Car Free: A blessing and a curse

In the post below this one, Brendan asks whether planned, suburban, German-engineered carlessness is everything its cracked up to be. (I know, you can't tell from the post, but follow the links - they're interesting). I don't know much about German suburbs, but I will tell you this: My own experiment in carlessness is proving alternately delightful and collossally annoying.

To begin with, I didn't sell my car for the privilege of moving to a smart-growth-designed Teutonic suburb where the swish of bicycles and the laughter of cherubic aryans drowns out the distant growl of BMWs powered by the ground-up bones of orphans. I actually abandoned happy, bike-centric, urban living in Somerville, Mass., for the cartastic burg of West Hartford, where I actually purchased a second car. Unfortunately, the first car gave up the ghost, and the third car (purchased to replace the first) turned out to be a disaster of the sort that now sits immobile on my driveway (I'm thinking of taking the wheels off and putting it up on blocks just to spite the neighbors; that might get them even more exercised than when I have black houseguests). So now I am out of car money and obliged to figure out ways to get from here to there (by which I mean Hartford to Bridgeport).

Yesterday, this situation proved craptastic: Between child's doctor's appointment, other child's having to get to daycare, and wife's having to get to work, I only worked four hours of my workday and spent the rest shuttling people around (but don't worry, boss-who-surely-isn't-reading-this: I made up for it by working from 7:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.). And today, it looked like another pain in the ass: I missed catching a ride with my neighbor to Hamden, and needed to get to New Haven with enough time to get ready for a meeting at noon and a hearing at 1:00, but ma petite wife had to be in Cromwell at 9:15, and kids had to get dropped off (and of course, once you miss the 7:55 Amtrak to New Haven, you can't go again till 11:15). So the only solution was the bike.

I got dropped off at the Middletown-Durham line and headed south on Route 17 for a solid twenty-mile jaunt, dreading the time it would take me, the sweaty mess I would become, and the foolish moment in which I plunked down $1800 for that stupid Ford Focus. But you know what? It was awesome. Know why? Because between Middletown and New Haven is a handsome little swath of real-life rural America - with cows, even. And you know who drives there at 8:30 in the morning? Nobody! So it was me, the chirping birds, the lush greenery of springtime, and even some rabbits (so it was pretty much like Bambi without the hunters, the fire, and the annoying other deer that tries to steal Bambi's girlfriend). I rode at a reasonable but not strenuous pace, got to New Haven in about an hour and twenty minutes, and felt like a health champion.

Conclusion: Carlessness works really well in cities and in carefully planned German suburbs. In Connecticut, maybe not so much. However, it's still nice to ride a bike a lot, especially in the springtime, and (unrelatedly) there is nothing better than filing a motion that is so clever, well-researched, and unexpected that it makes the other lawyer totally lose her cool and start yelling at you. Also, this is Bike Week, so hooray! Read more!

Well?

So, this is the type of article we're supposed to be really excited about. What do you think? Is car-free bliss? Does it have to be this deliberate?

What about this? Read more!

Tardiness

Once, awhile ago, I was supposed to see Belle & Sebastian in Northampton with this friend of mine. We bought tickets about a month in advance. As the concert approached, my friend was convinced (even thought I had checked the tickets and disagreed) that the concert was on Saturday. She remained convinced and was also the driver. So, we went on Saturday. After some pregaming with a bottle of Bailey's (you take what you can get when you're 20) in an empty parking lot, we walked over to the Calvin theater. To find it completely dark. Belle & Sebastian have never returned.

On Thursday, I realized that the Orchard Assault was at UMass today. I decided it'd be a good chance to finally race on my singlespeed. The online pre-reg was over, so I'd have to pay in person. Generally, the Cat 2 singlespeed open class races at 2. I decided that must be the case for this race, too. My girlfriend, Johanna the great, asked me repeatedly if I was sure of this, since I had forwarded her a link to the race flyer on Thursday which had information to the contrary. Around 10:15 this morning, I checked the website to discover that the Cat 2 singlespeed open race had started at 10:00. So, I went for a nice road ride instead. (Which didn't cost me any money!)

I also broke my brake lever yesterday, so this meant that I didn't have to take any steps to fix it today.
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Pull Up the People on Bikes

Pull Up the People is an online radio show with accompanying playlists. I found them when they linked to me (for what I don't know). But they did an all-bicycle media post.

The lists on the site is worth checking out.

They say the Triplets of Belleville is the fourth best bicycle movie of all time. I'm not sure about that.

But, I loved the part where they used the grenades to hunt frogs.


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BBB Pub Crawl III: Celebrate Good Times, C'mon!

From the BeatBikeBlog's behind the scenes department of marketing and public relations:

As Brendan mentioned, your humble beatbikeblog has turned a year old! While we have somehow just fallen short of claiming the "Best Blog" honor as a rookie in the Hartford Advocate's "Best of Hartford 2009" issue (Really?? Noted beauty pageant judge Perez Hilton got more votes than us as the best blog?? Where's the local love, Advocate voters?), the comments demanding a celebration have been nothing but overwhelming. Good news! We have listened to ourselves commenting and have decided that holding a BBB Pub Crawl is the perfect way to mark this blessed occasion. And you, our reader and savvy bicyclist, are invited to join us on Saturday night, May 9th. You don't even have to celebrate our birthday...there are lots of things you can choose to celebrate instead:

1) Nueve de Mayo: For people who took too long of a siesta and missed Cinco.
2) Mother's Day Eve: air out all your best mother jokes from the past year
3) The unofficial, irreverent kickoff to Bike Week
4) Springy-Sproing: Warm weather has returned!
5) Ghostface Killah's birthday
6) Just being alive and free on two wheels in the Beat.

So Saturday May 9th, we're hitting places with outdoor seating. We'll be meeting up at Dulce in downtown Hartford around 7pm. From there, we'll head over to Hook & Ladder on Main St. at 8 pm. Then we'll make a nice ride through the city over to Plan B on Park St. in West Hartford and aim to arrive at 9:30. The crawl will finish up at Kenny's on Capitol Ave. starting around 11:30. There are loads of good food and beverage options at each stop.

Hope to see you there.
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Bike Week, Next Week

The league of american cyclists bike week is next week (May 11-15) and there is a ton of stuff going on in and around the beat, check out the schedule of events:

May 11, 630-830 AM Bike to Work, Farmington, UConn Health Center across from the Hellipad (Raindate = Wednesday, May 13, Same time and location)

May 12 (Tuesday) 5:30 PM, Bike to Supper, Wooden Tap, 99 Sisson Ave. Hartford (Corner of Capitol Ave.). RSVP to webmaster@connbikes.org so we can get a head count. Bring a good lock in case we end up eating indoors. If you want to ride in from downtown Hartford, meet at the Bushnell Park Carousel between 5-5:15.

May 12 (Tuesday), 630-9 AM Bike to Work, Pratt and Whitney, East Hartford, HealthTime® Employee Wellness at P&W Medical, Healthtrax Fitness & Wellness and HealthyGears will sponsor the event.

May 13, 2009, Wednesday, 12:15 to 1:15 PM: Bike Rallyat the Capitol: Join with your friends and fellow cyclists on the eastside of the Capitol. Bike over, walk over, but be sure to help us to showour numbers! Several legislators will be invited to speak (at 1PM). We will want to demonstrate to them the importance of CompleteStreets OR thank them for passing the Complete Streets Bill.

May 15 (Friday), 7-9 AM - Bike to Work, Old State House, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection will Sponsor the event

May 15 (Friday), 5-7 PM - Bike Week Happy Hour, Corner Pug in West Hartford

Come one, come all!!! These events are open to any cyclist in the area. Great chance to meet fellow velocipede enthusiasts and get some free food, drink and other goodies.

Also, tomorrow night is our Bike Everywhere Committee meeting at Lenas in Hartford, 6 pm. if you have ideas or just want to know what is going on come on out. Read more!

Bike New York

seems like this could be an annual post for the beat. three of us headed down from hartford this weekend to new york for the bike new york ride. very fun. we joined 36000 of our closest friends on a tour of all five boroughs (only seven blocks in the bronx = ripoff on that one!).

several tips for would be riders:

1. don't show up early in battery park. hook up with the front end of the ride at central park or, like we did, on the lower east side after a very good breakfast after a decent non standing around waiting for a ride to start wakeup time. we had no problem hooking up and stayed at the front all the way through, smooth sailing.

2. skip the first couple rest stops, they are way to crazy busy.

3. bring warm, waterproof clothes.

4. take pics.

5. check out your bike before you ride, while blowouts sound cool, they cause very not awesome multi cyclist wrecks...... none of us got involved in those though.

although the suck factor increased as the ride went on, the temperature dropped, the wind picked up and the rain started to pour it was all in all a very fun experience. at the end we even got to know what refugees must feel like, check out these pics on the staten island ferry:



bring me your poor, your tired, your huddled frozen wet cyclists:



definitely worth it and if it were a nice day it would be incredible on staten island for the festival and the ferry ride with views. even cold it was really awesome to see new york by bike with no cars...

of course we did follow up the ride with harrowing high speed dash through all of lower manhattan with one wreck (bike versus big hole, hole wins, ben lands on hip, says ow....) but no one or bike hurt! Read more!

Not all cyclists are carrying heroin

I just got back from a pleasant, though sort of wet, ride To see if I had missed any important news while I was gone, I went to courant.com and was greeted with this headline: "Bicycle Fall Leads To Drug Arrest In Bristol." It seems that a concerned citizen called the police because it looked like a man had fallen off of his bicycle. The police came and found that he had a bunch of heroin. The article doesn't explain how they ended up searching him even though the call was because of the fall, though it does say that he was asleep when the cops came.

Anyway, remember that not all people on bikes are drug mules. Read more!

Pressure

Dear internet, I have a question. On the road, tire pressure is easy. It says on the side of the tire what you pressure you need. Off the road, not as easy. Tires give a ball park, but that's it. It's there some kind of formula you can calculate with your weight? I don't like getting pinch flats, but I like to maintain control and not slide out on rocks. I weigh 150lbs and usually have about 25 or 27 lbs of bike under me. At present, I ride on the high pressure side, but it's pretty unforgiving. I know this is a rookie question, but I've never quire figured out the sweet spot for places with rocks, especially when I ride rigid.

Happy May Day! Read more!

A Unique Asset

Mt. Hartford, or the Hartford Landfill, is generally regarded as one of Hartford's terrible detractors. Residents in North Hartford have long and justifiably complained about its stench and travelers on I-91 have lamented its eyesore-ish qualities.

It's now closed and an advisory committee has been established to figure out what to do with it next. That group went and visited the landfill this evening; opinions have changed. Seldom have I seen a group of people wandering around which such wonder and curiosity. It was like being at the Grand Canyon. Gears are cranking in people's heads to figure out what next to do with new land with a really great view. Methane collection valves be damned!

Also, I may be the first (or not) to ride up and down Mt. Hartford on a bike.















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Spring Cleaning

This guy is pretty cool. Perhaps we can put people back to work manually sweeping the streets. Should would reduce carbon emissions.

So after a treacherous and nerve-wracking commute all fall on the discarded refuse of deciduous trees and all winter on the sands and salt poured all over the road by public works it is finally spring. I witnessed one of the most welcome signs to this effect today as a lumbering mechanical beast crawled down my street whisking away all of the sticks, rocks, sand, and leaves that had been forced into the bike lane (aka the shoulder) over the past few months. Despite my ambivalence, at times disdain, for vehicles powered by internal combustion engines I love to see street sweepers plodding down the road leaving it neat, clean, bare, and safer for bicyclists.

How nice it is to be able to maneuver around a suddenly stopped car or allow a large truck or bus to pass without venturing into the land of the unknown, without fear of slipping out on the loose traction of sand or leaves or risking a puncture. I always wonder what kind of cache of nails, glass, or razor sharp metal objects are laying under the soft surface of sand waiting to pierce my soft and temperamental tires. Now the bike commuter can again turn all of their attention to their persistent foes the automobile and the pothole. We can yield the lane (if we so choose) without fear of danger or harsh repercussions. We can zip past stalled traffic and around turning vehicles, in the process flaunting our efficiency and maneuverability to delayed drivers.

Hopefully returning the majority of the street to automobilists will reduce some of the hostilities we have experienced through the winter as cars rebelled against our brazen challenge for equal treatment. More than likely, however, this will be a temporary truce and things will slowly return to the daily clash of car vs. bike. In the meantime, however, I will enjoy my clean roads and newly-restored travel lane while I scan the horizon for voids in the pavement and glance over my shoulder alert for approaching vehicles. Read more!

The other critical mass

I had a meeting at the Park House by Keney Park this morning. I was returning to work and saw a big group of bicycle riders behind the library on Prospect Street. My first thought was, "critical mass on a Tuesday morning? That's weird." Then, I noticed they were all cops. It appeared they were training or something like that. I bet they don't get any of the shit that other group rides get. I snapped a couple of pictures of this sight, but they didn't come out that great:

I followed them up to State House Square where they were debriefing.

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More socks

Your intrepid and wool-clad Cat 3 racer went back into the woods last weekend at Winding Trails in Farmington and came out with not just socks, but also a cool multitool. The 15th Annual Fat Tire Classic was last Sunday and I had a great time. By a hair's breadth, I got second place in the 19-29 Cat 3. I started in third, but got in second after the first mile or so of the first lap and I had the leader about 100 yards off for until the end of the first lap, when he finally pulled away from me. The man who came in second, Kyle, started creeping up on me and was soon riding my wheel. This went on for the middle third of the second lap (of two), he'd get really close on climbs and then I'd beat him back into the single track. Suddenly, he was gone and after the race he told me that he slid out in some sand. I thought I was sitting pretty and started taking it easy. As I approached the finish, I saw him maybe 50 yards behind me, but thought I was cool. I was not. If it wasn't for the spectators telling me to "watch out! he's right behind you!" I would have been behind him by half a bike instead of in front by half a bike. I was fourth fastest overall, but the fastest in Cat 3 was a woman who just decimated everyone.

Soon, if I move up to Cat 2, I'll write great race reports about puking and coming in last. Read more!

The fish we eat, the trees we smell, and a college radio reference

I rode north toward home this evening, with all the April heat from the pavement and the smells of urban trees in bloom. Bradford Pears, a Lilac or two, and... a burned clutch or brake dust. The moon was a slim hammock.

The best part of my ride was my long-delayed, first-ever stop at the Lion's Den Vegetarian Restaurant (view map in new window). It's more like a tiny lunch counter, actually, with three stools and view through the plate-glass storefront. There was a gray tenspeed, utilitarian but cared-for, leaned against window when I arrived. Inside, a box was playing some old roots reggae. I used to have a reggae radio show at KDIC, but I had never heard "When I fall in love, it will be forever..." Respect man, nothing is free.

I chose a couple pieces of fish from a warm tray under hot lights. One was a whole fish, a little one. The skin was crispy and fatty and the meat was sweet. The other piece was a hearty cross-section of a bigger fish- and it was spicy on the outside. Yo reader, both these fish hit the spot! Next time I'll try the Ital soup. Respect!

Fish is the perfect food for bicycling. Lean protein, good fats, just drink a little juice and you're done. I did a Windsor-Manchester-Hartford road tour on Saturday and a tuna salad saved my sweaty self at a bench on Case Mountain: canned tuna, kalamata olives, olive oil, lemon juice, red onions, apple, raisins.

Don't eat bluefin tuna, sharks, swordfish, or other tippy-top of the food chain predator fish. US shellfish is relatively well-regulated and managed, especially Maine lobster and blue mussels. Asian shrimp and farmed fish is too likely from a filthy, polluting, poorly-managed farm carved out of some wetlands. Wild-caught Alaskan and Canadian pacific salmon is relatively sustainable at the moment. Do what you will with Atlantic Salmon, almost all of it is farmed. Find out more about healthy, "sustainable" fish choices and print out a wallet-sized reference guide here.

Where and what do you stop to eat when you ride through town? Read more!

Critical Mass!

As is customary, CM went down on Friday. A solid 13 riders were in the mix, and we set out from the carousel in Bushnell Park at around 6:15. Ken had the good graces to bring a ginormous boom box, Joel had the good graces to use his mountain man skills (lately matched by his mountain man beard) to secure the boom box to Ken's rear rack with rope, and the rest of us just had the good graces to rock out:



We looped around downtown a bit then headed south on Main Street, eventually went out Franklin, looped down South and back on Wethersfield, cut through Colt Park and past the Sports Sciences magnet school, and ended up at Charter Oak Landing, where we took the lovely group shot above. Then we headed back downtown, a few of our number split of to various points unknown (to me), and the remainders headed to Kenny's (a.k.a. Red Rock Tavern) on Capitol for beers. There was karaoke going on, along with some sort of rugby event, so your humble correspondent had to hit 'em with the Guantanamera to get the joint jumpin'. Nothing gets the rugby girls swooning like Guantanamera, let me tell you.

Anyway, here's some pictures of the event (as always, click on a picture to see a larger version):






We saw this guy on Wethersfield Ave. with a very rudimentary cargo trailer - so rudimentary, in fact, that it was just a shopping cart tied to a bicycle. While we recognized that such a set-up would likely prove problematic when heavily loaded or during downhill stops, we also thought it would be awesome to customize a shopping cart with bike wheels and a proper hitching system, then put in a car battery, an amp, and some fat house speakers (so the new shit can rock from Bronx to Massapequa). Ken and I will be getting on that project soon. Read more!

Bike to Work Day in the Courant: BBB Gets Love!

Our own Ben Bare and some other jokers were prominently displayed in the Courant's story with video accompaniment today about Ride Your Bike To Work Day, which is today (and, you know, every day, but all the other days there's no free bagels and coffee at the Old State House). Columnist Rick Green even shouted out the Beat Bike Blog on his blog, which covered RYBTW Day a little bit more. (Props to Ben for telling Green that "the place to learn about cycling is the local Beat Bike Blog." Word up!) With that kind of slow-news-day synergy, I would have expected an accompanying editorial about how worthwhile it is to ride bikes but alas, there's just some dumb stuff about planting trees (the Courant is in favor) and the dangers of killers who use craigslist to stalk their victims (the Courant wants you to be careful out there, OK?). (For a moment, I also got excited that there may have been another cycling-related story in today's paper, but it turned out that the article headlined "Lawyer in Messenger Case Files Complaint Against Another Lawyer" has to do with some guy named Messenger, not a bicycle courier.)

Anyway, now that we've received the imprimatur of the city's paper of record, I expect a massive increase in traffic to this website. So to our new readers, I say, "Welcome! This bike-riding in Hartford, it's a good thing, and we Beat Bike Bloggers are here to facilitate your two-wheeled exploration of our city in any way we can. So please, if you have any questions concerning bicycles and Hartford, ask them in the comments, and we will endeavor to answer them. And don't forget Critical Mass this afternoon at 5:30 by the Bushnell Park carousel!" Read more!

Some pictures from recent rides

When I returned from the airport the other night after returning my awesome rented Toyota Yaris, it was dark and pouring rain. But I'm an artiste, see, so that didn't stop me from taking pictures. Also, I had just finished crafting a new tripod from an old music stand, a cork, a piece of a reflector bracket, and some nuts and bolts, so I was eager to take some low-light shots. I managed only two that were remotely worth keeping. Here they are (as always, click for a larger version):



It's a package store in Windsor. That is all.




For some reason, a lot of apartment buildings in West Hartford have names. (There is another one called, inexplicably, "Asia.") I would like to think that the apartment numbering system in this building goes [floor number] - [apartment number], so, like, if you lived on the fourth floor, your apartment number might be 4-4, and then, instead of telling people where you lived by saying the address and the apartment number, you could say, "man does not live by bread alone," because that's Luke 4:4. (Or if you were on the fourth floor in apartment 8, you could just always blast that one White Stripes album, because Luke 4:8 contains the phrase, "Get thee behind me, Satan.") Read more!

Terrorist or Monster Attack???

As you know, people in the Hartford area cannot drink tap water right now without injesting rotifers and copepods. Boiling water, as prescribed by The MDC, is cumbersome and bottled water is enviro-unfriendly. What are you doing to cope?

Strangely, when this news broke, I was at the reservoir mountain biking (WH reservoir, not Bloomfield). I also had a camelback filled with MDC water.

Remember when it looked like this?

Also, I'm very surprised that no one has made mention of the Reservoir Monster. Mentioned here, here, and here.

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Earth Day

So today is Earth Day, and even though for folks like your beat bike bloggers, who love bikes, nature, public transportation, and all that good stuff, every day is Earth Day, still, the date should be recognized. But how?

Truth be told, I don't really get Earth Day. When I was in high school, we made an awesome mural, where each student made some small painting with a particular color or something, then somehow we put them all together like pixels and they made a picture of the earth, and we felt like that was good. Of course, in the process, we used a ton of paper and the paint was probably distilled from whale blood (so lustrous!), and basically our whole endeavor made sea levels rise and cows fart. Just so, the Bike Snob today points out that biking maybe isn't super envirolicious, given the carbon footprint of bike manufacturing and shipping and all that. So really, every time we try to do stuff that's earthy, we're just making Bambi and Thumper cry.

What we need are some real, innovative solutions for reducing emissions and wasste and all that good stuff. Here's my suggestion: COP CARS NEED TO EASE UP ON THE IDLING. Seriously. The other night I made one of my periodic rides to the airport to rent a car (environmentally friendly? not especially, but better than owning a car and driving it all the time, right? right? right) and was accompanied by Rich, another blogger affiliated with this very blog. On our way there, we had many interesting conversations (and interestingly, on the way back from dropping the car off the next day, I noticed that whenever I passed a particular spot on our route, I would suddenly recall what Rich and I had been discussing there, which was, given the high quality of our conversation, a particularly pleasant way to have a solo ride), one of which concerned a Windsor cop car we saw sitting in a gas station idling. The cop was drinking coffee, keeping his keen eyes on the lookout for ne'erdowells, but emphatically not going anywhere in a hurry. The night was warm and he had a window open. SO WHY HAVE THE CAR RUNNING, WINDSOR'S FINEST? DON'T YOU LOVE THE EARTH?!! DON'T YOU?!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, I see cop cars idling all the time, and that must surely hurt the environment, to say nothing of the waste of money. Do they really think that having the engine running is going to make the difference when they're suddenly required to engage in a high-speed pursuit? Do they not know about the halfway turn you can do with the car key to listen to the radio with the engine off? Also, while I am asking questions about cops that no one will answer, why do all unmarked state troopers' license plates end with UTZ? (They really do. Look, I took a picture of one:)



Is this post aimless enough yet? Well, let me add this: I really need a nap. Read more!

Cherry cherry

We're not DC, but we've got some pretty blossoms of our own in Bushnell Park:




Also, never buy anything from wheelworld.com. I tried buying a bottom bracket and jersey from them, but they screwed up my address. I tried numerous times to resolve the problem to no avail. They even went so far to say mendaciously that they refunded my credit card. I disputed the charges and still haven't got the full amount back. Argh! Read more!