How much awesomeness can Hartford handle?

In a previous post, I waxed on about the overwhelming bicycle packed weekend approaching in September.  In this post I'll break it down a little and focus on Saturday, September 21st.  The weekend has become so saturated that I can only process it one day at a time.  We start with the Discover Hartford Bicycle Tour, the best way to pedal around Hartford and take in the history, beautiful parks, and diverse neighborhoods.  10  mile and 25 mile routes stay within Hartford proper, and the 40 mile includes a loop over into Windsor, South Windsor, Manchester, and East Hartford.  South Windsor was particularly keen on getting into the tour, as they are now a Bronze Bicycle Friendly Community.  All three routes include updates, improvements, and route changes from previous years.  Bike Walk Connecticut is looking to far exceed 1,000 riders this year. The success of the tour is key to BWCT's 2014 state-wide advocacy and education efforts, as this is their biggest annual fundraiser.

Lot's of Discover Hartford Bicycle Tour links and info below:

• The tour is Saturday, September 21st and starts at 9AM.  I recommend arriving by 8:30 AM if you've registered online and by 8:00 AM if you are registering that morning.
• To save $15 and avoid the chaos of day of registration I recommend registering beforehand online.
• The tour is also registering event volunteers.  Those that want to make that extra effort to make the tour amazing can pitch in.
• Are you a local or regional business that would be interested in presenting at the event Expo in Bushnell Park?  Expo Registration is now open.

Following the bike tour, cultural institutions and creative leaders of Hartford take the ball and run with Envisionfest.  What is Envisionfest?  Straight from the website - 

• "Envisionfest Hartford is a free one-day festival on September 21st and a unique opportunity for people of all ages to discover and celebrate the capital city’s transformation.  Every aspect of the free city-wide event will showcase Hartford’s abundance of innovative history, arts and extraordinary cultural assets. Hundreds of live entertainment and hands-on activities will stimulate the senses, from free live musical entertainment and dramatic performances on six stages, to free admission to more than eight museums, landmark building tours, and lawn games in Bushnell Park."

And what's better, all of the Envisionfest activities are within easy biking and walking distance of Bushnell Park.   Check out this exhaustive list of ways you could spend your afternoon after the bike tour.  Last year post tour I just wandered around clueless and was amazed by how many different events and activities were available.  Perhaps this year I'll be more prepared.

And the cherry on the sundae.  Wait for it.  Are you ready?  THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS.  Free concert at 6:30PM in Bushnell Park.  What the Hell?  TMBG has fans from teens to folks in their 40's and 50's and they keep pumping out music.  I saw them seven or eight years ago at a free show in Boston, and it was great.  Looking forward to sitting on the lawn and unwinding (and maybe bouncing around a bit) while listening to the diverse grab bag of tunes that TMBG might pull out.  FYI - There is liberal BYO activity in Bushnell for concerts.  Great opportunity for a picnic.

On Saturday, September 21st my head is going to explode.  Apologize ahead of time for the mess.

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Bikes Outside: Jazz On a Summer's Day

This Monday finds us remaining downtown for another bumper crop of bikes outside. Friday through Sunday found some of your humble bike bloggers and friends enjoying the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz in Bushnell Park. This very evening will find us there again for the latest in this summer's continuing Monday Night Jazz series. What's better than four consecutive nights of free live music? How about riding directly to your viewing spot of choice and parking your bike inches away!


I saw a young man ride by on last week's Bike Outside Fuji as I chatted with the proud owner of this old Puch Mixte 10-speed. Not far from this spot were a hardtail Trek and a blue 70's Raleigh Sports 3-speed. There was an early 90's Trek Antelope, which reminded me of a high school girlfriend who bought one partly because of a Phish reference. A sharp-looking balloon tire replica had bebop-era styling while a Next genericruiser left its vendor owner kind of blue. I saw multiple Bianchis, an 80's Shogun ATB and a likely Bikes Outside repeat Breezer last Monday night. Everything else pictured here was spotted this past weekend.

Whether or not you are a hardcore Jazz fanatic, Monday Night Jazz shows are a great opportunity to meet up with friends to enjoy some fresh air and lax open-container policies. That said, if you can't get into hearing La Orquesta Espada and Rolando Matias & the Afro-Rican Ensemble tonight, you might have to check your pulse for possible signs of death. Caliente! Tonight's show kicks off at 6:00.

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Stank Locker

In case you're asked to check your bags at the front desk of the oldest art museum in Hartford, you can use this photo as proof that your junk'll probably fit just nicely in one of their complimentary lockers. One locker holds: massive cargo bike pannier, two helmets, and a medium-sized purse. Sure, we could have taken two lockers and not gotten everything wrinkled, but I think the point needed to be made.

Before we reached the museum, we had to do some rush hour traffic riding. Before that, I practically got marriage offers from some dudes in my neighborhood. It went something like this:
DUDE ONE: We need us a simple girl like that.
DUDE TWO: Yeah, all these girls 'round here all they want's for us to get expensive cars and drive them around.

DUDE ONE: (to me) Hey, can I ride wit you? I'll behave.

This was one of the better random street pickup attempts I've been victim to, mostly because I agreed with them. Too many females see males as chauffeurs and ATMs. Relying on a man to supply one with these things is just setting oneself up for disappointment. Thus, I quote Destiny's Child: "I depend on me if I want it."




At the museum, we saw that someone thought himself too good for both wheels.

This is not the first time I spotted a unicycle downtown. Last year, someone sped around Main Street on one, doing tricks and hopping off the curb.

Before hitting the after party, we wanted to ride home to make some wardrobe adjustments. Interstatement picked up a passenger for the back of his bike -- a friend in the neighborhood who was too lazy to walk his self home -- and I once again dazzled onlookers by being able to pedal in heels. Here's a secret: it's really not that hard. In fact, it's way easier to ride a bike in heels than it is to stand still in them. What sucked about the ride had nothing to do with my footwear. The seat on Starry Starry Bike was still at this high, strange angle, and I've been spoiled riding the Jenny, which allows me to sit upright. I have a cranky back and any hunched over posture, if not immediately uncomfortable, at least promises to cause me discomfort the next day.

We rode home and then back downtown, locked the bikes on a random railing because there are no visible bike racks outside on Columbus Boulevard, and proceeded to check out the after party before running into a friend stumbling down from a mere few blocks away. Sure, he left later than we did, but I think this makes a sound case for why he needs a bicycle yesterday.

Also, if you need more information to pull out if the subject ever comes up, bike helmets and panniers were allowed into a swank restaurant in the Convention Center/Science Center vicinity.

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Exit Music (For A Bike)

My trip to the Radiohead concert was a smashing success. The music was great, the light show dazzling, and my seat was ridiculous. There are plenty of reviews, photos, and videos about the show itself that would put my efforts to shame, but I'm here to talk about the transportation.

As I wrote earlier, I was trying to find the easiest, least gas-guzzly and trafficy way to get to and fro' the show. Originally, I was planning on driving my bike to Providence and catching the Boston commuter train north to Mansfield, which would put me about 4-5 miles from the venue. I changed up a bit when I realized that I would have to be in Providence around rush hour and the last trains out of Mansfield are at 11:07 and 12:39. One too early, and risking missing the last one. (The last train north to Boston leaves at 10:17...a horrible time for concert-goers.) Finally, Mansfield is right near the intersection of I-95 and I-495, the drive time direct to Mansfield is about the same as it is to Providence. Plus the train station parking lot is 2 exits away from the mess that was to be the exit to the concert venue. I parked in the train lot, asked where the nearest food place was and grabbed a bite before biking in.

The ride was really easy. After getting out of the little town of Mansfield, I did notice a fair number of people obviously walking to the concert. Good for them. The only tight spot was the bridge over the interstate which was under construction. They squeezed 2 lanes into one, so I lost my shoulder there. Luckily, the car behind me that just got off the highway didn't mind rolling back and let me get ahead. So I breezed past the line of cars that was jammed not only at the main parking entrance, but also for the $40 private lots that were open right next to the on-ramps. I was looking for a pedestrian way in, when I noticed the flag-waivers were directing me to follow the auto traffic...I wasn't expecting that. Got to the front of the huge lot to find no bike racks (no surprise), but about 10-12 other bikes were already cable-locked to a cluster of trees right near the ticket windows. Nice to know there are a few others out of 20,000 people.

I was really hoping that the security wouldn't put up a stink if they found my blinkies on me during the usual entrance-frisk. Knowing my luck, they wouldn't know what they were. No problems, however.

Post-concert was a snap. I was out of the venue at about 10:55, and just had to walk my ride through one big crowd of people before finding a nice lane out to the road. I was at my car by 11:10. And it's such a peaceful ride after the highway onramps. A perfect silent breeze to reflect on the awesome music I heard the previous 2 hours. Here's the mind blowing thing: I read blogs that said that it took them until 1:15 before their car even moved while still in the lot. I was nearly back in Hartford by then with a stop for food. And I haven't mentioned that some reports were that I-495 turned into a parking lot going *in* to the venue as well.

And that's the moral. Biking to concerts totally rules. I did it once this summer to Dodge/Meadows, and my trip to Great Woods/Comcast cemented it. The in/out traffic designs of these parking facilities at music venues are simply horrible. Past trips to Oakdale/Chevrolet taught me to either run to the car or take a nap in the car...now I'm thinking of looking at bike routes to Wallingford. While it'd be nice if these venues provided adequate bike parking facilities, you can always make do.

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Cap'n Richie's Fun Page!

Here is the beginning of my post.

Awwww....yeah.

Hey Kids! Do you like puzzles?? I do! Here's a teaser for today. Rich has a ticket to go see Radiohead next Wednesday in Massachussetts and he's excited to go because nothing makes good music better than a dash of social responsibility. As you may or may not know, Radiohead has made it a point to make their touring habits green, and they're pretty keen on passing on that message to their fans. They made it a point to do things like send a recording to Conan O'Brian rather than use up resources traveling to NYC. They play in music-dense festivals so fans aren't driving all over the place all willy-nilly searching for good music. They have their truckers plug into the grid for power at night rather than idling engines. And they want fans to use public transportation to their concerts. Apparently the show at Tweeter/Comcast/corporate sponsor Center in Mansfield, MA...if google results are to be believed , is quite contrary to that last bit. The closest thing is the commuter rail that runs between Boston and Providence, but that's several miles away. Hey Kids...can you name a mode of transportation that can easily bridge that gap?


I found out this summer after a DMB show yet another rush that bikes can give...blowing past not only all the traffic waiting F O R E V E R to exit the lot, but also the slow, drunken Bataan-like death march of people walking back downtown from the Meado...I mean Dodge Music Center. If the traffic patterns for the venue at Mansfield are as bad as I hear they are, what a perfect opportunity to juke back to the commuter rail station in Mansfield and hop aboard to get me outta there.

Now here's where the fine readers of the BBB come in. What's the best way for me to see this concert? Here are the facts we know: 1) I'm taking the whole friggin' day off. 2) The lot opens weirdly early like 2:30 pm. 3) MTA allows bikes on their commuter line except for the rush periods. 4) We already know Amtrak can go fuck themselves with their expensive tickets and their no bike policy.

Right now, I'm thinking my best course of action is to drive all the way to Providence and park at the rail station, load up my bike, and there are later trains running south after the show. If anyone can come up with a better solution that doesn't end in me dying or getting fired, I would love to hear it. Read more!