Are you bike curious?

There are a lot of folks out there that are bike curious, but maybe haven't taken the plunge yet as a full fledged bike commuter.  Maybe you're a weekend bike path rider that thinks it might be fun (not to mention healthy and cheap) to ride your bike to work or the grocery store on a more regular basis.  Perhaps you're like my co-worker at P&W whose truck just failed emissions and you don't want to cough up the $2000 to fix it.  Whether bike curious by choice or by situation, there are some educational opportunities out there.  Better to do it right, than not.  I mean, when you're riding in the company of several ton vehicles, it's best not to approach the situation like amateur hour.

For example - local bike shops often put on short seminars on Bike Commuting.  REI has come to Pratt & Whitney a couple of times to do Bike Commuting and Bike Maintenance 101 courses - and the classes were full of bike curious engineers.  If you are interested in a bike commuter seminar for your employer or school, get in touch with Bike Walk CT and they can see what makes sense for your organization.

More specifically, there is a FREE bike commuter course at Manchester Community College planned for Friday, April 5th.  The material is being presented by League Cycling Instructors (LCI) certified by the League of American Bicyclists.  This is an important point, since in Mid-May Bike Walk CT is hosting a LCI course to train another 16 more local LCI's.  With more LCI's there will be more quality bike safety and basic training in CT.  Bringing knowledge to the people.  I like it.

 

This weekend I rode up to Northampton, MA with Kristen to check out the burlesque show that is put on monthly.  It was awesome and disturbing - and I will highly recommend it to others.  On the way back we found Ray Bradbury keeping an eye on dinosaur footprints just off Route 5 north of Springfield.  Route 5 is remarkably pleasant between Northampton and Holyoke, then it quickly turns to shit as you come into West Springfield. 

 

We veered West to avoid the craptastic West Springfield segment.  On our way back into Northern Connecticut we stopped at Sunrise Park just off Mountain Road, a very nice gem.  I'd like to head back there later for hiking and some warmer weather swimming.  They had a detailed and unique hand made map board up by the reservoir.

 

If you're a bike commuter and you're passing through East Hartford on Friday (3/15) morning, stop by and catch breakfast with us at Maddie's.  IceBike to Work is what we call it.  Currently dominated by Pratt and Whitney folks, but all are welcome.  We'll be there between 7-8AM.