Ulnar Neuropathy

Do you think about your left pinky much? I've been thinking about my left pinky a lot, because it's gone numb. It would seem that I have developed an ulnar neuropathy, which according to velo news is caused by "poor bike fit with too much forward pressure or riding on rough terrain under constant handlebar vibrations". I'm guess my problem was caused by mostly the latter scenario. It sucks, because I have motion and control on my pinky and it doesn't hurt, but I can't really feel it. Supposedly, it'll go away in three weeks or so.

Read more!

Sea and Oh

You may recall from the landmark beat bike blog post that Johanna and Brendan sometimes ride a long way. We did it again. This time we decided to ride the C&O Canal. It's a tow path that runs from Washington, D.C. to Cumberland, MD. Friend of the blog, Dan Shoup rode it once (among other things) and I've been wanting to ride it since I was in 5th grade. Earlier this week, we did it.

It was a fun cycling and camping adventure with Johanna astride her Kona Jake the Snake and me with the 23 year old Diamond Back Apex. There were arguments, horrible thunderstorms, really cool caves, quality American meals, a beautiful river, bent rims and more dirt road riding (370 miles) than you can shake something at. Originally, I had planned to write some long narrative about our ride, but this isn't crazy guy on a bike. We're succinct here and I've leave you with some pictures.

The only downside to bike touring is that my right pinkie still has no feeling.

near Sharpsburg, MD.

Great Falls!

Paw Paw tunnel

You see a lot of this.

Ortlieb makes awesome panniers.

The Canal is full of these dudes.

I found my 'cross bike's long lost Technium cousin in Hancock, MD.

And finally, River City Cycles in Williamsport, MD is an awesome bike shop. Highly, highly recommended. Johanna wheel was trued back from oblivion and the owner was wearing an Iron Cross t shirt.

And of course, my valiant traveling companion:

I'm in a cave.

Read more!

Bikes Outside: Vito Power

Following our recent excursion to to the hinterlands outside of the capitol city, we find ourselves back in Downtown Hartford proper for this week's street-parked bike. It seems I've been around Bushnell Park a lot this year, which is true. I've been sort of a blog slacker of late in the face of other obligations, but I'll try to raise the bar a bit in the future. In the meantime, check out the Rockhopper I saw near Vito's on Trumbull Street.


Specialized no longer offers a full-rigid Rockhopper, which I think is a shame. I'm all for innovation, but don't deprive riders a chance to taste the original recipe. I'm not sure how old this particular bike is-- mid/late 90's? early oughts? It's new enough to have a threadless fork and V-brakes, but beyond that it's a Grip-shifted throwback to the golden era of mountain biking. However many years it has been around have been relatively easy ones, as it's in good condition.

The slam-dunked, nose-in-the-air saddle suggests someone is either too small for their frame or nostalgic for their BMX bike. Other than that, everything here could have easily been as it was the day it left the bike shop. I've been meaning to obtain or piece another mountain bike together, as my latest all-terrain beater is getting commuterized for my neighbor. The "Piece together" option is the more likely and viable of the two, but something like this would suit me fine.

Read more!

Bikes Outside: Drum Beat Bike

This week we are crossing a line I had considered with great trepidation and apprehension. For the first (non-postcard or vacation) time, the Bikes Outside lense takes a look at something parked beyond the boundaries of Hartford proper. I've seen plenty of sweet bikes parked in the surrounding suburbs, where the average sweet bike-buying budget per capita is much higher, but felt like broadening the search would make things too easy. I've decided for now that I will allow Bikes Outside the occasional foray beyond city limits for extra special bikes within Greater Hartford.

Today, we find ourselves just two miles from the border established in 1854 by Otto Liebend Blauzurück as "A clear demarcation 'twixt The Spigot and Roger's Package Store, in preparation for the future enforcement of a minimum age for the consumption of spirits." Here, steps from the shopping center that many foolhardy Hartford Advocate readers mistook for a neighborhood in Hartford, this morning's bike was spotted outside of West Hartford Town Hall during the recent MDC public hearing. Aside from its owner being on board for a good cause, this bike has that extra special something that lets it into the rarefied club that is Bikes Outside.

This bike makes the cut because it is a winning mix of elegant lines, quirky components and sturdiness. I always love me some Chicago Schwinn, and the swoopy lines of the traditional American cruiser frame are an enduring form in the bike world for good reason. While seeing a cruiser that isn't a cheap Chinese knockoff is refreshing, it's not enough to land you here, nosiree. This bike goes the extra mile. There's the color: somewhere between coral and brick-house red, dulled and nicked to a comfy patina. There's the front end: a crowned tubular fork (instead of those lame flat bladed ones some Schwinns have) and the massive Wald basket say, "I have arrived, and I brought a 12-pack!" The chrome fenders, random newer stem and springy seat all add to the look, and then there are the brakes!

I am hopelessly fond of drum brakes. My first car had drums all around, my gorgeous, snarling 1970 Triumph had drums front and rear. I have stared in awe of the massive finned aluminum drums on vintage racing motorbikes and cars. Adding drums to a neat old bike is an automatic win for me. I fully understand that disc brakes are the most effective hub-based way to decelerate a wheel, but how can you look at those clunky finned beauties and not be a bit charmed? The rear one in this case has a 5 speed freewheel attached, insuring the rider can climb hills in preparation for some white knuckled brake-warming descents. Good stuff.

Read more!

Ur Doin it Wrong

I was doing an internet search to find out some boring facts about bicycle usage, and the top website results all had something in common -- they either mentioned fatalities or included some sort of baloney like "you can ride in CT if you don't mind feeling like you are taking your life into your own hands." It's like some unwritten rule exists that every conversation about riding has to allude to danger, helmets, and hellish drivers. I swear it's all to keep the masses complicit in the destruction of the environment by coercing them back inside their cars via stories of bicyclist fatalities.

Whatever. Sometimes bike crashes are hilarious.

For instance, Snooki, some creation out of Jersey that I do not understand entirely since I lack cable tv, but whose existence I know of thanks to Perez Hilton and TMZ, tested the boardwalk with her face today. And of course, you can watch it, over and over.

No, you're not a bad person for mocking someone who is famous for being an obnoxious partygirl. Read more!

GPX'd

I'm 15 years late to this technology, but I have a phone with GPS now. And, it can track me. I forgot to turn it on yesterday until several miles into the ride, so this isn't the most interesting track.

None the less, check it out:

Some more pictures:

And, what am I planning here?

Read more!

The Hours

It wasn't that great of a book.

Anyway, I have an observation to make regarding the sanity and insanity of drivers in Hartford. From what I can tell, it all depends on when you're on the road.

• Before 8:25am, people are ok.
• 8:25am to 8:50am everyone is insane.
• 8:50am to 2:30pm everyone is ok.
• During the school year 2:30pm to 4:30pm everyone is insane (very, very insane!)
• 4:30pm to 7:30pm everyone is ok.
• after 7:30pm Thursday through Saturday everyone is crazy

I have some theories on this, but they aren't very scientific. Bullet point number two doesn't actually seem to have much to do with people running late to work. That just seems to be when people who drive like assholes go to work (or where ever it is they go in the morning). Bullet point number four's craziness is ascribed to people with kids being crazy, or maybe crazy elementary school kids are driving the cars. The last bullet point is because drivers are on their way to go get drunk or are already drunk.

The strange thing about inter-town commuters is that they get worse when they get further out of Hartford. I think this is because they just spent some terrible time on the highway and by 6:00pm when they're in their town, they're angry.

As a whole, as I've said before, Hartford drivers are amongst the best when interacting with bikes (knock on wood). They seem to be used to weird things on the road.

Read more!

Bikes Outside: Think Globally, Park Locally

Fans of Shakespeare, when they aren't dropping clever bardian quips that sail over my head, dream of someday making a pilgrimage to the legendary Globe Theater, just off Park Street in London. As it happens, travel budget restrictions dictate that this midsummer Monday finds us instead on Hartford's Park Street a few blocks west of the under-cherished Lyric Theater looking at a Globe of a more prosaic sort.

Don't take that "prosaic" comment as a slam, mind you, this is a very nice commuter bike. I don't mean to damn it with faint praise. It's both unfair and pointless to compare any bike to a world-famous theater. They serve different purposes with very little overlap (see how informative I am? I'll bet that last sentence cleared up a ton...)

Anyway, today, across from the Park Branch of the Hartford Public Library we find one very well-appointed Specialized Globe, with lights, fenders, rack, bouncy fork and springy seatpost to help tame the urban jungle with maximum efficiency. I doubt it's the lightest thing around, but I'll wager it's mighty comfortable.

If memory serves, this is only the second Bike Outside that rocks a dynohub. I've been thinking about generator hubs a lot lately. I've been itching to build a new wheelset for the cargo bike, and the notion of seeing better at night without using batteries is very appealing. I will have a long time to mull this over, as generator hubs are pricey, and disc brake generator hubs (as the Yuba sports a front disc these days) are jaw-droppingly pricey. As always, I'm willing to help test and review any parts manufacturers will send my way (Schmidt, Shimano, I'm looking in your direction...) Exposure on the Beat Bike Blog can potentially introduce products to dozens of mildly interested cyclists!

Have a good week.
Ride safe! Read more!

Shake a fist

Taking the opportunity on to the trip to the Granby CVS, where Johanna gets prescriptions filled because it's close to work, Johanna exercised her right to ride around on her new 'cross bike. We rode around on those dirt roads out that way and it was pretty good.

No hot sulfur rained upon us as rode/hiked up Sodom Mountain.

This sign was a the beginning of a cool dirt road, the kind upon which I like to drive my Passat. So, I don't think a Passat is an "own risk" at all. Or, maybe it was like Passats own risk, because that's definitely true.

Read more!

Ride Snake Shake Down Jake Down at the Blow Hole

Johanna was in need of a sturdy-ish bike for a secret thing involving a bike in a couple of weeks. Looking around on the craigslist and the ebay, there were some things, like a pretty sweet long haul trucker build and some old mountain bikes. There was also a Kona Jake the Snake for sale in Waterford (which at first I thought was Watertown and almost drove down 84). We went there and got a good deal from a nice guy.


It was set up more like a hybrid, but I changed that stuff and swapped out the tires. Now it's a flat bar 'cross bike. I've seen people riding them sometimes. I've thought 'cross bikes needed drop bars, but that required some effort with cables and stuff, and I wasn't in the mood.


Johanna wasn't feeling well, so I took it on that "shakedown" ride or whatever the cool people call the first time you ride something. I rode down to Cromwell along the river and the bike worked pretty well. Flat barred 'cross bikes work ok despite their aesthetic disadvantage.


I've also decided that while limited, the Blow Hole State Park trails are pretty good.

And I saw this guy get attacked by a swan.
Read more!

The gears of D2R2

D2R2 is now less than a month away. I'm scrambling to figure out what bike to ride. I had a long haul trucker, the ideal bike, but I don't anymore. I have lots of suitable bikes, but none with the drive train and gearing needed for such a long weird ride. In fact, it's as if I've purposefully surrounded myself with bikes that all have some kind of short coming.

What I thought was a brilliant plan was to put compact cranks (50t & 34t) on my road bike with one of those megarange freewheels (14t-34t). I still think it's a brilliant plan, but I can seem to put a 34 inner ring on the bike without the chainring rubbing the chainstay. I could probably do something with the bottom bracket, but I'm not entirely sure what to do.

It took considerable work to get to this point, because my plan was to swap out the 34t from my diamond back with a 35t from an unused set of kludgey xtr cranks with an improperly install spider (not my fault, this is how I got them). After doing some things you're not supposed to do to bike parts, I finally got everything put back together, only to learn about the chainring rubbing problem.

My solution is to run the 34t chain by itself upfront in the outer position, but I'm concerned about cross chaining with a 7 speed freewheel. So, I've also bought a six speed megarange freewheel (13t-34t).

After all this stupid stuff, I'm probably going to end up riding my Stumpjumper again, because I'll want bigger tires.

PS. Sorry, the thunderstorm yesterday confined me to the basement, so I've got no bike ride to talk about.

Read more!

Pubic Herd

The MDC's public hearing on the future of recreation on their (our) lands was last night. Unsurprisingly, everyone who spoke was in favor of keeping the trails open. It's clearly a hot button political that has attracted numerous Democratic candidates (and people who are already elected): Blumenthal, Glassman, Slifka, Rep. Baram (D-15), Rep. Fleischmann (D-18), Syd Schulman, and Malloy, Wyman and Cotto in absentia. There are obvious a lot of voters in the West Hartford and reservoir-abutting towns. They talked about the imperativeness of keeping public lands open to the public and the necessity of amending the statement's municipal recreation liability statute. The public, myself included, talked about the same thing. I also delivered Hartford's keep-the-trails-open resolution to the commissioners (which I think is a pretty kick ass resolution).

A few people assailed trial lawyers, though not as much as one would have thought. That surprised me, because I figured there would be Republican candidates there to take that position. I mean, Linda McMahon's office is right in West Hartford, mere yards away. I guess she doesn't either hates public land, the woods, mountain bikers or all three. There was one sort of crazy, Republican throw-the-bums-out member of the public, who spoke after me. For reasons I don't understand, he singled me out as a lawyer who was to blame that the CGS hadn't been amended after Conway v. Wilson. Since, I'm not a lawyer and didn't represent myself as such and also didn't talk about that case at all, I'll assume that he's just out of his mind.

While I was waiting to speak, I emailed my state rep, Hector Robles, and asked him to cosponsor Rep. Baram's proposed bill (though, yet to be written). He consented, which was nice.

So, I guess mountain biking and democracy go well together. I'm cautiously optimistic about all this now.

Read more!

Pubic Hearing

Lots of emails have been flying around email distribution lists that involve trails and land lately, so you've probably already heard about it like eighteen times, but... The MDC public hearing on the future of recreation on our rate-tax-payer-funded land is tonight at 5:30pm at the West Hartford town hall. Come, sign-up, speak and hopefully the commissioners will listen to us and maintain status quo.

I rode at the Reservoir this evening, it'd be a shame if they closed it.

In other news, I got a new phone/camera, so I can take pictures again.

Read more!

Bikes Outside: Jazz On a Summer's Day

This Monday finds us remaining downtown for another bumper crop of bikes outside. Friday through Sunday found some of your humble bike bloggers and friends enjoying the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz in Bushnell Park. This very evening will find us there again for the latest in this summer's continuing Monday Night Jazz series. What's better than four consecutive nights of free live music? How about riding directly to your viewing spot of choice and parking your bike inches away!


I saw a young man ride by on last week's Bike Outside Fuji as I chatted with the proud owner of this old Puch Mixte 10-speed. Not far from this spot were a hardtail Trek and a blue 70's Raleigh Sports 3-speed. There was an early 90's Trek Antelope, which reminded me of a high school girlfriend who bought one partly because of a Phish reference. A sharp-looking balloon tire replica had bebop-era styling while a Next genericruiser left its vendor owner kind of blue. I saw multiple Bianchis, an 80's Shogun ATB and a likely Bikes Outside repeat Breezer last Monday night. Everything else pictured here was spotted this past weekend.

Whether or not you are a hardcore Jazz fanatic, Monday Night Jazz shows are a great opportunity to meet up with friends to enjoy some fresh air and lax open-container policies. That said, if you can't get into hearing La Orquesta Espada and Rolando Matias & the Afro-Rican Ensemble tonight, you might have to check your pulse for possible signs of death. Caliente! Tonight's show kicks off at 6:00.

Read more!