A man and his rocks

Editor's note: I have always been a big fan of Stone Field Sculpture. Some of my earliest memories of Hartford are of me climbing up the rocks. For the 30th anniversary of the piece in 2007, I founded the "Friends of Stone Field Sculpture" and had a picnic there. When iQuilt was planning on turning the rocks into some sort of stupid water feature, I got back in touch with Carl's wife to prevent foutainification of my favorite piece of public art in Hartford. Dario shares an affinity for Stone Field Sculpture and wrote this:

Leaning on my bike in the shade on a beautiful warm spring afternoon, gazing at the rock sculpture on the long isosceles triangle of a lawn in downtown Hartford, I realized actually how beautiful the scene was. Carl Andre's 1977 controversial sculpture of eight rows of boulders (the first at the tip of the triangle has only one; the second, two; the eighth which runs parallel to Main St. has eight, for a total of thirty-six) has aged very well. Rocks do that. The seasons pass and the rocks slightly weathered by time develop a patina. They are of basalt and gneiss, two types of rock easily found in this region. Since its creation, the "Stone Field Sculpture" has been a source of controversy. "It's just a bunch of rocks. That's not art! Anyone can do that!", decried many at the time and over the years. The City of Hartford even tried, unsuccessfully, to recoup the $87K it had paid the artist (not with taxpayer funds, by the way). The rocks have become part of the urban landscape, the sculpture is appropriate to the strip of no-man's land between Main St. and Gold (a short, winding street) and the city's oldest and most historic cemetery. The artist, Carl Andre, now in his mid-70's, is one of the fathers of Minimalist art. He is featured in a NY Times article (May 7, 2014) about the upcoming exhibition, a retrospective of his work, at DIA in Beacon Falls, NY. Andre is known for his use of local, simple, natural, but also industrial, materials and for arranging them in simple and suggestive forms. He is "exacting" in the materials' disposition. 

Prompted by the article and short video about the exhibition, I rode my bike from campus, down Vernon St., across the Learning Corridor, down Retreat Ave., through the Hartford Hospital campus, down Park, left onto Wadsworth St., across Bushnell Park, to the field of stones. And what did I see there besides a bunch of rocks? I saw something magical and quite beautiful. Buses unloaded students on Gold St. who marched up the sidewalk to catch their transfer on Main. Mothers and children cut through the field of stones, following their more direct desire lines. A heap of clothes and personal belongings was behind one of the boulders in the middle of the sculpture, not a late addition, but a temporary locker for one of the urban denizens. A passerby took a break and sat on the rocks. I wasn't sure myself if I could do so, the field of stones being a work of art and all. And then I realized, what Andre's sculpture does to us: It invites us to inhabit it, to view it as part of a landscape. It's next to a cemetery of headstones and it is a gracious, quiet complement to that historic and human artifact. I've ridden by Stone Field Sculpture on my bike hundreds of times and have always known it was there, but I have never really observed it. Why? Because we just don't look at rocks and because the beauty of the installation is not what it is, but how we interact with it. For many, Andre's minimalist work blurs the line between art and non art, but whatever is beautiful is aesthetic and art is the realm of aesthetics and, for me, Andre's field of stones was beautiful yesterday. I expect it to be so today, too.

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Keney Park really is the best park

Doing my part and fixing the bridge to the Leadership Trail.

I know that it's cool to say that you like Keney Park. It's the edgy one. It's the one that unhip suburbanites say is scary, allowing you to be the cool urban contrarian and say that you go there at night without a care in the world. That's stupid posturing and you sound like you're just pretending to show off your grittiness.

Keney Park doesn't need your liberal defense. Keney Park doesn't even need you! It's you who needs Keney Park.

I was riding through Keney yesterday after a surprisingly difficult secured transaction exam. The trail system is slowly rejuvenating/expanding this spring because of that grant the Friends got and I was exploring some of the newly accessible stuff.

Probably the coolest thing about the park is how big it is. You can be off by yourself in the semi-wildness, but the park can actually be pretty full. There was cricket practice, some guy hitting golf ball at the improvised driving range, several little league games, lots of basketball, people on jungle gyms and just general park-style chilling. What really possessed me to wax poetic about the park began with some rhythmic booming. I was in Keney Waverly when I first heard it. I thought maybe there was a concert going on, which seemed weird because it was a Thursday. I was meandering south and the booming kept going and getting. Eventually when I ended up by the pond, I found the source of the booming. There was a drum line practice happening on the handball courts (Keney has handball courts. I've never figured out what handball is, but it's a big deal in New York. And according to that video, it's a way of life.).  Come on. How cool is that? There's no other park that I can think of anywhere where people can do such different things and everyone gets their own space. You can have a drumline, you can be a fixed gear cyclocross guy, you can be playing chess, you can drink a beer or you can fish. It's the ultimate recreation space. Try doing that at Elizabeth Park. Read more!

AAA considers B's

AAA (the American Automobile Association) has not generally been known as an ally of cyclists. They've lobbied against bike infrastructure, public transportation and more bike friendly laws. However, starting in Portland, OR in 2009 and now migrating into Colorado and Southern New England, they're providing pickups for stranded cyclists. 

This doesn't seem to have an effect upon their lobbying efforts, though there are some scattered reports that AAA supports bike infrastructure as long as it does not involve diverting money from road projects. The catch with the pick for cyclists, though, is that they'll only take you ten miles. If I'm only ten miles from home, do I really need a ride? Although, the base towing with the regular AAA card is only 5 miles. I guess the ten miles is something. It's a 100 miles of towing/year with your car if you have the higher end memberships. It'd be nice if the better membership brought you increased bike pick-up service, too. 

It would be interesting to see if anyone is using this service. Moving a broken car a few hundred feet can be pretty much impossible, but moving a few miles with a broken bike is not too hard. I sort of want to test it out just to see what the service is like and if it really exists.

UPDATE! I confirmed with greater Hartford AAA that the service is available here, too.

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So Much Bike

Bike to Work.  Bicycle skills.  Dinner and Bikes.  The next couple of weeks brings a critical mass of bicycle based activity and I'll be trying not to drown in the sea of spokes and chain rings.  I'm finding myself a bit over programmed, but it's hard to say no to the goodness of non-motorized transportation and what it does for a community, the local economy, and our much maligned planet.  Any way you can chip in to spread the word or volunteer at an event would be much appreciated.

Overflowing bike parking at the Urbana Farmers' Market.

After traveling back to the Midwest last week for vacation, I was reminded how awesome Champaign-Urbana, Illinois is with it's huge bicycle, pedestrian, and transit mode share.  In a small community of approximately 150,000 they support three bustling business districts.  The community has the typical chain mall crap north of the I-74 highway that skirts the northern edge of the city, but you won't see the bike, walk, and transit users spending much time there.  Their dollars get spent locally, and at the weekly Urbana farmers market - that includes local and regional food production.  It is mind shifting to see entire families show up to the market riding bicycles.  Not just that one odd ball, but many families.  On cargo bikes.  With bike trailers.  Using trail-a-bikes.  Some with the little ones riding along on their own separate pixie bikes.  It can happen, and there is no reason this can't become the norm in Hartford.

With that motivating vision in mind, I'll take the space below to remind folks about the fantastic bicycle orgy that is taking place in the next couple weeks.

• Wednesday, May 14th.  6:30-9:00AM.  Bike and Walk to Work Breakfast in East Hartford.  Sponsored by Pratt & Whitney, Goodwin College, American Eagle Federal Credit Union, and the Town of East Hartford.  Right across the street from Pratt & Whitney on Main Street.  Near the Goodwin College Community Garden plots.  We'll have bagels, coffee, fruit, and juice to fuel the rest of your day.  There will also be retro-reflective and very adherent stickers being handed out to participants.  As bicycle commuters we know that visibility is important, both in numbers and in reflectivity. 
• Wednesday, May 14th.  6:00-7:30PM.  Free bicycle safety information session at the Arroyo Recreation Center in Hartford's Pope Park.
• Thursday, May 15th.  Free admission to the Real Art Ways Creative Cocktail Hour if you show up on a bike.
• Friday, May 16th.  Bike to Work in downtown Hartford at the Old State House.  There are 23 total Bike to Work events statewide.  Bike Walk CT is trying to change the norm for Connecticut commuters.  Facebook event invitation - for spreading the word.
• Sunday, May 18th.  Traffic Skills 101 course in Canton in cooperation with Benidorm.  A comprehensive 8 hour course including classroom topics, hazard avoidance drills, and a road ride.  Special note - I plan to brave Rt 44 (Avon Mountain) at the ass crack of dawn on the 18th since I'll be riding over to teach this course.  
• Sunday, June 1st.  A 4 hour course (TS101, Part 1) in Simsbury.  This continues quite a streak of bicycle awesomeness in this Hartford burb.  They are already a Bronze Bicycle Friendly Community, there is a town bike share program, and the Farmington Valley Greenway goes right through town.
• Saturday, June 7th - Dinner and Bikes in Hartford.  Vegan dinner.  Bicycle movie shorts.  A book talk by Elly Blue on Bikenomics.  Facebook event invitation - for spreading the word.

Dinner and Bikes.  Bikes and Dinner.  We'll see you there.

Whew.  I'm worn out, and the week hasn't even started yet.  Keep being awesome and I'll see you on two wheels (or on foot).

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Giant tires

I don't know anything about downhill. I go on pinkbike sometimes, but I can't figure it what those people are talking about. Too many motorcycle helmets, goggles and pushing bikes up hill. I thought you get good at riding a bike to avoid walking. Then again when they jump off cliffs, I'd probably be waking that.

Anyway, a few years ago I bought a pile of tires for $50*. Included were a number of downhill tires that I haven't know what to do with. A lot of them are tubeless, so they're also really hard to mount. However, there's a set of Maxxis Minions that are not tubeless and are 2.5"s. 2.5"s are usually no trouble in the front, but I don't really have a frame with that kind of clearance in the rear. Actually, that's not true. I somehow got it to for my mongoose Alta. I took it or yesterday and now I understand how those downhill guys stick to the trail so well. These things are amazing. Maybe not amazingly fast on pavement, but sure footed beyond what I'm used to.

*Really a pile of tires. Johanna was not happy about this. I've decided to sell some of them and if you want to buy them, they're on ebay.

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Peaceful Hartford

I was in Keney Park this evening meeting with its Friends about the proposed mountain bike trail. It was a very good meeting. We're going to try and walk the proposed trail next week and if goes as planned, maybe it'll come into existence by June. Hooray!

I rode home in the the quasi-direct route through the park, then down Woodland, Gillette, Forest, Laurel, Pope Park and then Hillside, pretty much the backbone of Hartford. Somewhere around Gillette and Farmington, it struck me that it was one of those magical spring evenings when Hartford gets peaceful. All the commuters have gone back to the suburbs and the city quiets down. People are stooping and drinking beers, kids are playing little league, dogs aren't barking, I wasn't gesticulating wildly at cars to get them to stop trying to kill me and even the ATV'ers were driving slow. We only get these evenings when the days get long, but the temperatures aren't yet too hot and they're pretty awesome. These are the times when you reflect fondly about not living in the suburbs.

Also, I saw this crazy bird. There were some people looking at something on the side of the road on Hillside. Turning to look at what it was reveal this large, weird white bird with webbed feet and a bill. It was just standing on the sidewalk like it was waiting for the bus on one leg.

Update! If you're interested in the Keney Park proposal, it is available here and here is a map. Read more!

Bike Education, Cantonese style

Tony and I will be teaching our next Traffic Skills 101 class on Sunday, May 18 in Canton, CT.
Register here! Read more!

A race report, strangely

I haven't raced a mountain bike in awhile. The last time I did that was at the Circumburke. That was a pretty high note, because I won. In fact, it's memorialized on their website in a pretty funny way (I'm lying there because I tweaked my back, not because of exhaustion. I swear!). I really like mountain biking, but back when I was a Cat 2, it sort of sucked: drive to race, ride on mediocre trails for and an hour and fifteen minutes as if it were a 'cross race with some rocks and go home. Circumburke was cool, because that took a long time. Racing for over five hours means you got your money's worth. I upgraded, because I had some good finishes awhile ago, but I hadn't really done anything with it. The entry fees had also gone up, which wasn't particularly attractive. Also, I sort of suck and didn't want that to be further proven by getting my ass kicked by all those fast guys.

But lo! A race that was only $25 and it was on those weird New Haven trails I rode with Marko a few weeks ago. And, I've finally started getting up the gumption to ride a singlespeed bike in public. I should enter that one. So, I did. The start time wasn't too early, but it wasn't too late. It was 20 miles and for $25, that seemed like a reasonable deal.

Preregistering didn't have too many people registered and no more registered day of for singlespeed. It was a field of four. One of whom, Gary Hoehne, I have raced the cyclocross bikes against and two I didn't. One guy was older than me and friendly and the other guy was wearing jorts. I like riding in jorts, but not when it's so muddy.

The start was on payment and we were spinning at our crazy maximum speed of ~17mph right quick and then dropped into the woods. I was in second, but all four of us were tightly packed until the little ascent, where I took the lead. Then we crossed a road and there was some more ascending, but there was also a bog, so there was some walking for a minute, then back on the bike whereupon it turned into stone steps and then there was a guardrail where people were helping lift your bike over said guard rail. Afterwards, there was a climb on the road for like a half mile, then a little bit of rocky single track to climb and finally a this nuts rocky, steep descent. I think it dropped like 400 ft in a tenth of mile. The rest of the course was mostly gravel paths with another rocky single track section that had one mildly steep ascent that caused me to drop a chain on laps 1 and 3. On lap 1, I got passed by the guy who was older than me and friendly. I didn't realize that it was him at the time and thought it was the leader of the 50+. So, when I caught him at the beginning of the second lap, I was all confused and he said that he passed me when I dropped my chain. Then I felt really bad for having sort of accused him of cutting course.

He never caught me again and I kept on doing my thing. The course deteriorated and so did I and I ended up walking a few more steeps than I would have liked on lap three (well, really just one more than the previous laps).

So, that was that. It was a good race and I was really impressed that the New Haven parks and rec people came out and opened up their facilities for us: two hoses, a bathroom and a little spot for me to stash my messenger bag (I parked really far away) in the nature house.

Apparently, CT singlespeeders haven't been doing great this year, because winning one race also made me state champ. I wish I could do Winsted Woods, but I have law school graduation that day. Stupid law school ruining my life some more.

Photos stolen from the Root 66 facebook page and taken by Geno Esponda.

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Bro'd Rage: My ugly encounter with a dangerous young driver. PART III- Brospotting, follow up, and support

This is the truck.

Only 1 of 4 wheels remain on the driveway, so your highest possible grade would be 25%. You definitely failed, dude.

Whilst traversing campus on my Wednesday lunch break, I caught a glimpse of a familiar sight: the nose of a green Toyota Tundra with New Jersey plates. It was driverless and parked this time around, thus thankfully not split seconds from hitting me head-on, so I walked over to have a look. It was clear that: 1) This was definitely the truck from last Friday's run-in. and 2) It had been parked by a person severely deficient in the finer points of parallel parking. The truck was where the people are supposed to go.

What? No truck nuts?

As I made my way around the truck to snap a few pictures, a young man approached and got into the driver seat. In our short, seconds-long conversation, he said it was his truck, that he was not on campus on Friday, and that his roommates borrow the truck. It's not my job to grill the guy, but I recommended that he get in touch and cooperate with Campus Safety and the Hartford Police ASAP. He seemed genuinely surprised to hear of the Friday incident. If I give the benefit of the doubt that this is true, then that means that the college administration had not contacted him five days after the incident. If it's not true, he's an accomplished liar. Either way, somebody's BSing me, and I don't appreciate that one bit.

Schleppi said this photo looked like a "TMZ shot"

 In the meantime, I had gotten nothing meaningful in the manner of updates as to progress being made by Campus Safety and the Dean of Students office. Either nothing was happening, or I was not being updated in a timely fashion. I got a few more updates and clarifications on Friday, but only after I had sent out a rather exasperated Thursday afternoon email that pulled no punches. Not long after my Bro-spotting lunchbreak, I did receive an invitation to speak with the Campus Life office, which I will do early this coming week.

As much of a drag and a timesuck as this incident has been over the past week, it has brought out the best in a lot of people. A number of Trinity staff and faculty approached me with encouraging words and, fairly often, a personal story of a student whose misdeeds went unpunished. Trinity Professor Jack Dougherty composed and circulated a letter of support which was co-signed by Dario and other bike riding Trinity faculty and staff members. All of the above lifted my spirits and reminded me that I work with some truly excellent people (and that they are by no means in short supply.) I still believe that positive outcomes and change can come from this ugly encounter.

My work week ended on a high note. The weather was beautiful, the day was full of unexpected delights, like a dogs and (Tastease!) donuts gathering on a nearby quadrangle late in the morning, an impromptu Spanish guitar and percussion jam outside of the Austin Arts Center, and a successful opening at the Broad Street Gallery. This Saturday Hartford will be filled with Samba, films, friends, and one of the best parties for one of the shortest sporting events of the year. In between that, I have some bikes to repair and ride. It will be nice to get back to that.

Lucy in the Quad With Donuts

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Bro'd Rage: My ugly encounter with a dangerous young driver. PART II- making contact

In Bro'd Rage Part I, I left off with my trip to Hartford Police Department HQ to file a report. I later sat down and wrote a detailed description of the incident, a version of which became yesterday's post, and more detailed, names-naming version of which I emailed to a selection of HPD and College officials first thing on Monday.  On that morning's commute, I had noticed a few security cameras along Summit Street where the  took place, so I asked to see the archived camera footage for the appropriate time period.

If Big Brother is watching, he oughta help a small brother out once in a while, amiright?

I heard back from both Campus Safety and an HPD officer the same day. I visited CS headquarters and saw footage of the Green Toyota Tundra turning right from a campus parking lot and heading northbound on the wrong side of the street. It then disappears from camera view, followed a few seconds later by me pedaling southbound. Less than a minute later, the Tundra reappears, heading southbound at a high rate of speed. A different camera captured the moments where the truck pulls up even with, then in front of me, its brake lights ablaze as I veer toward the left. This not only validated my report, it actually made things look a bit worse than I had thought. I was told they would share this with the HPD and with the Dean of Students Office for review.

This was encouraging, not only because it seemed like Campus Safety was being much more proactive and transparent than before, but also because this was verifiable proof of my account of the incident. In addition, it occurred to me that this video would be great to incorporate into the next Traffic Skills 101 class I'm co-teaching with Tony. I asked for a copy of the video, but was told (not at all surprisingly), "...it's the policy of the institution to only release our reports and video to the administration."
So much for transparency.

Later on Tuesday, I took a look at The Trinity Campus Safety Daily Crime Log for the Friday of the incident, which was posted sometime Tuesday afternoon. This above screen shot, taken at that time, shows my disappointing discovery. There is no mention of this incident, despite my having reported it to Campus Safety and followed up with them multiple times since then. It appears that I am officially less important than two computer monitors and a cell phone. My brief flirtation with optimism for the college's administration's response was fading away rapidly.

More developments as they come in Bro'd Rage Part III
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Bro'd Rage! My ugly encounter with a dangerous young driver. PART I - The Incident

The Trinity Admissions Gate: area of my initial encounter with the wrong-way driver.

Last Friday morning, I was commuting to my job at Trinity College here in Hartford, riding my Yuba southbound along Summit Street as usual. Suddenly, I was startled to see that a dark green Toyota pickup truck had completely crossed the double yellow line and was heading northbound, directly at me, in my southbound lane. I yelled, "YO!!!" as loudly as I could to alert the driver of the truck whilst swerving to avoid a head-on collision. Collision avoided, I continued southbound on Summit, a good sight more shaken and annoyed than I had been moments earlier.

Trinity's Hamlin and Mather Halls overlook the scene of the verbal abuse and brake-check

I continued southbound toward the south side of campus and my office. Just south of the College Terrace intersection, I was startled anew to see the pickup roar up by my left side. The driver of the truck, a white male around 20, shook his middle finger and screamed obscenities (unintelligible but for the many F-Bombs) before pulling ahead of me, swerving toward the right and slamming on the brakes. I veered left, avoiding another potential collision, pedaled hard and caught up enough to get the license plate number and a better look at the truck. Having apparently turned around specifically to harass and threaten me with the truck, the enraged bro sped off heading southbound.

I immediately called the Hartford Police Department to report this incident upon arriving at my office. An HPD officer meet me a bit later at Trinity's Broad Street Gallery, where Studio Arts majors' Senior Thesis shows were being critiqued (I work in the art department). I stepped out of the Gallery and gave him my account of the incident. At this time, a Campus Safety officer was driving by on Broad Street, and the HPD officer motioned him over. He parked and joined us, I repeated my story and description, and shortly thereafter rejoined my colleagues in the gallery so as not to miss any more of the critiques. Both officers seemed friendly and efficient.

I called Campus Safety after lunch to follow up on the case and was told that HPD did not file a report, opting instead to let Campus Safety "handle it" based on the truck's description (NJ plates and a Trinity decal) making it likely the truck's driver was a student. The CS officer I had originally spoken with said that the truck had not been registered with the college (which is required), so they didn't know whose it was.

I was outraged. It was pretty clear to me at this point that this case would go nowhere if I didn't pursue the matter. My report of a Class D Felony was poised to go nowhere fast, and there aren't enough "Oh, Hell No"s in the world to describe how willing I was to accept that. Unfortunately, I had a wake to attend on Friday afternoon (this was kind of a lousy day), so I was unable to follow up until the weekend.

On Sunday afternoon, I spoke with an officer at the Hartford Public Safety complex on High Street and filed a report. Now I had a case number and a List of things to do first thing on Monday. I let you know how that went soon in Bro'd Rage Part II

NOTES:
This incident took place at approximately 9:45 AM on Summit Street in Hartford.
Dark Green Toyota Tundra extended cab pickup truck with a Trinity College decal on the rear window of the cab. White male driver, approx. 20 Y.O. New Jersey registration M91-CXN 
If you have any information to share, call the Hartford Police Department and reference Case# 14-13179

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Keney Park Mountain Biking

I'm glad "mountain", "biking", "Keney" and "Park" don't have any s's in them, because I just went to the dentist and the tip of my tongue is numb. I'm going to have to say those words a bunch tonight because I'm* delivering a presentation to the City's Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission about putting a mountain bike trail in Keney Park. I don't mean like a walking path that you can ride a bike on, but a curvy and twisty thing that's funny to ride a bike on. As you know, this is something I've want to have happen for a long time and kizmet between people interested in expanding the trail network at Keney (Friends of Keney) and people wanting to expand mountain biking (Jon Tarbox) both talked to me around the same time. I'm really excited to start raking things with Jon. When I organized that 'cross race five years ago, he was awesome, so this should be equally awesome.

I'll keep you posted about what sorts of things you can do to help.

*Actually, it's a we. Jon emailed me to say that he'll be able to make it tonight. Read more!

I have no idea how suspension forks work

I have this bike that I don't talk about very much. It is a Kona Kula Deluxe from 2006. I bought it in like 2009 (2010?) and I rode it for awhile, but after this race in Massachusetts that had a section with 3' of standing water, it didn't work well for awhile. I've finally fixed most of it. For some reason, I decided to replace the suspension fork. I don't know that much about those things, but I decided to upgrade the Fox Vanilla R to an F32 Float 120 or some such thing. I bought it on ebay and it said it had 100mm of travel, but it's got way more than that. It's actually pretty awesome once set up correctly for going fast downhill. However, it raised the front end and I seem to have no braking power on loose terrain. The raised front end makes it hard to climb steep stuff (keep popping wheelies) and the lack of braking makes it hard to stop. I also go downhill a lot faster with the suspension fork thingy, so I'd hope for more stopping power, not less. Lower my bars? Is that all I need to do? Fox makes a shorter travel-ma-jiggy, but it costs money. What advice do you have? Read more!

Detritus

I was looking at twitter this morning and saw this bizarre promoted tweet from REI. Why are all these clothes in the bike lane? What does this mean? I'm usually annoyed when a bike lane is full of junk. I don't stop, inspect it and then buy it.

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Let's have Earth Day, but not tell Anyone

Mark Twain knew how to stir up his audience

Has anyone heard about the Earth Day event going on at Hartford's Riverfront Plaza next Sunday, April 27th?  Someone sent me an email about it last week.  I'm glad they gave me a personal heads up, but that isn't going to do much to bring in attendees.  It was also confusing to me that an environmental event in Hartford hadn't reached out to Bike Walk Connecticut, CT Rides, or CT Transit - especially if one of the themes is sustainable transportation.  For example, Bike Walk Connecticut is planning for the May Bike to Work events right now.  I'm personally involved in the Wednesday, May 14th event in East Hartford.  East Hartford is going all "big tent" and calling it a Bike and Walk to Work Breakfast.

It drives me bonkers how poorly many events are publicized in Hartford.  It doesn't have to be that way, and it's not that difficult to do an adequate job.  If you're going to spend the time organizing the actual content of an event, please put aside the time (and a little budget) for the outreach and publicity.  There are so many amazing events and shows in Hartford that have an imperceptible audience.  If a show is lacking publicity and attendance suffers, you're doing a disservice to yourself as the organizer.  It hurts a lot (I know) when you spend days and weeks planning an event, and then only a handful of attendees show up.

This past Saturday I stopped by Charter Oak Cultural Center for live ukulele and dance as part of the severely under publicized  Hartford New Music Festival.  There were maybe six people in the entire auditorium.  I made it a point to attend after catching one mention of the event via FaceBook.  Deborah Goffe was performing, and I hadn't seen her dance yet. Deborah and Kevin Hufnagel put on a splendid performance for the intimate audience.  I didn't know a ukulele could do that, and Deborah accompanied with much strength and grace.  There is another concert next weekend, and you should follow the link to get more information.

Such that we don't continue this pattern of well performed, but under attended shows I'd like to offer some basic tips.  Remember.  I am not an event planning professional.  This is common sense.  You have it.  Use it.  And you don't have to be the organizer to make these things happen.  Bit players and volunteers working with an event can help to bring the outreach and publicity home.  If you don't see it happening, it probably isn't - and that is your cue to chip in.

• When picking the date and time for your event spend at least 15 minutes thinking about conflicts and your target audience.  Google the date to make sure there aren't other events that would draw your same crowd.  Consider which nights and times seem to work for events like the one you're planning.  For example, don't schedule the same day and time as the Wadsworth First Thursday or RAW Creative Cocktail Hour if you are targeting Hartford's arts crowd.
• Plan your event far enough in advance that you have time to announce the date and do appropriate publicity.  I like to target having enough detail wrapped up at least a month in advance for small events.  For big stuff you might need 3-4 months, and really big stuff with major sponsors I would recommend almost a full year in advance to catch their funding cycles.
• Do the cheap and easy stuff first.  Facebook event.  Post it to the various local media outlets.  CTnow.com.  Hartford.com.  LetsGoArts.  RealHartford.org. Write your own blog post.  Put links to the event page or FB event on your page and other related FB groups that you belong to.  Ask your friends to share the link.  Ask folks that have said they are going to attend to share the link.  
• If you know of organizations that have a similar mission or individuals that have a lot of connections.  Send them an email with the event blurb and link.  Ask them to share the information via their email list, blog, or Facebook.  Reach out beyond your immediate circle of contacts.
• Posters.  Yeah.  Posters are nice, but they take time and money.  First make sure you get the electronic posters up on blog posts and FB Events.  If you have the time and money, spread printed posters around at locations and businesses where folks will see them and the event will be reinforced. 
• Hit them.  And hit them again.  Unless they are Superfans, you need to touch them multiple times before they pull the trigger and buy a ticket or put the event on their calendar.  Just because you sent out that link on FB once doesn't mean that folks are going to magically show up.  It only takes a couple minutes to re-invite, send out event reminders, and update that FB event page with a teaser update.  
• Sell discounted tickets ahead of time.  If you're coordinating a larger event, pre-sale tickets will guarantee a bit of income to offset expenses while also increasing buzz.  You can ask those that purchased tickets ahead to spread the word to friends, and they are now part of the publicity network.  

That's all I've got for now.  Please get better at publicity Hartford-ites.  We've got so much going on and it's a shame not to tell folks.  Hartford does "Have It", so let's not be shy about spreading the word.  Mark Twain knew how important publicity was, and we do too.

Note:  This post has very little to do with bikes.  Well aside from my event organizing associated with bike-type events.  I'm creating a new blog called - In Hartford We're All Famous Together.  I'll use that blog venue for posting non-bike related musings on Hartford. 

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Inland sea

The Connecticut River is supposed to crest tonight in Hartford and I am beset with writer's block for this paper I'm supposed to write about water police, so I took to the floodplains this afternoon to see what I could see. There is a lot of water. It looks like this is the most flooding that we've had since Irene. Looking at all that water has not made want to write about California water law enforcement anymore, though I did think about it a lot while staying at the Rocky Hill ferry.

 

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Rain feet

It's raining today and in copious amounts. I have a rain coat and I have fenders, but that doesn't prevent my shoes, then socks and then feet from getting wet. I hate spending a day with wet shoes and socks. I have some giant muck boots, but they're awfully huge.

So, I had an epiphany this morning: I'll forgo socks altogether and ride in flip flops. They dry quickly and allow my feet to try quickly. This plan may not work all year or in situations where flip flops are a tad informal. Also, I did end up slightly more of Hartford's road grit between my toes than I would typically like.

I know Grant Petersen rides in knock-off Crocs, but I still have some self-respect, so I don't do that. Read more!

Interesting new ways to make yourself tired

Hiking is fun and so is cycling. Generally, though, the hike a bike is not something the people seek out. It's good for character building, but you try to avoid routes where you spend an hour carrying your bike your shoulder. I did this once and was proud to say that I did, but I'm not jumping at the chance to do it again. Hiking is best done without a vestigial bicycle.

What I do recommend is riding to a hike and then locking up your bike. You get to spend maximum time outside and it discourages going too fast: you don't want to ride too hard so that you have energy to hike and you don't want to hike too far so that you can ride home. I did this yesterday wherein I rode over to Ragged Mountain, met some friends and went for a hike and then rode home. Originally, I was going to get a ride home, but apparently everyone thought I was super tough and didn't bring a bike rack. This probably doesn't work if you're planning to go hike Mount Adams or something starting from Connecticut in a day. It does work, though, if you want to go to Ragged Mountain or Heublein Tower or something more low key.

It's sort of the same principle as riding your bike to go fishing.

Ragged mountain is mostly not all that great for mountain biking. Would anyone want to ride on this? There are a couple of interesting sections of singletrack off in the unpopular part of the Reserve over by the powerlines. 

I was lying on this rock for a half hour yesterday looking at the trees and contemplating my trivial existence.

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Garage Bikes Join the Fray

The Hockanum Trail is still a bit wet.

This past weekend was an explosion of cyclists getting back out on the road after a long winter hibernating.  I can't imagine the torture of riding on a trainer or running on a treadmill, so I'm of the always outdoors variety.  Welcome back delicate garage bicycles and their riders.  We missed you.

I wanted to share a couple of upcoming events with you such that you aren't caught unaware and flat footed:

• Saturday, April 26th.  Hartford Bicycle Studio Pop-up show.  One night only.  7PM at 30 Arbor Street.  Local artists and functional art bikes.  Patrick Connolly puts his spin on the Hartford bike scene.  Facebook event with more info.
• Detour de Connecticut - Saturday, April 26th.  Brendan already told you about this.  If you do the Detour and then go to the art show, I will will buy you a beer.  And then I'll scrape you up off the floor.
• Bike to Work Events - Various dates in mid-May.
• East Hartford Bike and Walk to Work Breakfast.  Wednesday, May 14th.  6:30AM-9:00AM.  On Main Street between Pratt & Whitney and Goodwin College.  Free breakfast and other bike safety items for attendees.
• Downtown Hartford Bike to Work Breakfast.  Friday, May 16th.  Meet at the Old State House between 7AM-9AM.
• Other events across will be announced by Bike Walk Connecticut.  Register your own town's Bike to Work event here.
• Bike Buddies and Meet ups help get new bicycle commuters started.  Stay tuned to Bike Walk CT for more information on those, or offer to lead in a group yourself.
• Dinner and Bikes.  Saturday, June 7th.  Vegan dinner, bicycle movie shorts, and Bikenomics with Elly Blue.  Tickets available now.

Do you bike, walk, or take the bus?  If you're reading this blog and that isn't the case, I am questioning your sanity.  A group of Hartford citizens from various neighborhoods are organizing to get more attention for sustainable, affordable, and environmentally friendly transportation.  Hartford has had plenty of advocacy for single occupancy vehicles and parking lots, now we're putting voices behind the other side of the argument.  Join us.  Take a survey on what the name of the group should be, and what issues it should be working.  If you're available, it would be great if you came to one of the upcoming meetings.

See you out there.  Be safe, especially if you're rusty from riding stationary all winter.

Some photos below in honor of carrying silly things on bike trailers.  Justin just moved across town and was photographed doing so by Real Hartford.  Huzzah for awkward loads that are easier to move by bike than car!

South Green neighborhood had a cleanup day, and I needed to move the supplies across Colt Park.

This absurd table base will be used somehow.  Statue base perhaps?

This Burley just followed me home and is likely to be converted to a cargo trailer.

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Mountain biking in New Haven and the Detour

I'm working on a secret project in Keney Park. In order to do research on it, my friend Marko invited me to go mountain biking in New Haven. Actually, it had nothing to do with Keney Park or research. We'd been planning on riding at West Rock for like six months and it never happened until Thursday. On the way to the West Rock, we rode through the East Rock, which has a mountain bike trail. And, this mountain bike trail has signs indicating its use by New Haven Parks and Recreation. Ratcheting of the New Haven/Hartford war, they've got a legit mountain bike trail in a city park with fancy signs. Not to mention, they've got that huge skatepark in Edgewood Park. I know we have cricket fields and some parks with a lot of roses, but we need to bring our parks in the 90's with some skateboarding and mountain biking. We don't want to lose to New Haven. I know we've got the state capitol, but all that does is not pay property taxes.

The East Rock trails aren't really that long, but they're pretty fun. West Rock is also pretty cool. I really like that road that runs along the top of the park. I am jealous of New Haven and it's rocks.

Also, Salem's Detour, which goes nowhere near any cities, is happening again this year (Apr. 26, 2014, 8am, leave from the beginning of the Hop River Trail in Manchester) and it looks like the snow will be melted in time. I think it's the same route as last year, which is a great route. I had some friends living in Hampton, but now they live in Lebanon. It's nice that they stayed on Detour route, so that I have a place to spend the night when by constitution gives out.

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It is Time to get Organized

*** Meet at 6pm on Monday, April 7th at Fire and Spice.  Hartford specific bike, walk, bus advocacy group is forming.  ***

What is with all the surface parking lots?  Why are there very few neighborhood to neighborhood bus route connections?  How come bus route frequency falls off a cliff after 6PM?  What can we do about it?

"Hartford Has It!"  Hartford has a lot of bus transit, walking, and cycling for transportation.  A significant portion of the mode share is not single occupancy motor vehicles, particularly for those living downtown and in the surrounding neighborhoods.  The question is, "Why isn't there more attention paid to and money spent on those options?"  Some might say that the issue is income, race, and class discrimination.  While I'm sure that is part of the problem, I'd say that another contributing factor is that there isn't an organized group of citizens and community leaders advocating for transportation alternatives.

A chicken or egg conundrum, it seems.

Well, rather than simply talk in circles and debate, Justin Eichenlaub has decided to organize some citizens in Hartford.  In ten years or so, we can look back on this and decide whether the organizing was useful.  I'm going to put my money on organized citizens, as talking in circles is so fucking tiresome.  The next informal meeting of this fledgling group of active transportation advocates is on Monday, April 7th or 14th at Fire and Spice, because people are hungry after work.  He's taking votes right now on which night works best for those interested.  To make things easy, I'll post the date of the actual meeting in the comments once it is announced.

Single occupancy vehicle travel.  Going the way of the dinosaur.

While we're talking about transit.  Ken and I visited New Britain this past weekend via the mostly paved CT Fastrak route.  Aside from Ken's two pinch flats en route (railroad rocks), it was a very rapid transit on bikes.  Unfortunately once the bus route opens the only sanctioned bike path will run from Newington Junction to New Britain.  In the meantime, I unofficially encourage you to check it out.  Fastrak commuters will get a solid dose of industrial back waters, dynamic graffiti walls, and natural areas - without having to ride their bicycle on train tracks.  Not much better if you ask me.

Beat Bike Bloggers sampling the future of Bus Rapid Transit

Check out these sexy stations.  There is a place to stand, sort of out of the elements.

And industrial wastelands.  My favorite thing.

Reminder.  Dinner and Bikes.  Saturday, June 7th.  Vegan food.  Bicycle movie shorts.  Bikenomics.  Get your tickets ahead of time and put it on your calendar now.

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