It's Easier Than You Think

With an early Spring and $4 gasoline there are welcome new rumblings around the water cooler.  A perfect storm that lines up with the efforts of Bike Walk Connecticut, the statewide bicycle advocacy organization, to grow their successful Bike to Work program.  The Connecticut Bike to Work events started back in 2004 in downtown Hartford, and grew to include satellite events in the surrounding towns.  This year Bike Walk CT is donning the "statewide" mantle and promoting bicycle commuting across the vast lands of Connecticut.

Being a non-profit organization with limited resources, the statewide Bike to Work campaign doesn't include bagels and coffee in every little CT town, although many non-metro Hartford cities are now holding events.  For example New Haven and the Elm City Cyclists have a very well organized Bike to Work program.  Other cites interested in joining can contact Sandy Fry, who has all the details you'll need to set up a satellite event.  All you'll need is a food sponsor (employer, city, or yourself), a folding table, and some sweat equity. 
For those that don't have a local Bike to Work Event but still want to get in on the movement, we present to you -- the power of the internet.  Bike Walk CT has oddles of resources on their website for first timers.  Connecticut will also be competing in the National Bike Challenge.  The Challenge puts Connecticut head to head against other states, and hopefully the cyclists in our great state won't leave us with some embarrassing rankings. 

The Bike Challenge website gives you the tools to track miles, set up corporate teams, and show the nation that CT is serious about bicycle commuting.  I'm personally interested in the corporate challenge, and am certain that Pratt and Whitney will dominate the leaderboard.  Engineers respond quickly to the pocketbook pressure of high gas prices, and our bicycle racks are already overflowing.

Let's bike to work Connecticut.  It's easier than you think!

Read more!

Bike racks come downtown en masse

I think some early beat bike blog post was about a coworker and me wondering around downtown, marking spots on the sidewalk and then making a map of where to put bike racks. This was like four years ago. There were subsequent spreadsheets and meetings and boring government things you don't want to know about it. Then, nothing happened.

I gave up on the whole concept of anything ever happening, but I got an email from Kevin Sullivan (the ccba guy, not former lt. Governor) earlier this week declaring that some had gone in and they're going to continue to put them in this week. I haven't seen any yet with my own eyes, but I saw a picture of some in front of the library. Why the library got priority, I don't know, seeing how they already had some by the arch street entrance and there's a city hall bike rack right there, too.

Anyway, I'm going to stop complaining in the hopes that I can stop locking my bike to trash cans.

Read more!

A recreational update

Quick update: SB 445 didn't get even get called for a vote in committee. Looks like we can be as irresponsible as we like on our sidewalks and can't sue the City.

It's also quite a boon for the boardwalk time trial / one on one race that Salem hopes to have some day, as long as as it doesn't go to Manchester. Read more!

More recreational land use liability

Remember how recreational land use reform was supposed to be a foregone conclusion after last legislative session? Well, it's not. There's a new bill SB 445. It seeks to undo a bunch of the good stuff that happen last time around. My reading is that the bill last time, PL 11-211, exempted activities and owners from liability except in cases of recklessness or gross negligence. This new bad bill seems to remove different types of lands, like sidewalks, boardwalks and beaches from the exemption.

Here's a letter that Dario and I sent to the Judiciary Committee:

March 29, 2012
Joint Committee on Judiciary
Room 2500, Legislative Office Building
Hartford, CT 06106
 Members of the Judiciary Committee,
Last year the Connecticut General Assembly made the right decision by reforming municipal recreational liability in our state. Municipalities and quasi-public agencies like the Metropolitan District Commission can continue to keep their lands open to the public for recreational enjoyment without the fear of lawsuits except in the most unreasonable or reckless circumstances. This is a win for people who enjoy the outside as well as for tax or rate payers. 

SB 445, AN ACT CONCERNING LIABILITY FOR THE RECREATIONAL USE OF LAND, seeks to undo the progress made last year by exempting areas such as beaches, boardwalks and sidewalks from the lands immune from normal negligence claims. Much of the testimony last year encouraging reform came from people who enjoy using walking paths or bike paths. This bill would revert to the bad old days of two years ago and encourage trails to be closed once more. 

We urge the Judiciary Committee to vote this bill down. This same issue was addressed last year and an almost unanimous legislature listened to the people and their desire to keep our parks and woods open to public use. Please respect that and vote down SB 445.

Here's CTNEMBA's take:

Please Send Comments Opposing SB. 445 to the Judiciary Committee.Last year NEMBA, along with many other outdoor and environmental organizations, succeeded in strengthening the protections offered to landowners and municipalities who allowed free public access to their lands and trails.   The bill successfully became law last year. P.L. 11-211 -- a great victory for the trails community.Now there are efforts to cut back protections offered to municipalities that allow free and public recreation on their land..  A new bill, SB. 445, is currently in the Judiciary Committee that would exempt boardwalks, beaches and sidewalks from municipal protection.  The JC will make a determination by Monday about whether to let it go on to the state senate.  Yesterday, I gave testimony along side our other partners in theConnecticut trails community, and now I ask your help too.We urge CT mountain bikers (and anyone who enjoys open space) to contact the Judiciary Committee chair and other committee members and ask them to oppose “SB. 445- An Act Concerning Liability for the Recreational Use of Land.”Consider mentioning the following points in your own words

• The process of strengthening of the Recreational Use Statute was thorough and exhaustive. P.L. 11-211 passed overwhelmingly and was the result of widespread bipartisan support. There is no need to revisit this legislation at such an early date.  

• Exempting boardwalks, beaches and sideways from the protections would once again make municipalities consider not allowing public recreation on their lands. It would make them consider not investing in more open space since to do so would increase their liability concerns.  

• Boardwalks on primitive natural surface singletrack trails are simple structures, sometimes only a couple of planks of wood laying over a patch of mud. They are low-impact structures designed to protect the wetland resource and allow people more easy traverse a muddy section of trail. They should not be made the target of slip and fall litigation.  

• Beaches can be interpreted as any rocky or sandy access point to a water body, be it an inland stream or pond or the Long Island Sound. Exempting beaches from liability protections would make municipalities consider preventing free public access to their waterways. 

• Sidewalks may abutt or be part of paved bikepaths. They should not become a liability target that would dissuade municipalities from creating more bike facilities. 

Please send your comments to members of the Judiciary Committee by Sunday night, April 1^st.Here’s how to contact members of the Judiciary Committee:http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/menu/MemberList.asp?comm_code=JUDTo read SB 445: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2012/TOB/s/pdf/2012SB-00445-R00-SB.pdf

Time may be running out to contact the Judiciary, but you can always contact your State Rep or Senator to tell them to vote against the bill if it makes it into their committee or to a floor vote (hopefully it doesn't make it to a floor vote).

Read more!

Shenipsit

Mountain biking in the Hartford area means mountain biking with sprawl. Sometimes, trails you used to ride disappear completely and sometimes you deal with encroachment. There used to be these trails across town from where I grew up in Avon in Huckleberry Hill Park. Then, some parts of the woods became a subdivision and you can't ride there anymore. It was too bad.



Yesterday I was riding at Case Mountain and instead of crossing over to Gay City and riding to Blackledge Falls, I decided to keep going down the Shenipsit. It's cool. The first couple miles before getting into the Meshomasic are weird. It's this techy, bench-cut singletrack in backyard's McMansions in a creek valley.

I must say that the areas around the Shenipsit are probably better than the areas around the Metacomet for suburban mountain biking along ridge lines. The Metacomet is pretty good, but there's something to be said for trails that were made with mountain biking in mind. Al Tinti is a pretty talented guy. I wish he had a counterpart on my side of the river. Although, the Shenipsit itself through much of the Meshomasic is a ten foot-wide ATV road.

Read more!

We're #1!

At first, I was going yo write a post about this ride I took on Friday in which I crossed a swamp by old newgate prison and then discovered this cool trail and some other stuff like that. It also involved things like the metacomet trail and frame pumps. But, the beat bike blog was nominated for this blog contest on the courant website (maybe by Dario?) And we need your votes. This is where you vote. We're the only blog involving bikes nominated and you vote for us by that reason alone. Besides, we're coming up on post #1000 and that would be a fitting present.

Read more!

Whose streets? My streets!

As you've probably noticed, the weather has turned eerily nice. I know that it's spring, but this is beyond those days in the mid 50s that I normally associate with the beginning of spring. I liked those days.
Anyhow, when weather suddenly turns nice, people remember that they own bikes and venture out. Generally, I'm pretty positive about more people on the bikes, but in early spring part of me gets offended by the fair weather riders, especially after our insignificant winter. I feel that my weird brethren and I ensured that by riding through the dark unpleasantries of winter, we persevered in keeping a small slice of the road reserved for bikes.
And, this is why I have an inflated ego and no friends.

Read more!

Tim Johnson rides on Hartford again

You may recall that Tim Johnson and some other people stopped in Hartford en route to Washington last year. You can even go ride with them if you like.

It is happening again, today and tomorrow in fact. Here's a press release about it to save me some typing:

MEDIA ADVISORY
TIM JOHNSON’S RIDE ON WASHINGTON STOPS IN HARTFORD DURING 500-MILE FUNDRAISING EVENT FOR BIKES BELONG FOUNDATION

Local Cycling Champion Jeremy Powers to Join Ride from Hartford Plaza Hotel Saturday, March 17, to Raise Awareness for Benefits of Bicycling
WHAT: Bikes Belong is hosting the second annual Tim Johnson’s Ride on Washington (www.rideonwashington.org), a grueling 5-day, 500-mile event that raises funds for the Bikes Belong Foundation (www.bikesbelong.org), which focuses on improving bicycle safety and enhancing children's bike programs. The ride begins in Boston and makes its first stop in Hartford before continuing 130 miles to New York City. Riders then pedal on through Philadelphia and Baltimore before ending at the National Bike Summit (www.bikeleague.org/conferences/summit12) in Washington D.C. Each day, participants travel between 50-130 miles in daylight and darkness and whatever elements Mother Nature offers.
WHEN: Saturday, March 17, 2012, 7:30 a.m.

WHERE: Hartford Plaza Hotel
100 East River Drive
[East] Hartford, CT 06901
WHO: - Tim Johnson (34), 6-time national cyclocross champion
- Jeremy Powers (29), born in Niantic, CT, professional cyclocross champion
- Professional cyclists and triathletes
- Local cycling community
PHOTO/BROADCAST OPPORTUNITIES: Interviews with Tim Johnson, Jeremy Powers and riders; bicyclists in action as pack leaves Hartford Plaza Hotel; riders cycling with downtown Hartford backdrop
NEWS RELEVANCE:
With the threat of gas prices climbing to $5.00 a gallon this summer, bicycling participation is expected to further increase and presents the public with a safe, healthy and cost effective alternative to driving.
Between 2008 and 2010, participation in road bicycling grew from 41.5 to 42.3 million Americans.
Connecticut’s bicycling ranking is 44 out of the 50 states and is in need of bike paths, bike racks and pedestrian crosswalks.

FOR FURTHER INFO: (www.bikesbelong.org)
MEDIA CONTACT: Nikki D’Addario, CGPR, nikki@cgprpublcrelations.com, 781.639.4924, Ext. 118

As a member of the cycling press, I may be there to ask about disc brakes in 'cross or something.
Read more!

What can't you move with a bike?

This has been my theme for the uncommonly warm Connecticut winter of 2011-2012.  Starting with a severely over taxed trailer trundling home a curb found  sleeper sofa, climaxing with a polyamorous Bike Move, and lingering on pleasantly with various solo cargo and free cycle pickups.

The right equipment helps.  You can carry a surprising amount with a rack on a standard bike, and a little bit more with a cargo specific bike, but if you really want to push the limits you'll need a bicycle trailer of the sturdy variety.  Preferably something with a rigid deck, lots of tie down hooks, and a raised platform of sorts to allow wide loads that would extend beyond the wheelbase.   The hitch needs to be sturdy, and attached in a way that won't rotate under load (and inta yer spokes).

A couple years ago I modified a Trek two-child trailer with a piece of plywood and a 40 gallon Rubbermaid.  The Rubbermaid bin acts as both a weather tight container and a raised platform for wide loads.  The modification was easy, and done in a single Saturday afternoon.  Nearly the perfect little cargo trailer, the only flaw is the hitch.  It's a cam locked strap around a pair of rubber coated clam shell pieces.  If not clamped super tight on a round chainstay it will rotate when the trailer is heavily loaded.  You'll see that for heavy loads I've augmented the clamping friction with a used bicycle tube.

Now on to the question of import, "What can't you move with a bike?"  Definitely not an elephant.  Maybe a small cow.  Seriously.  Some things lend themselves to bike transport more than others.  First, you've got a weight limit.  I've had ~200 lbs on my wee trailer, but that's getting to it's hairy edge for capacity.  When towing upwards of 100 lbs, everything needs to be perfectly balanced.  Now some trailers are designed with heavier duty hitches and frames.  Our illustrious Interstatement has one of these monsters - and that officially gets you up to 300 lbs, unless you blow an o-ring.  Interstatement's heavy duty Bikes at Work trailer was utilized to move my full size sleeper sofa.

There are also structural considerations when moving a load using a bicycle rack or trailer.  Big floppy stuff is hard to move.  Rigid things that can be stacked or non-rigid things that can be stuffed into Rubbermaid bins (see photo below) that then can be stacked are much easier to secure.  A fist full of bungee cords combined with one or two non-stretch load straps are usually enough to tie down a load.  I've carried loads on my small bike trailer that wouldn't fit into a typical SUV or your typical car trunk.  I grin smugly at passing, empty, single occupant SUV's when transporting large items with my bicycle.  Ha!

Here are some photos from my recent bicycle move from East Hartford to downtown Hartford.  Part of the move was with friends, but a good portion was solo trips over a couple of weeks.  A mid-week laden bicycle trailer was even the subject of some security department scrutiny at work.  I guess parking a bike trailer with a bike and bicycle frame strapped to the top could be misinterpreted (or correctly interpreted?) as a threat to Joe Lieberman and the greater military industrial complex.  Bikes Not Bombs, kiddos.

Read more!

Wild Spring Break

When I was in college, I had a job. Actually, I usually had a couple of jobs. So, when spring break came around, I just worked more hours. One time, I went for a hike, but that's pretty much the extent of my fun. Now, I don't have a job. So, this Spring Break I really cut loose M. Jodi Rell-style and had a staycation. I experience all the great things that Connecticut and a small part of Massachusetts have to offer.

I went kayaking:

I went to look at some hawks (six of them, but you can't see any in this picture.):

I went with Johanna to look at Connecticut from Massachusetts (it's off to the right):

I went to Tolland, but no picture is available. I went to Mohegan State Forest and Talbot Wildlife Management area, but no picture is available of that either.

I went to Food Not Bombs and visited the good folks there. I even ended up with the bread with a lot of grains that no one wanted.

I went to Colchester and rode on some secret trails. Since they were secret, I didn't take any pictures.

I also spent way too much timing playing with Strava on my phone getting nuts results of rides. Apparently, I hit 140mph on one. On this ride to the Blowhole, I hit 60!


Regrettably, I lost my favorite mini pump, broke my seat bag and broke the cover of the usb port on my light on the ride were I saw all the hawks. That ride was actually particularly miserable, because there was nasty crunchy snow cover along the Talcott/Penwood ridge. However, but Nite Rider and Jandd promised (Jandd has delivered) replacement parts to honor their warranties.

That's pretty much what I did. Read more!

No love for Jure Robic

Tony did an awesome job organizing the screening of Bicycle Dreams last night at the Wadsworth. I mean, to sell out a theater in Hartford with a movie about a bike race is an unmatched triumph. The movie was ok, I thought it was little boring. Although, considering it was a race in which the leader changed once, maybe the excitement wasn't in the attacks.

Anyway, my gripe with the evening was that no mention was made of poor Jure Robic's death. The guy ends up being the focal point of the movie, because he won in 2005 (year the film was shot). Maybe his was common knowledge in the audience, but I doubt it. The film itself ended up portraying him ok. At first, he was sort of the mechanistic enemy, but he got humanized at the end. Read more!

Detour de Connecticut "Basics" for 2012

To keep everyone informed of their opportunity to harm themselves on this years Detour de Connecticut, this is your heads up that the route for 2012 and other info is now posted on the ride's blog. Click it if you dare.

This is where deflated Mylar balloons go to be revered.

Also, thanks to Brendan for joining me for the last long recon mission yesterday, and for helping cut logs to cleans some of the new trail sections. We've decided to invent the PowerSaw hand saw with built in strain gauge to measure watts.

Read more!

Vote

Some Hartford voters

As part of the beat bike blog's ongoing civic engagement initiative, we're reminding you to go vote again. Today, we've got a Democratic Town Committee election, so if you're a Democrat in Hartford living in any district other than the 1st, it's time to go vote. Of course, there's been redistricting and changes in polling places, so it's really confusing. My polling place changed, but my district did not. Here's a Courant article that I believe correctly lists all the the slates and districts. There was a subsequent article that erroneously states that only three districts have elections, but that's not true. Here's a poorly concocted list of polling places put out by the Registrars' office. If you're still confused, call the Registrars' office at 8607579830.

The DTC wields a lot of power around here and the only check on them is the Working Families Party and occasionally some voters. Town committee elections generally have turn out in the mid-hundreds and these are the people that'll probably pick your state senator or representative. Of all the elections in which you vote counts, this is the one. Read more!

No need to write

Today, it was a ride of commuter bikes for people who don't have a job to which they can commute.

Also, I put the strava app on my phone and I never need to use adjectives to describe a ride again. I like that it gives me crazy top speeds. For instance, the snake bike and I hit 80 mph today! Check it out. Also, I don't like the idea of pausing it, because I want to record every detail, so my metrics include eating a few pieces of pizza and buying a six pack. Tons of watts.

Read more!

On why maybe I should become a NEMBA trail ambassador at the West Hartford Reservoir

I'm not much of technical rider, anybody can attest to that. Heck, I can't even ride backwards. Though like people better than I am, I enjoy a good cut of singletrack of moderate difficulty to ride. I've been riding at the West Hartford Reservoir since I was 11 and have seen trails evolve and mostly devolve and now I think that I have come to an understand of what happens to the poor trails there.

1) A stretch of cool single track comes into existence. The terrain at the Reservoir lends itself to good trails, so the trail might be pretty good.

2) Trails gets more popular, but it's hard. So, cheater lines and trail braids develop. However, sometimes a section was so difficult that a whole cheater trail develops.

3) Trail has become to decimated that it doesn't really have any good lines left and then people start adding stupid stunts to it. Why am I seeing people with chainsaws at the Reservoir now? I guess it's ok for maintenance, but I get the sense they're doing more than just that. Also, why are all these "jumps" so lumpy and misshapen?

I bring this up because there's newish trail that avoided a big mud pit (legitimately avoided it, it was wasn't one of those trail widening dealies). It had this tight hairpin that had a small ledge at the apex. I liked it, because it was difficult. Well, apparently most people who ride it found it too difficult and made this cheater trail that has become vastly more popular than the original trail. I tried blocking off the cheater line once, but my blocking was moved away.

There is one case where the trail degradation has helped. Someone attempted to make some bike park-esque thing off the the rt. 44 lot. It was terrible, all the "stunts" were really poorly constructed, to the point that they'd fall apart when ridden. The trail avoids them now for the most part. I guess it beats riding on the levee, but just barely.

Read more!

Manitoba Part I

I've missed the woods.
It's not that I haven't been there. I have ventured into the woods and trails many a time over the past couple of years, most often on the cargo bike in the course of a necessary or whim-based route change, but I hadn't set out to specifically go riding a bike in the woods for ages until this February.

The recent E2L1 was my first time in a long time that I used a mountain bike for something resembling mountain biking. The bike, in this case, is a 1998 Nishiki Manitoba I had bought off of Salem before he went traveling. It was never a particularly high-end machine, but I like the frame for a few reasons.

1) Weird pedigree: It's a Japanese-branded chromoly frame, named after a Canadian Province and made in the USA.
2) Weird geometry: The frame is labeled 18", though it measures 17.5" max to the top of the seat tube and 15.5" C-C. It has a longish top tube compared to that-- 21" or 22+", depending on how you measure it. It's well suited to my own short-legged, torso-rich geometry. Anyway, it's sturdy, it's handy, and I like it but for one minor quibble:

I kind of hated riding it.

Here's the thing. I had picked it up a couple of years ago and did nothing to it beyond a quick pedal around the driveway to determine that it was due for a major overhaul. I set it aside and it sat, untouched, until the morning of the aforementioned Eel ride. I fished it out of a pile and went through it just long enough for a perfunctory tire inflation (they held air), brake check (they showed significant potential to reduce speed) seat swap (the supplied post was too short to raise to my height) and chain check (thoroughly worn out).

I figured I would just run what I brung for the Eel and deal with sprucing up the bike some other day. That was a reasonable plan but for the constantly skipping chain, clunky shifts, barely adequate brakes and painful saddle that increasingly detracted from what was an otherwise enjoyable ride. That said, I did like the way it handled in the woods and see potential for a nice low-budget trail machine. I'm not going to ride it again in its current state, but I will ride it again. It's worthy of a makeover. More on that soon.

Read more!

Drive train havoc

It's like the world is conspiring to turn me into one of those singlespeed evangelists. Just when I think I've fixed everything on one of my geared bikes, some other part of the drive train starts acting up.  In a race a few years ago, I knocked the rear derailleur of my Kona against a rock. The derailleur was bent beyond repair, but the hanger seemed ok. It probably wasn't though, because the shifting was always just a little off since. Finally, due to breaking the hanging last week on my other bike, I decided to go hanger buying crazy and get one for the Kona, too. It seemed to help, but a new problem of a worn out middle chain ring obviated any trouble free pedaling. Why would a new hanger make the problem of a worn out chain ring suddenly appear? That doesn't make any sense! I guess I also degreased the chain. Perhaps that's the problem.

Should I switch to a 1x9? Then I can replace the whole mess up front with a nice stainless right. Read more!

Sunday liquor sales

Apparently, after hundreds of years of oppression, we may be able to buy liquor on Sundays by the end of the year. See here. I'm not much of an expert on public policy, but I think this is a net positive for everyone. Tax revenue will go up and cyclists have less a chance getting run over between 7:30 and 8:45 on Saturday evenings (knock on wood). Additionally, poor planners like me won't have to worry on Saturday afternoon if there'll be enough Miller Lite in the fridge after a ride on Sunday.

Also, it's another blow to WASPy, puritanical hegemony of our lives. Maybe if we had alternated between Saturday and Sunday closures every other week to switch between shabbat and sabbath, it'd be a little more fair. Maybe someone should have made a 1st amendment claim about Sunday liquor sales.

Read more!

Too much time outside: get a cold

I had the slipping freewheel ride on Friday,the lunch with parents and Johanna ride yesterday, and the Ragged Mountain stroll today with Johanna. A combination of the snow on Friday and yesterday seems to have given me a cold. I guess I should have worn a jacket. Read more!

Vinegar shopping

 

Two inches of wet gross snow fell last night. I didn't want to let that deter me from having fun. So, I put a freewheel on my Colnago because I keep hitting my toes on the fender when turning with it fixed. I figured if I didn't have to pedal through tight corners, it wouldn't be a problem any more. I had a new 17t Dicta freewheel lying around, so I Romney'd (it's a flip flop hub, get it!!?) the wheel and rode off with the power of coasting. Things were going ok, but the steady drizzle and mid 30's made me abandon my original plan of riding out to that Arm and Hammer place in Collinsville for a beer. I was riding through Fisher Meadows in Avon, when suddenly the freewheel started slipping. At first I thought I broke the chain, but the chain looked just fine. I thought maybe it was a fluke, but every time go out of the saddle, it'd slip all the way through the down stroke. I flipped the wheel back over and went home fixed. Actually, I stopped to buy vinegar. I thought one usually started fixed, got tired and switch to free. I guess it's opposite day.

Speaking of opposite day, if your back up lights were messed up, maybe you'd try to avoid excessive driving in reverse, but not everyone feels that way. Coming up Ansonia just now, I watched a guy back a block and a half down the street on the wrong side of the road with his back up lights not working. He did have his hazards on, but still. Why not just do a u-turn?

Read more!

Damn log

As if singlespeeders needed another reason to feel superior, this happened to me today:

Luckily, that's a very popular Specialized derailleur hanger. Unlike last time I did this, it appears I broke the derailleur, too. I broke the old Dura Ace derailleur on my technium in the fall and bent the hanger (steel frame) and I still have got around to realigning the frame. Anybody want to let me borrow their alignment tool?

I have a replacement old XTR derailleur and a replacement old Dura Ace, but they're getting harder and harder to find. I need to be more careful.

Like this beaver:

Read more!

It's on!

For those fortunate enough to miss past inceptions of the Detour de CT, 2012 offers you another chance to end your lucky streak. But, now it's time to do your part to vote early and often for this year's date (late April/early May) at the super official ride website. Read more!

Chill Will and haircuts

If you've ever met Chill Will or me, you know that we're not haircut people. So, you can imagine my surprise when I went to get a haircut today at Degra's (home of the business man special) and the guy who cut my hair knows Chill Will. He even had a beat bike blog sticker at his spot. They do have a bike rack out front, perhaps that explains it. To boot, Mike, even mountain bikes. Read more!

You likem red light cameras?

February 16th State House event to support Intersection Safety Cameras legislation

What: Press conference to build support for red light safety camera enabling legislation.

Please attend to show your support for this important public safety legislation.

Who:
- Legislative champions Mayor Scott Jackson, Hamden Garry Lapidus, Physician's Assistant, Director of the Injury Prevention Center at Connecticut Children's Medical Center
- Christine Buhler, Brain Injury Association of Connecticut
- Ryan Lynch, Policy Director, Tri-State Transportation Campaign

When: Thursday, February 16th at 11:00am

Where: Legislative Office Building, Room 2D, 300 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT Contact: Please RSVP to Chris Hunter, 401-487-7771, chunter@advocacysolutionsllc.com

Read more!

Stealing my bike

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, so I had to buy romantic dinner ingredients at Whole Foods in West Hartford. Stop Shop just isn't romantic enough. I rode over from school, locked up my bike, shopped, loaded up my panniers and attempted to unlock my bike. It didn't want to do it. I tried very gingerly for a few minutes, but ended up snapping the key. I wrestled with it for a few minutes and took the lock partially apart, but I still couldn't get it to turn. Eventually, another person rolled up to the bike rack and offered to ask at the service desk for pliers. Apparently, Whole Foods doesn't have pliers. However, this nice guy had a swiss army knife. He lent to me when he went inside to shop and I was able to take the lock apart with the can opener. While I'm a little surprised that I was able to defeat my lock with a can opener, in a slight germane way I'm grateful to the fellow bike shopper for use of his swiss army knife. I dropped in his pannier and left. Hopefully, he found it and didn't think I stole his knife.

Sadly, Johanna's French snake lock that I destroyed is no longer manufactured. :( Read more!

Disc brakes on 'cross bikes and head injuries

Many are opposed and many are for disc brakes on 'cross bikes. I've ridden a 29er with discs, so I'm assuming it's the same thing: overkill. I guess I actually own that 29er, I don't just ride randomly one. I've never really had much a problem dragging the brakes after riding through gunk, except on like two occasions. Once, in a race a few years ago, I had frozen stuff on my rims and I tried to brake going into a corner and nothing happened. I careened into some trees and lost a position. Yesterday, I was riding on this sort of boardwalky thing: little sections of planks with gaps in between the sections. It was kinda technical and there was mud in between two of them. Since it was technical, there wasn't a lot for room for the brake dragging, so I had to use the brakes instead of dragging them before I used them. Needless to say, they didn't work so hot, I went off the boardwalk and landed on my head.

So, frozen mud and technical 'cross bike riding seems to be the application of disc 'cross bikes.

Also, the title of this post is sort of misleading because I didn't actually hurt my head. My neck was a little sore, though, but now it's better. Read more!

E2L1

Despite the terrible snow storm yesterday, six intrepid men with facial hair, five with old mountain bikes, four who have at one time written for the beat bike blog, three with twitter accounts, two without cantilever brakes and one with a pea coat (21 people, by my math!) set off into the bowels of Hartford. I can't go into too much about the route, because I have no idea where we went. However, I know that it involved Olive St. and the geologically significant sand dunes near the go-kart track in Keney Park. I don't know why you didn't come.



Additionally, if you've ever wondered why we call it "the eel," here's why. Read more!

Eel: undeterred

You may have heard that it is going to snow tomorrow. That will make the ride more fun.

10am Hyland Park on Fairfield Ave. Email me if you've got any questions. Read more!

It's the Culture, Stupid

"If I run into you, and you're on a bike, you're dead. My truck, we'll just bounce"

Laughter.

"They're so stupid. Why do they think they get to be up against cars."

More laughter.

That brilliant, mature, and sensitive exchange came direct from the mouths of Generation Y. The best and the brightest. The ones who are allegedly going to take the reins and lead the country.

I heard this conversation on Wednesday. Cringed. Made a conscious decision to not leave my office to interrupt and preach law at them. I bit my tongue, hoping they were not as assholish as they seemed.

After all, this generation is marked by the myriad and mirrored hall of self-representation. Their identities never static, never 100% honest.

Is there an app for curing stupid?

I stewed and went about my day.

Then yesterday, as I woke up, before I even got out of bed, I read about a time when those in a car did not just bounce. I saw photographs of a horrific one-car crash a few blocks from my house. The car's roof had to be removed in an attempt to remove the victims. The passenger died.

If someone so much as hears about a person getting mugged on Allen Place, he will avoid that area. But the Almighty Automobile? We have come to view accidents as an acceptable risk if it means a trip to the grocery store takes five minutes instead of twenty.

Later yesterday, sitting in the same office, I read that a cyclist was struck in Hartford.

Another.

Hit hard enough that he required CPR.

The photograph on news sites shows his belongings strewn all over the street.

The news, they don't even know how to deal with this kind of incident. The victim is at once described as a cyclist and a pedestrian. There is no rush to describe him. Most articles do not even try, giving no indication of sex, age, or race. The one that bothers to: male, somewhere between childhood and AARP.

One report states the driver stayed at the accident scene. Others don't say this. One comment suggests the driver's license may have been suspended.

The way our culture regards people using transportation outside of privately-owned vehicles indicates that we are all in critical condition.

Recklessness behind the wheel receives such a light slap on the wrist that one could believe no consequences could ever come for one's crimes. Motorists could slow down. They could stop. They could look where they are going. Really look. They could scan the roadway for objects beside other motorized vehicles.

They could think before they act.

Last night, for reasons unrelated to the car vs. cyclist accident, there was a large DUI enforcement checkpoint set up on Asylum Street. Even with ample media coverage of this, several individuals were arrested there.

They were especially warned to think about their actions, and several were still unable to put the safety of others ahead of themselves.

Of the three arrested for driving under the influence -- including one who had been driving with a suspended license -- what are the odds that all will be back behind the wheel within months, if not immediately?

Our culture fosters this mentality that if we can afford a vehicle, then we are entitled to drive. And to take that "right" away, we have to repeatedly and brazenly fuck up.

That's the message sent to those on foot or on bike: You have no rights. No recourse. Me in this car? I'll just bounce. No permanent damage. Read more!

Followed me home, can I keep it?

Oops, I did it again, brought another bike home. The real irony here is that I did it to pare down the number of bikes I have. Hear me out, the idea is to figure which of my various bike functions, presently served by multiple bikes, can instead be performed by a single steed. That means finding more generalist bikes that blur the lines of my current specialists. See, more is less.

Two insestual Treks in the backyard

(in case you're curious, it's a front hub lashed to the rear rack for a mount)

(in case you want to try it, be sure to pad the towed fork blades, fork geometry created by the raised front end makes for a very floppy bike which can hit the rack)

So, today a 1995 Trek 930 made the trip from Enfield to find a new home in Manchester. The plan is a drop bar conversion that will have this bike replacing my rugged road bike and touring bike. As an added bonus, two Asian frames are being replaced by one of US forged steel that was TIG welded and delivered to the bike shop duty-free. I'm not particularly nationalistic and I'm far from xenophobic, but I do like the idea of cutting down on the number of metal molecules shipped back and forth across the Pacific Ocean.

Any bike that say "OX" on it has to be good!

Read more!

Do-Over

For the second Tuesday in a row, we had another unseason- ably warm weather forecast, so I went ahead and followed the basic formula that had worked so well the previous week. Once again, I rode the Yuba something a bit shy of 30 miles, passed farms, got very hungry, consumed a lot of eggplant grinder, headed home, and finally got around to publishing a post about it one week later.


This go-around was more refined in nearly every way:
-This was a more thoroughly planned trip/route*- I was tabling for Bike Walk Connecticut's bike education programs at an all-day event in Cromwell. Their tabletop display fits nicely on the cargo bike, which made packing easy.
-More farm animals and equipment- There were goats, ducks, geese, chickens, and vintage tractors to be seen along the way.
-Superior eggplant grinder- my return through the South End made for a well-timed stop at my favorite grinder shop. So very good.

This was my first ride through Wethersfield on the packed gravel surface of the Heritage Way Bike Trail since last September. It was definitely more muddy and rutted this time around, but still passable on semi-slick tires. A good freeze would fix the mud issue in a jiffy, but who knows when that will happen? As nice as these rides have been, I'm finding these warm temps disturbing.


*which is not to say that thorough planning is necessarily better, just that it is more refined. Read more!