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!

Soda review

About a month ago, I got an email from someone named Victoria asking me if I wanted to review soda for the blog. Snow soda to be exact. Since this is a bike blog, I explained that I generally prefer drinking beer. None the less, it's hard to refuse a free case of anything, so I consented to review and a few days later a case of soda (12 pack?) arrived. It would seem by googling "snow soda", this type of free-case-of-soda-for-review model is major part of their advertising plan. Other companies have tried this with us and to date, I think I reviewed some kind of training dvd and I was sent some knock-off camelbaks. They weren't very good, so I decided that maybe reviewing them would be a disservice for the knock-off camelbaks. The training dvds were ok, though I still think I prefer riding outside in the winter to watching a dvd involving riding while I'm on rollers.

Anyway, snow makes three kinds of soda, Cola, Cranberry Pomraz and Lemon Lime, that they put in a tall can. The can is 12oz., but it's tall like a red bull can. The Cranberry Pomraz, despite having a weird name, is quite good. Not too sweet and it tastes like cranberry, pomegranate and raspberry. The cola isn't too good. It tastes slightly off and a little flat (kinda like Tab?). I understand they purposefully don't carbonate their sodas too much, but I think this cola needed more bubbles. The addition of rum didn't really help either. The lemon lime is ok, but could probably be just slightly more sour (or bitter)- maybe in the direction of that San Pellegrino Limonata stuff or Ting.

In the grand pantheon of sodas, I'd say the Snow ranks better than Jones. The Pomraz is better than all of the Boylan sodas, except for grape. It's not as good as Hosmer. It's not as good as the old recipe for Fresca. And, nothing is as good as Northern Neck Ginger Ale. So, if it's Sunday and you're out of Miller Lite, maybe you should grab a Pomrazz. Although, they do have more calories than a Miller Lite, so only grab one.

Ed. Note: Johanna also drank some of the soda, but she doesn't have a blog, so we'll never know what she thought.

Another soda related thing to which I would lend my seal approval are these Portland Design Works sodapop fenders. I put them on my Diamond Back and rode it around in the rains of last week. They work 90% as good as complicated fenders, but are 90% easier to install. They're supposed to be removable, but the way that the fender mounts to the rear "brake" bridge abridged that, so I can only easily take off the front one.

It rained so much I became blurry.

In other news, I found a new and steep way to get over Talcott Mountain. It's especially helpful if you need to get from Tapas in Bloomfield to the Pickin Patch in Avon.

don't fall in this well on the Avon Land Trust's Hazen Park trail.

On Sunday, I went for a hike.

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Bikes Outside: Double Dutch

This Monday's Bikes outside were spotted at last Wednesday's Hartford 2000 First Annual Pasta Dinner. This SoDo fundraiser was held to strengthen community and help fund a sorely needed upgrade for H2K's outdated name. It was a very nice event, full of goodwill and unlimited carbohydrates.

The Amsterdam is Electrabikes' west coast interpretation of the classic Dutch city bike. They took the time-proven design that has served millions of European commuters for a century and made it more laid-back. I ask you, where else but California could people think anything from Amsterdam is not sufficiently laid back? They are handsome machines at any rate. I really like enclosed drivetrains on city bikes 97% of the time. The other 3% of the time involves incredibly vexing rear tire changes.

The super-slack geometry and vertical riding position mean the owners of this his-and-hers pair are upright citizens in more ways than one. The baby seat (and the corresponding baby they walked in with) show that they are city biking family style, which is nice to see.

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Cancelled

Due to the potential for flooding, we're not going to do the clean up tomorrow. Sorry! Read more!

Clean the river

Do you care about the world? If you do, come down to the CT River tomorrow at 10am and help us clean up. We meet, as we have for the last two years, at the confluence of the Park and Connecticut Rivers. It's a tradition now!

Email me if you have any questions. Wear good shoes and pants. I'll provide bags and gloves.

Read more!

Bread Cycle Works Fiesta This Saturday

Artist Ted Efremoff and company's Bread Cycle Works Project began this past march in a vacant lot on Broad Street. Join them this Saturday at the green at Billings Forge (563 Broad St. Hartford, CT) starting at 3 PM to share in the fruit of their collective labor. Here are a few pictures and memories I accumulated over the course of their community-focused, bicycle-powered journey from seed to feast. I wasn't around for the plowing and planting stages, but I did take part in the harvest, where my story begins.

Part one: Harvest M(ons)oon- July 10

The email had gone out a few days prior, scheduling the wheat harvest for 11:00 AM on Saturday. The sky looked threatening that morning, and it wasn't long after I arrived at 11:00 that the first few drops of rain began to fall. The next few minutes were a frenzied attempt to beat the rain. Sickles, scythes and my saw-chete (a machete with a serrated saw teeth on its back edge) were swished about with haste cutting, stacking and bagging as the rain increased its intensity to biblical. A couple of local guys came and pitched in, which was pretty awesome.

There were four cargo bikes on hand: The Bread Cycle Works plow trike with a trailer, a cycletruck-style conversion with a massive woven basket, a bakfiets-style conversion with a massive steel basket, and my Yuba Mundo with the trailer. We loaded as much as we could before the wheat got too wet, using trash bags and a shower curtain to protect as much as we could. We slogged up Broad Street, soaked to the skin, and arranged the wheat on drying racks in Ted's studio. We rode around the corner for coffee and lingered as our clothes slowly dried.


Part Two: Back For More- July 12

With rain forecast for Tuesday and beyond, Monday looked like the best day to harvest the remainder of the wheat. It was short notice and a weekday so extra hands were in short supply. I met up with Ted and Alex in the afternoon. I sharpened my dull Saw-chete to help facilitate cutting wheat and not accidentally damaging my own extremities.

As it happened, I did not cut myself with my clumsy blade-slinging, but by drawing my finger along a wheat stalk for a wheaten equivalent of a paper cut. The cut itself was minor, but I quickly demonstrated my God-given talent for bleeding. I disposed of the affected wheat (as bloodstained wheat is both nasty and non-vegan) and set aside my (t)rusty blade to tend to my wound. Unfortunately, my first aid kit was in the pannier I had left at home and nobody else had any band-aids, so I wiped my bloody hand with a baby wipe, tied it around my finger and headed for the nearest bodega for a box of bandages. Bodega #1 didn't have any, but bodega #2 not only had Band-Aids, they sold them individually! I was familiar with "Loosie" cigarette sales, but this was my first observation of the practice extended to first aid supplies-- freaking brilliant! I bought a loosie-depleted partial box for a dollar, figuring that it would be good to have a few extras on hand. No more were needed, but I was sufficiently amused for the afternoon.


Monday's harvest took a couple of hours with only three adults on hand, but we managed to get it all cut and hauled back to Billings Forge studio to scatter on the drying racks in preparation for the pedal-powered threshing and milling process. Passers-by stopped and asked about the project regularly.

Part Three: I'm Gonna Thresh You Sukkah- September 18

I wasn't able to attend the bike-powered thresh and milling session, but I did see the Sukkah (a Jewish feast booth) they built from the leftover hay when I was at the Farmers' Market. Here's a pic of the threshcycle setup courtesy of Ted:


Part Four: Eat!- October 2
Hope you can make it. Read more!

Fixed gear mountain biking: not cool?

63xc.com is a cool website, even if it's defunct. It went dormant right around when everyone started riding fixed gear things, which I think is 2008. Even mountain bikers started riding fixed gears, and with the advent of the tomi cog, it's pretty easy to do with your existing singlespeed. Things have cooled off and cycling factions seem to be a little bit less dogmatic.

Cog cat!

I bought a tomi cog myself a few months ago for my Mono Cog. I haven't been riding it that much lately because I find myself liking to shift in the woods and the bottom bracket is in rough shape. So, I figured making it fixed would make me want to ride it more.

Riding swoopy, flowy stuff is fun. Even rock gardens aren't too bad, but logs are cumbersome. I don't know. There's really no higher meaning to be found in your legs moving all the time. I mean, people only ride fixed off road to get noticed, right?

Or, perhaps I was just having a off day last night.

And, take a moment to remember Jure Robic, a man more hardcore than a million fixed gears or thousand D2R2's.

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Sogs

As you may be aware, we've been in a crazy drought. With rain the last two days, all of the sudden I'm losing my mind with the absence of dust. That's all I've got for beat bike blog profundity today.


On an unrelated note, did you know that the Hartford Advocate's Dan D'ambrosio also writes from Adventure Cycling? We should interview that guy here. Read more!

Bikes Outside: Pepto Dismal

The dawn of this week finds me sick, so today's Bikes Outside post, slotted in between long-overdue stretches of sleep and home remedies, is going to be weaker than my immune system. This Asylum Street bike outside is the pinkest entry thus far, edging out July's Desert Rose by a vibrant brake cable housing-length. Like the 'Rose, this bike awaits its owner at an extreme angle, though in a different axis, nuzzling a fireplug with its double-wide saddle. The poor thing looks drunk.

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Dog Poop

So, I did the race at the Dog Park. It was ok. The officials were a little intense and the course wasn't too fascinating. But, turnout was good and it was a good bunch of racers.

I had the holeshot, faded to third and then crashed. I ended up where I assumed to be somewhere around tenth at that point. I was a little off and finished 12th. It was fun and nice that I was able to ride to a race.

Johanna took some good pictures and video.




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Dog park

I don't like dog parks. Many people know this. There was once a consideration to do this in Elizabeth Park. I became very angry. Dogs are good (not as good as cats, but still good). Dog parks are bad.

Anyway, I have signed up for a 'cross race (one to which I can ride my bike) tomorrow in Rocky Hill that benefits the eventual construction of a dog park in Rocky Hill. My hope is that my entry fee goes entirely to paying the officials, etc., but I bet some of it is going to go to this thing.

Ugh!

I don't have any pictures of Elm Ridge Park, so the picture is Quarry Park.

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The Triumph in Failure--Wrong-Haul Truckin'

Several months back, I was invited to vend and do a bike demonstration at the Coventry Farmers' Market's "Green Up, Connecticut" day, which took place on the Sunday before Labor day. I happily accepted.

As the date approached, I scrambled to get my vending stuff together and a plan of action. I don't have a truck, so I was going to have to borrow or rent one. On the other hand, I thought, what if I rode my bike there? I realized that this would require the towing of my utility trailer, which would slow me down a bit. I checked a few online mapping sources and determined it was just shy of 22 miles from my house to the market site in the Nathan Hale State Forest. I hemmed and hawed about it for a while and finally decided, hey, it's Green Up Day, dagnabbit, what better way to represent than to be all uber-sustainable and make the trip under my own power, right?

I realize in retrospect this was wildly ambitious on my part, but it seemed entirely doable. I had towed the trailer with a load of DJ and audio equipment for a 10 mile loop last June during the Real Ride, so doubling the mileage while reducing the weight would allow for a steady trip. I loaded a new cargo bike and a folding bike swaddled in blankets. Over, under and around these I tucked a repair stand and some tools (for a bike maintenance demo) plus four tote bins full of helmets and accessories. Maybe I wasn't reducing the weight by all that much...

In the morning, I loaded up and headed east over the Charter Oak Bridge (the only bike trailer-friendly Connecticut River crossing) into East Hartford. Moving into Manchester, I saw that their stretch of the East Coast Greenway has been freshly paved, a nice improvement over my last ride there in July. I was running a bit later than I would have liked, so I called ahead to give some friends a heads-up. Once the Greenway made it through most of Manchester, I was past any area of familiarity. I began to rely on my printed directions, a set of maps and cue sheets sourced from the Google and the ECG websites. This was where things began to go especially wrong. Maps lacked details, cue sheets had wrong turns, I ended up riding through the "Crossroads of Hell" where I-384 ends and routes 44 and 6 split from one another. That interchange is fairly awful in a car, let alone the unwieldy contraption I was pedaling about.


My online sources had estimated that the trip would take about 2 1/4 hours to complete, to which I added a bonus hour to account for the added weight. What I didn't adequately account for was the hills. There were an awful lot of them. Hill climbing plus trailer equals very, very, veeery slow. It became more and more apparent that I would not be making it to the Farmers' Market in time to vend, but I pressed on. I pressed on for two main reasons:
-I was hoping my friends from Four Fields Farm would still be there so I could off-load some of my cargo into their Hartford-bound truck.
-Making it to the market site was the only attainable goal remaining for the day. I needed some sort of success to show for so many hours' work.

I finally arrived hours later than intended, having missed the market entirely. I was disappointed, exhausted, embarrassed and annoyed. I made a few calls. None of my truck or wagon-owning friends were around, unsurprisingly on the holiday weekend. I called Schleppi, who agreed to drive out and relieve me of a carload of weight. I spread a blanket on the ground in the now-empty vending field and took a very satisfying nap. Schleppi arrived with nourishing snacks and a smattering of reminders of what a dumb idea this was. I was able to fit everything but the cargo bike in her car, which made for a much lighter tow. Hooray Schleppi!

I rode home a different way. The return directions (from the same sources) were flawless, save for one issue. The gates at the entrances to the Hop River Trail were purposely narrow to allow bicycles through while preventing motor vehicle access. Unfortunately, that also meant that the trailer was too wide to pass through as well. I managed to hand-pull it around one gate, but had to unload and carry it through the second. The trail is really nice, by the way-- probably my favorite rail-trail thus far. I definitely want to return- on a much nimbler machine.

I finally made it home, well after dark. The waning glow of my headlight helped me resolve to bite the bullet and splurge on a dynamo hub, so look for a wheel-building post in the near future. I slept very well that night. It was a day of toil and disappointment, but I learned a few things along the way:

-It's mighty hilly east of the river.
-I can do this, just not over that distance or terrain (more on this point in a forthcoming post)
-Next time I transport anything to Coventry, I need to use a truck. 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!

Brendan and Johanna ride a long way again

You may recall that two years ago Johanna and Brendan rode a long way. Since then, we've ridden other long ways, but this weekend, in honor of us turning 27, we rode the original long way.

We arrived at Crystal Lake and it was early and misty. It was cold, but we wore wool and Johanna had arm warmers.

We rode to Derby Line library and I peed in Canada (without telling Boarder Patrol!).

Then we rode through the hills of Holland, which look like that Microsoft windows default desktop.

We rode and rode some more. The whole route is paved, which is weird for the North East Kingdom

We ate lunch at Island Pond and it was very good. Chili, vegetable soup and two kinds of ziti.

Then we rode some more and then it was done.

I crashed once, because I was waiting for Johanna on the beach of Lake Willoughby. Riding a road bike on sand and in ditches is stupid and I fell down. It hurt.

Then we finished. It was great!

no more books at the BOOKS

The next day, I rode the beloved BOOKS loop.

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Bikes Outside: High Plains Drifter Makes My Day

As autumn comes and the weather gets cooler, my attentions must turn to battening down the battered hatches of Casa 'Statement before pipe-freezing season. While I am partial to more specialized establishments for supplies (lumber yards for lumber, plumbing supplier for pipes, etc) sometimes time and availability constraints find me begrudgingly shopping at the big home improvement center on New Park. On nearly every occasion, mine is the only bicycle locked up outside, so seeing another is a rare treat.

This Schwinn High Plains retains ties to the day when the Schwinn name, regardless of model, meant you could count on a certain level of quality. The mid-and-downmarket models weren't the lightest things around, but they were plenty solid. This well-preserved bike shares with most of its contemporaries the role of commuter bike in the oughts, and it's well-qualified for urban service. I realize I'm probably in the minority here, but Biopace cranks are an indicator of velo-coolness. My first new road bike rocked the oval chainwheels, and the mountain bikes of that era that I pined for but couldn't afford were elliptically equipped.

The unusual valve stem caps could also be indicators, in that I have seen such devices on cars function as low-pressure warnings. Viewed at very close range, one could also be led to believe that a robot dog has become excited. Perhaps they serve as counterweights for the large reflectors on the spokes. Regardless, the High Plains is getting the job done many miles away from its regional namesake.

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Keep it Real- This Saturday!

We all had a blast during the last Real Ride hARTford and this Saturday evening, it's time for another. They're calling this one The Magical History Tour to commemorate their 35th anniversary. The relaxed, 10 mile route will include locations and public art installations from RAW's history. Alan, Dave and I set up the bike trailer sound system yesterday and DJ Rick will be back in town to spin the virtual wheels of steel. Riders who would like to decorate their bikes on site at RAW can do so starting at 4:30. We'll start lining up at 6:00 PM and should be rolling by 6:30. Real Art Ways is located at 56 Arbor Street.

photo: Caresse Amenta Read more!