2nd Annual Hartford Bike Tour!

For those of you that missed it, this past Saturday was the second annual Hartford Bike Tour which in over 1,000 bicycles took to the streets of Hartford to celebrate the city and our favorite mode of transportation. The ride went off without a hitch and easily gathered as many riders as last year. I have not seen any reporting of the ride from the Courant(kind of hard to drop the ball on this one as its not every day over 1000 bicyclists are simultaneously riding around Hartford), nor has the CCBA blog been updated so I can only guess as to the number of riders but I would conservatively put the number around 1200 perhaps as many as 1500. The ride organizers did a great job of laying out a very diverse and creative route which traversed every corner of the city,



The police were far more present than last year and were very effective at controlling traffic at the major intersections. Resultantly the ride was exponentially safer for all riders as many were obviously inexperienced at riding in the city and in large groups. This made for a few sketchy moments as kids darted in front of other riders and as apprehensive cyclists slowed down movement through intersections. Lets be patient, however, and keep in mind that practice makes perfect and only by getting riders out there and out there often can we all learn how to behave and react on the road. Of course this does NOT make it acceptable for the woman who nearly ran Meg off the road to have told her to "F*@$ off" when Meg told her to pay closer attention to the road! Not the vibe we are going for people.

For a further recap of the ride and more pictures click on the title as I apparently have killed the "Read More" functionality of this post!!!





I knew EMS would be set up and that John their bike tech would be there so I was hoping to borrow a couple cone wrenches to tighten up my rear hub, no such luck, he brought just about every tool you can think of except cone wrenches!!! Turned out ok as this was a far less annoying problem than my severely worn hammock-chain which I am surprised I only dropped once on the whole ride! Here is my Panasonic resting up for the ride.


The crowd gathered all over the South side of Bushnell Park and as you can see it was a good size lot. Many ooogled and crooned over this odd transportation device as they waited for the ride to start.


Familiar faces were to be found all over.


Quite a good mix of people. All ages and bike preferences were represented.


As you can see turnout was great and we had quite the line up at the start. Took a good 10 minutes to get the ride really moving I know not the 5 Boro but still impressive for the Beat).



Sonny and I are ready to roll though Will has disappeared leaving his bike behind.



Finally movement! Elm Street is filled with bicycles! A wonderful sight.


There is Will, he looks so dapper in his orange vest! Dawn certainly thinks so. Watch out guys a crowd of cone-headed recumbent riders are chasing you down! Yes these are the same birthday hats you will find strewn all over the city for the coming weeks as many of the riders couldn't control them.


The peloton crests the hill! As I mentioned the hills were a challange for some and resultantly plugged up the road causing delays. Charter Oak was perhaps the worst as the narrow road slow riders combined for a tricky ascent.

The "climb" was well worth it though as the multitude of riders got to see the beautiful architecture perched at the top of the hill...


We passed Colt's and headed for the river...


Through Riverfront Park..


Over the highway towards Kensington Street...

And down Kensington...

Everyone had to fall in single file to get through this gate in order to pass the site of the Hartford Circus Fire. This slowed down the ride and bordered on chaos as everyone tried to get past one another. We just sat an watched waiting for some of our group to catch up.

We turned onto Barbour Street to see these political activists and entreprenuers selling street wares, Yes We Can! Obama!

We then made our way into Keney Park. A rest stop in the park was the site of our group's first flat (Ben's first of two), though also provided a good chance to reorganize and grab a few snacks. Here Ben is trying to get enough pressure in his tube. Stupid mini pumps...

After we headed out of the Park we rode down Waverly and Love Lane before popping back into the Southern part of Keney...


Here Will and Dawn are enjoying a relaxing ride through the park...


From there we rode down Woodland Street and turned onto Ashley Street...

It was a chance to display some of the great preservation work that has taken place in Asylum Hill. I overheard many riders commenting on how impressive the homes were in this area and how excited they were that the ride took them into such hidden areas of the city that they might otherwise never have visited. From there we made our way up Asylum towards Elizabeth Park. We sat at the intersection of Prostect and Asylum for a minute observing the behavior of cyclists in the intersection, very few took the lane.

Will, Dawn, Megs leg, and I...
Meg, Sonny, and Mo keeping it real...


There goes Joel...


In the park we all raced for the Yellow Jersey.

Though it found Will celebrating a bit too early as Alberto Contador surely beat him to the line, oh wait thats Sonny.


After these feats of racing Sonny displayed his graceful over-the-handlebars-flying-uphill-flip! Sheer genius though it doesnt seem the Pink Dropshadow enjoyed it so much.

The Ride then traveled through the West End, across Pope Park, into the South End, traversed Goodwin Park, and headed through these tunnels near Brainard Rd.



A large group took a wrong turn and rode up a steep hill onto the levys above the water treatment plant. A nice spot but not where we were supposed to go.


It did offer a great view of the city skyline, just ignore the foreground.



Brainard Road had brand new bike lanes though I have to argue why put bike lanes out here where no one needs them, no one will use them regularly, and where the traffic doesn't necessitate it? Oh right so the city can boast that they added so many new miles of bike infrastructure this year, lanes to nowhere! And in this case not even painted correctly, am I wrong or is this suggesting bikers should be riding in the shoulder? Maybe it was the city's attempt at separated bike paths, ala here.


After turning onto Murphy Road and then Reserve Road the ride headed down Van Dyke, past an optional loop through Charter Oak Landing, and then past the beautiful old Colt Factory.


Back downtown Bushnell Park welcomed us back to the start of the ride.

After the ride everyone was starving for food and beer. Kenny's was close, has outdoor seating, and copious space for bike parking. We really packed it in there.


Meg like beer, me like beer. Good thing we got these shirts with registration as we were all pretty sweaty and gross.


Perhaps this is why Dawn is hiding behind this pole? Will seems fine with pictures through.


So many bikes, including one crazy recumbent that this guy was showing off to Will and I.


Odd machines but not my style.
We all hung out for a while, ate, drank, and socialized. From there some went home and some prepared for the evening's Ally Cat. We'll have to wait to see how that went.

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Riding in the Rain (Again)

So my afternoon commute found me riding home in the pouring rain and to be honest I was fine with it. As some of you may know I decided some time ago to ride rain or shine yet as the season begins to change I've had to think about what adjustments to make as we move into cooler weather. Rather than riding in rain pants and t-shirt today I decided to ride in long sleeves and vest. Turned out to be a good decision. The ride was relaxing, comfortable, and refreshing, it was nice to have a bit of cool weather. I think the only down side was the wet feet, literally...



I may have to research some shoe covers, anyone have any opinions?

Another piece of good advice was what Will gave me when he checking into the store as I was leaving. Turn your light on in the rain even if its not dark. I passed another biker on my way home (Josh was that you on Tunxis?) that had his light on and I only saw the light not the rider. Several more that I passed later I could hardly see.

I got a pretty good soaking over all but it was nice, made me realize how we take dry clothes for granted.



Wet Bag.




Rain soaked me!
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It's time....for the Threat Down!

We may think it's a little hard in Hartford to bike, what with all the deadly sandpits, potholes, glass-strewn streets, poorly designed bike lanes, unlabeled routes, and rude drivers, but there's a threat out there that puts all of our worries to shame.

That's right, the number 1 threat to American bicycling commuters today:

BEARS!!!!


These godless, killing machines have begun to turn their murderous rage against anything on two wheels. These brave heroes may have escaped and lived to tell about it, but how many uncounted Bianchis, Treks, and Cannondales have been dragged off to the soulless, rampaging marauders' dens of murder? Stay vigilant, Nation!


With apologies to Stephen Colbert.


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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.

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The Sandpit of Deathpart Saga Continues

The Sandpit of Death before last week's gorilla clean-up! I will replace with an up-to-date photo manana.

The first BBB post about The Sandpit of Death on the pathway between Bushnell Park and the LOB/Armory area was mostly about the clean-up done by Hanna, Maureen and I. This was last week. I ended the post with the beginnings of an attempt to have the city via it’s 311 program handle the rest of the work needed on the entire sidewalk including the very dirty bridge. The soft sand was dangerous to ride over and muddy to walk through after rain. Many, many people use this pathway every day.

Brendan recently reported the sand was returning. It certainly has! We scraped, shoveled and swept that sidewalk to bare concrete last week. I passed through it Monday night on a ride with Krash. Its baaaack! All this rain has caused a shitload of sand and dirt to once again cover the sidewalk. AARRGG!!!!

A culvert and minor construction is needed to fix this problem permanently. My neighbor, David Corrigan, is on the North Frog Hollow NRZ committee and told me there were plans to fix up the whole pathway including lighting! Nice! That will be great...when it happens. But what about now?!?!

Something has to be done. But what? Perhaps some hay bales to prevent the sand from flowing onto the sidewalk in heavy rain?

At a minimum, the city needs to send a street sweeper over that area after every rainstorm to keep it safe. Let’s make that happen. We can do this.

Please help us help ourselves by calling and/or emailing 311 and asking the city to fix this dangerous situation. If enough of us call, something has got to happen! Please leave a comment below about your own call!


Landline - 311
Cel phone - 860-522-4888
Website 311

there's no more to read! Read more!

Lights

I broke my light this morning on the way to work. It fell off on Capitol near the Park Terrace intersection. The clip, so that I can clip it on to by under-saddle bag, broke or fell off. Other than that, it still works. I don't want really buy a new one, because this one still emits light. Any suggestions as to how I can make this functional again?

Sorry about the boring post about a light.

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Bicycle Tours and Alleycats in Hartford this Weekend

The second Annual CCBA Discover Hartford Bicycling and Walking Tour is this Saturday, September 13th. We had 1200 people ride the tour last year and it was a blast! Check in and Registration opens at 7:00am,Tour starts at 9:15am. This is an anti-sprawl, pro fun, pro sustainable city, anti pollution, anti-couch potato, pro bicycle, pro pedestrian event.
Check the link for more info, pics and video from last year and last minute registration info.

There is also a Friday night $5 pre-ride pasta dinner and celebration @ the Bushnell Park Cafe located in the southeast corner of the park. Drink specials too! And live music! This sounds like a great way to start a wonderful weekend in Hartford. See you in Bushnell Park!


if yer hardcore...

Then, after the tour take a rest and relax...and then, if yer hardcore enough, ride F'n hard and fast til you wanna puke @ the Hartford Alleycat 4 race. I almost puked last year from riding too hard and well, i reakon that tobassco shot i had to shoot at a checkpoint early on didn't help matters much either.

Sponsors include: Manhattan Portage Messenger Bags, Baileyworks Bags, and PBR.

Register @ 60 Evergreen Avenue backyard. 6pm start. Ride safe, Ride fast. I'll be rockin' the Gunnar and protecting my dome. I think TJ's even gonna ditch the fixie and ride with brakes and gears on his Bianchi and try and dust Valdez. This is gonna be a crazy-ass competitive race. Krash, the only way you are beating me is if I flat out...sucka!


The afterparty/show will be at South Whitney House @ 8pm. HipCops, the 40's. Oil Tanker and one more TBA. Bring some loot to donate to the show. Proceeds go to Recycle a Bike in New Britain. Read more!

On First Impressions, Mistaken

Anyone who knows me knows that I am wrong more often than I am right. Nevertheless, I cling to the notion that my first impressions and gut feelings have some value. In the last week or so, I have twice been reminded that this is not so. In one instance, my wrongheadedness was bike-related and perhaps edifying. In the other, it was just silly:

1. Last week, I was riding home from my Hartford office and I had a suit jacket neatly folded and secured to my Crossrack. As I was heading west on Park Street/Road, some guy heading east in an SUV honked at me and made some sort of gesture while saying some sort of words. Of course, since this fellow was encased in an SUV and was wisely keeping his windows shut and (presumably) his AC on, I couldn't hear him and presumed it was something along the lines of, "You pesky young lawyers with your folding bicycles! You should leave the pristine boulevards of West Hartford for automobile travel, gosh darnit!" After all, this was just a few blocks from the place where some maroon tried to educate me (erroneously, of course) on the General Statutes of the great state of Connecticut as they relate to bicycle riding. Anyway, a few blocks later, I casually glanced back and saw that (horrors!) my suit jacket had slipped the bonds of its confinement and absconded to parts unknown. And then it hit me: the guy was saying, "You dropped your suit jacket, you lummox!" So I went back and there it was, right where the SUV driver had honked at me.

Moral: Sometimes, drivers are nice, and it's not a bad idea for people like me to buy their suits at Target (which I do).

2. Today I did my car-bike-train-bike commute to Bridgeport, and on the train I found myself looking at this ad for Delta airlines:



My first thought was, "Wait a minute! Liberia isn't in Central America!" This was a good thought because it allowed me to spend most of my train ride imagining a humorous scenario in which the adventurous and rakishly bourgeois young man in the ad sets out to backpack through Central America, and quickly finds himself on an inordinately long airplane flight. Then he disembarks and is pleased with how well everyone speaks English, confused that nothing seems to match up with his Lonely Planet guide, and, well, you can imagine all the hijinx that would ensue (he tries to ask for directions in broken Spanish; the natives look at him like he is crazy and ask him if he speaks English). It would be like "Spies Like Us," sort of, but dumber.

Well, the matter kept nagging at me, so when I got to the office I did a little googling and discovered that Liberia, in addition to being a country in West Africa, is a city in Costa Rica. Who knew?

Moral: Despite that one time in Washington, D.C., many years ago when I totally charmed a hot Liberian girl at a pizza parlor by knowing the capital of her nation (Monrovia) and the year it was founded (1847), I am not nearly as smart as I would sometimes like to think. Read more!

News

I know that we don't talk about professional cycling on here much, probably because we don't care about it that much. However, here's some breaking news for you guys who like to sport yellow wristbands. 

This also begs the question of who's going to run his bike shop in Austin.

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Connecticut, the new Iowa?

It was really difficult to ride on the bike path! Photo credit to Bill Owens of Granville, MA.

So, Johanna and I went for a ride yesterday. It was a very nice one and a very nice day. Since I think mapmyride is cool, I mapped it on there. I was surprised to learn that in 60 miles, we had an altitude change of only 850 or so feet (~425 up and ~425 down). I realized that there weren't any long climbs, but I have to admit that I'm a little surprised. I must have found the secret flattest route in the state. I didn't realize that I was such a wuss.

Also, the dreaded sand is returning to the Capitol/Bushnell Park path.

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