hour until it got close enough to shore for me to grab. The whole thing came alive after being out of the water for a few minutes. If all of southern Rhode Island is wiped out from some creatures from the deep...its all my fault...sorry y'all!

Read more!

Riding home after dark in the city

I use my bicycle for transportation around the city and the 'burbs. If I am not mindful of the roll of the wheels, the rush of wind passing by, and the strength of my legs, I sometimes forget that I'm riding a bicycle. If I pay attention, the city allows the opportunity to refocus.

Tonight I pedaled home from a farm in southern Wethersfield. I was loaded down with gear: work clothes, thermos, lunch remnants, bicycle tools, and notebook in my trusty backpack; cleats, sweaty clothes, and water bottle in my old Mountainsmith shoulder/ass bag slung over my shoulder. After stopping after dark at a warehouse-y grocery store with cashiers and managers cranky and eager to get home, I had added more items to my backpack and gained a plastic grocery bag tied to the the outside of my shoulder/ass bag. As I approached the Hartford line, the street lights dimmed, the presence of the Wethersfield police vanished, and the undeniably gritty atmosphere of South Hartford and Wethersfield Avenue rushed over me.

I had lost some mindfulness to that point, with my mind drifting to other places and times, but the lively, dark feel of the city put my attention back to my grip on the handlebars, the movements of my eyes, and the timing of my pedal strokes.

There were a few kids riding bicycles leisurely on the sidewalks, occasional groups of men and women on stoops and porches and street corners, escaping the lingering evening heat of city apartments in summer. Underneath the darkness and smells of the street- garbage, trees, pavement, rubber, cigarette, exhaust, dirt- there was the sure feeling that I'm riding a bicycle, and that's all I'm doing.

What a gift to bicycle home through the dark city! Read more!

Three idignities in the last 24 (or so) hours

The first indignity is entirely my fault. I was hungry yesterday before I wanted to go mountain biking, so I decided to cook myself a quick meal. I started making tabbouleh, but realized it wouldn't be ready for a few hours. I had a really big craving for it, so much so that I didn't read the entire recipe. Making tabbouleh didn't satisfy my hunger, so I moved on to the left over couscous. I wasn't sure what to eat with it, but I knew that the jar of tamarind paste that's been sitting in my refrigerator for year was going to factor in. Day after day I've been questing to figure out what the hell you do with tamarind paste. I knew once, because I bought it. No wait. Johanna bought it for me. Anyway, I googled "tamarind paste couscous" and found a recipe for a real simple vegetable curry that goes on top of couscous. Since I had been thinking so hard about the tamarind paste, I decided to put on a heaping tablespoon. It looked pretty edible when I put it on the table, and it almost was. Clearly, tamarind paste is powerful stuff. I washed it down with a couple of miller lites and headed for the reservoir.

Needless to say, the 90 degree heat and that stuff sloshing around in my stomach made me feel bizarre and unable to correctly operate my bike.

I guess this is how they make biodiesel.

My second indignity was this morning. I was riding to through the Farmington Ave Asylum merge and starting to go down the hill. I watched this rumbling Rabbit coming off 84 west turning into my direction. He clearly wasn't paying attention, because he almost ran me off the road. Riding behind him, I noticed a bumper sticker that indicated that his car was fueled by vegetable oil. I guess it was really hard to see me through all that smugness.


The last indignity happened on the way home. I left work slightly early, so I decided to go ride across the river to East Hartford. Nothing much happening until I was about to get on the Charter Oak Bridge to get home. I hit a groundhog by the 5/15 entrance and crashed into the guardrail. I wasn't going that fast, so it wasn't that big of a deal, only a bruise on my butt and a cut on my finger. The upside was I learned the unique grunt made by a groundhog when you run one over with a bike. At first I was mad at the groundhog, because it ran at me and made my crash, but in retrospect, I see it had a tough decision to make. I startled it and it went to run away, but it only had two choices: risk getting hit by a bike or run on to the highway entrance and probably get hit by a car. I hope he's ok. Read more!

I think this is cool

Someone on Hartford craigslist is selling this patent-pending item called the Gravity Dropper Seatpost. From the description, I glean that it rises and lowers four inches at the flick of a switch (you have to take your weight off it to make it go up and sit on it to make it go down, so it won't accidentally ram you in the hindquarters). Apparently, hardcore mountain bikers (of whom I am not one) sometimes face a dilemma between having the saddle lower for technical descents ("technical" means "difficult") and higher for better leverage when going uphill.

So basically, I don't need this item at all, because when I need to handle downhill riding, I stop pedaling, and when I face uphill riding, I shift into a lower gear. But damn, it sure does look cool in a weird sort of way. Not $200 cool, but cool. (They should make something like this for stems, too, so you can easily go from hunched-over, racy stance to laid back pimpin' stance with the flick of a switch.) So, could someone else please buy the Gravity Dropper and report back to me? Read more!