Alley! Cat!

Every so often I wonder whatever happened to alley cats. Then, I get an email about one.

Here is one such example coming soon to Hartford. Details are below and speak for themselves.

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Chris is a Richard.

Not really.  We love Chris.  But I did take a compromising picture of him on the way back from Middlefield.  Although we didn't have the promised breakfast at O'Rourke's in Middletown, we did meet up with a fascinating group of ladies from the New Haven area at the orchard and they gave us cider donuts to avoid the bonk.  A stop at the Blackbird Tavern provided the fuel for a trip back north.

Note.  The Yuba (loaded with Chris's 20lbs of miscellany) is not the best bike to take on a hilly 60 miler.  Quite capable on dirt and train tracks though.  I couldn't decide which train track photo I preferred. Your thoughts.  Maybe we could do a long river ride before it gets too cold to enjoy it properly.  I really enjoy the out of control feel of floating on leaf litter.

And then my sister came to Hartford.  We rode bikes, marched in parades (as a Dragon and Foot), and danced until we nearly collapsed.  Kristen knits and I tried on her hat.  It made me evil.  Maybe Kristen will come back and stay a while... All in favor?

I woke up late for the Bike Walk CT Traffic Safety 101 course on Sunday, but one of the instructors, who I insulted in the title, gracefully let me sneak in.  I've decided to take this course because I'm an incorrigible scofflaw and need re-education.  That and being a League of American Bicyclists Cycling Instructor seems like something I could use in the future once I tire of silly jet engines.  One poor fellow managed to endo during the emergency stop exercise - no permanent damage though.

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Flower Street Decision

The gist of it is that the road will be closed to motor vehicle traffic, but the DOT should created a reasonable option, like a bridge, for pedestrians and cyclists. I think it's an ok resolution, though I don't think should is a very binding word, the hearing officer doesn't give any reason why people were denied intervenor status and doesn't mention any written testimony. I think the process was pretty messed up and I think there should have been some chastisement of the DOT by the hearing officer.

Here it is.

Thanks to Robert Cotto for sending me the PDF. It was mailed to him. Read more!

Apple problem

I went to Glastonbury yesterday and bought some apples and corn at the farm stand on tryon rd. Then, I rode home through the Glastonbury meadows. This added to the fallnessity of the ride, but really bruised my apples.

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More fall riding

I feel compelled to give a shout out to Haywood farm in New Hartford, because they gave me a free apple yesterday. I stopped in wanting cider, but they only had half gallons, which is a bit much in one sitting. So, I decided to have an apple instead and they only had bushels. (Or maybe pecks.) (I'm pretty sure a small basket is a peck.) I asked if I could buy just one apple and they gave it to me for free. It was a good apple, too. Head out to Hayward farm in New Hartford, very near the Harwinton line with more than a jersey pocket and buy some apples.

More trappings of fall!

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Pretty bikes and leaves.

I agree with Brendan.  Fall in CT is a short, but beautiful time for riding - when it happens to stop raining.

Friday I tagged along with Patrick from Hartford Bicycle Studio to Providence Rhode Island for the Builder's Ball, a regional custom bike builder show.   The Builder's Ball is the nearby, accessible, and cheap ($3 entry) alternative to the annual North American Handmade Bicycle Show.  Lots of expensive eye candy about.  I was particularly taken by the Connecticut builder, Watson Cycles.  Photos of their commuter bike and a monster Iditarod bike included below. The snow bike included not one, but two flask holders.  I was fantasizing about rolling in to work or to the coffee shop with that beast.  What an over the top, yet still functional, bike!

Patrick had kindly tied my road bike to his roof.  Yes. No roof rack needed, just some ratchet straps.  My plan was to see if I could drum up a couch surf arrangement for the evening.  That didn't pan out.   After checking the weather forecast I headed out into the clear, cool Providence evening and followed the Washington Secondary Bike Path Southwest out of the city.  Smooth rolling to West Warwick, RI where I found a quiet city park where I rolled out the sleeping bag and air mattress.  Under the stars, as I didn't bring my tent or hammock.

The ride back today was quite nice.  Very quiet, rolling terrain leaving RI and I haven't done much riding in the far Eastern parts of CT so those were fresh tracks for me.  Took a pretty swamp photo, but it looks kinda creepy.  Maybe it was the ghoulish month of October that fouled it up?

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Fall riding

When I was in middle school and high school, fall used to be my favorite time of year. I actually liked all those new England trappings of fall. For some reason, I get a lot more enjoyment out of daylight now. So, as it starts to get dark early, I get depressed. It's especially bad when day light saving time is over. Everything feels very claustrophobic.

The one upside is that leading into this bleak period, the weather becomes pleasant and the trees are.pretty. I think we're at the onset of that now. I got to enjoy some of that when I rode up to westfield the other day. Apparently, they extended the bike path over passed the really sandy section, but not over the scary train trestle.

Also, will there ever be a time when I'm next to the southwick dirt jumps and I'm not on a road bike?

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Take back Farmington Ave

Get out, make some noise.  Tomorrow (Friday) morning.  Put bikes and feet on the street.  West Hartford citizens are taking action.

http://www.courant.com/community/west-hartford/hc-west-hartford-bike-event-1004-20121003,0,2963673.story

http://www.bikewesthartford.org/news.html

http://www.facebook.com/groups/ 481797585166434/

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Canoe race!

Envisionmess?

Discover Hartford? I live in Hartford! There's nothing left to discover.

What you really need is a canoe race. I missed the one on the Hockanum back in the Spring, but another one is coming up and it partially benefits a good cause (not that the other part benefits a bad cause, I think it just benefits canoe racing, which is still a pretty good cause).

So, anyway, come down to the Nayaug Canoe and Kayak Race on Oct. 7. Here's the schedule of events. From a cyclist's standpoint, the race can be watched from the meadows, which always a nice place to be.

The part that benefits is the paddle with a pro and it benefits traumatic brain injury. Joe Damon, who has tbi, is organizing that part. Here's some info about paddle with a pro:

• Can you describe the new Paddle With a Pro event?  Who is eligible to enter and how and when do they register?  When will it take pace?  What is the cost/suggested donation?  How many people can participate?

PWaP is a benefit event of the NCR, which teams up a novice canoeist. The pro should offer casual paddling instructions. Paddlers must be over 10 years old and are selected by a random drawing of tickets in a hat. There will be  6 paddlers selected to paddle with one of 6 pros. The minimum donation is $10 and we hope that folks will purchase several chances to improve their odds of being selected in the drawing. Proceeds benefit the Brain Injury Alliance of Connecticut. The PWaP event will be held at 12:30, after the pro races and before the novice level races. The paddler drawing selection is at noon.

After paddling with a pro, you'll totally be ready to win the race next year.


Pictured above, of course, is the Hockanum, where I missed my chance for canoe glory this year. Read more!

Are you ready to get out and ride (greater) Hartford?

Open letter to folks that like to have fun,

Get off your ass and ride both these great events in Hartford happening within a week of each other.  Tell your friends, co-workers, and perfect strangers that they are total dorks if they don't show.  Hartford's bike culture is rising like ocean sea levels - started slowly, but now we're picking up speed.  Watch out for bike flooding in low lying areas.

Real Ride - Riding Around a Tree - Saturday, September 22nd.  

• There will be three sound systems (think boom box times 10) blasting tunes from bike trailers.  Front, middle, and tail of the group.  An upgrade over previous rides.
• Meet at Real Art Ways (56 Arbor Street, Hartford) to fancy up your bicycle. Cover yourself with things that glow and blink. We ride once the sun has set. Light up the night on this guided bike party through Greater Hartford.  We all leave together, pause a few times to regroup and finish at Real Art Ways for snacks, sips and tunes. 
• Highlighting this ride: Adam Niklewicz 's "Walking Around a Tree" projection will make its debut on Saturday, September 22 on the facade of the AT&T building downtown. "Walking Around A Tree," along with the sculpture/installation "The Charter Oak" on 215 Pearl Street, is a collaborative effort between the artist, the City of Hartford, The Wadsworth Atheneum and Real Art Ways. 
• The ride is FREE. Refreshments and light-up accessories will be available at the cafe for purchase.

Discover Hartford Bicycle Tour - Saturday, September 29th (NEW ROUTES)

• Family-friendly, leisurely ride to discover Hartford's neighborhoods, parks and architectural and cultural gems.  Choose from 10-,  25-, or 40-mile routes.  Registration / check in begins at 7AM in Bushnell Park and the rides leave at 9AM.
• Online Registration is open.  $30 for Bike Walk CT members and $40 for non-members.   Online registration ends on September 27th, and goes up to $45 for everyone day of the event.  
• Proceeds benefit Bike Walk CT, the organization making you safer with the 3-foot law and vulnerable user legislation.  Bike Walk CT gets more bike commuters on the road with the very successful Bike to Work events.  You can learn how to ride the streets safely with their Traffic Skills 101 course.
• Volunteers are still needed.  You can sign up online.
• Spread the word by inviting your bike loving (or bike curious) friends to the event on Facebook.

See you out there.

Tony C

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Cheap or expensive?

 

When people started singlespeed mountain biking back in the Tour de France or the 1870s or whatever, there weren't really any singlespeed frames. People took old ones with vertical drop outs or horizontal drop outs and used tensioners or didn't. Therefore, the bikes were pretty cheap. I've only read about this, because I think it took a long time to get to Connecticut and I wasn't born yet or something. Now, as you know, they make whole bikes of this sort of and they're fancy and not fancy, but with the exception of Redline Monocogs, I only ever see the fancy ones.

Anyway, which way is it meant to be? The lowest functional thing that can get you through the woods or the artisanal jewel? Can they co-exist?

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Very slow ride

Some years ago, erstwhile beat bike blogger El Presidente de Chine (de Cine?) wrote about riding slowly. People were way into it. I don't own a Raleigh 20 folding bike, so I was unable to get into it. I wish I owned a folding bike, because I'd like something that I could take on an Amtrak train. Johanna has this old JC Higgins kid's banana seat bike in Vermont that makes me ride slow, but in addition to being very hard to ride  farther than a mile, the tires are always exploding. So, I don't ride it very much.

I do like the idea of going slow. I mean, if you've seen me race, you've seen me go slow. I also like walking slowly. I canoe slowly. When I grill things, it usually takes four hours.

So, to add that ethos to a bike ride, I decided that I should go fishing in the middle of it. This is distinct from riding to a place to go fishing, this is fishing during a bike ride. I rode 15 miles yesterday in 3 1/2 hours. Very slow!

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Broken Shoes

How long are cycling shoes supposed to last? I used to have a pair of Cannondale shoes and they broke after two and a half seasons. The plate where the cleat mounted detached from the rest of the sole and would flex a lot and make it difficult last night. Up until last night, I had a pair of Answer shoes. I knew they were on the way out because they were developing holes, but they failed because the left shoe's sole detached from the upper. It was an interesting feeling. Those lasted three and a half seasons. May my knee over pedal spindle is all wrong.

I bought a pair of Carnac shoes. I hope these work ok. Maybe four and a half seasons?

Also, I narrowly avoided this cute guy and wowed him with my bike handling skills.

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It's not alright. He was 8 yrs old.

Last Thursday Elijah Montalvan was struck by a car and he died on Saturday, September 1st, 2012.  He was riding at night, pretty damn late, and was struck by a driver with a suspended license and no insurance.  It doesn't say in the article, but I can almost guarantee that there wasn't a bike helmet or bike lights involved.  How many things are wrong with this?  Too many.

The street where Elijah was hit is a curving, dense neighborhood drive thick with parallel parking.  No one in that neighborhood should be driving over 25 mph.  When we put up the entirely avoidable ghost bike on Monday  there was a lot of car traffic, much of it moving much too quickly.  When someone gets in a car, why is it that  concern for others usually gets left behind?  Shaving 20 seconds on my 5 minute drive to the grocery store somehow warrants risking life and limb of children in the neighborhood.

Linda was our inspiration for putting together a ghost bike for Elijah.  She is just one year past the death of her partner, Will Laramie, who was struck by a repeat drunk driver.  Linda was planning to put up a ghost bike back up on Burnside, locking it securely this time so the bike isn't lifted by scrappers.  The intersection where Will was struck, Burnside and Larrabee, needs some work.  While mounting the bike, we chatted about how the intersection would be safer for bikes and pedestrians if instead of a speed encouraging Y-intersection, the streets came together perpendicularly.  This would reduce speeds through the intersection and provide better sight lines.  Much thanks to the always vigilant and motivated Kevin Sullivan for finding the youth bike and towing the bikes over to East Hartford.

The question is, "Will East Hartford take the tragic death of Elijah, and many other cyclist deaths in their city, and choose to take action?"  Bike Walk Connecticut has education programs that can be implemented in schools, and the annual Will Laramie Benefit Concert was organized to help benefit / support that type of education.  Ghost bikes can only do so much.  The next step is making bicycle safety education part of a child's education.  Kids learn how to play bean bag dodge in gym class, why not basic cycling safety?  Cycling safety education could even be worked into a recess program.

Note:  For those that know me well.  The Burnside ghost bike is the Huffy Sweekstakes, also known as Good Vibrations Deluxe.

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East Coast Greenway comes to Hartford

Wrapping up a seven day tour from Portland, Maine to Hartford, Connecticut, a triumphant group of cyclists finished with a 60 mile leg starting in Putnam and finishing in Hartford.  The cyclists are experiencing and celebrating the East Coast Greenway one week at a time.  Last year the cyclists rode from Calais, ME to Portland.  Next year the cyclists will be starting in Hartford, CT and finishing 7 days south of here.  Where?  I'm not sure.  The rides are FREE for ECG members.  Pretty sweet, huh?  Something to keep on the radar for next year.  At some point I'd like to ride the full route from Key West to Calais, ME ~ 3,000 miles.

The riders were met in Bushnell Park by Mayor Segarra, who recently showed his bike / ped chops by riding to the Bike to Work Breakfast.  The Mayor has a real bicycle advocate on his staff, Thom Deller, so expect change in a good way.  Thom came to Hartford from Providence, RI and did great stuff for that city.

The enthusiastic DJ welcoming the riders was perhaps a little hard of hearing...

Have you registered yet for the Discover Hartford Parks Tour?  Rapidly approaching on Saturday, September 29th.  Still looking for volunteers too if you can't cough up the dough to ride. Read more!

Bald Mountain Failure

Several months ago, I endeavored to ride a difficult ride. It was to be in Vermont and go up Bald Mountain (in Westmore). Bald Mountain is taller than Burke, but shorter than Gore and an East Mountain that is somewhere in Essex County. I thought it was the tallest one around, but it looks like it's only the tallest one in Orleans County and the third highest in the Northeast Kingdom. I snowshoed up it this winter and it was enjoyable. I even wrote about it on this very blog, sort of. The icy window is the observation tower. There are two trails that go up to the summit, so an out and back isn't required. This led me to the conclusion that I should ride my bike up it. There'd only be like a mile or two of hike-a-bike. So, in May I attempted that, but got lost because I couldn't find the eastern trail head and wandered down some moose trail for a while and cut my legs up pretty bad. Two days ago, I did it and didn't get lost. There was a bunch of hiking, but it wasn't all hiking and the descent was fun. Hikers were perplexed.

It just goes to show that there's much more to the Northeast Kingdom than Kingdom Trails. Not that I have anything against Kingdom Trails.

I also put a sweet grocery basket on the Pueblo and rode it with flip flops on.

The spring in Sutton quotes Auden now.

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What a difference an inch makes

That's what she said!

Sorry. Our blog is usually lacking in terrible humor (always lacking in good humor). Anyway, I took the ferry over to the Meshomasic State Forest the other day and went mountain biking. It was very enjoyable. I was thinking, while going down some rocky, washed out descent (as they are there), I'm not crashing and generally out of control like I have been lately. I realized that it's probably because my tires are about an inch wider than they are on my 'cross bike. It's realizations like this that make people think I'm not too bright and they're totally correct.

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Diminishing returns

It's another one of those transitional periods when I start to neglect the beat bike blog. Sorry, beat bike blog.

Limed fields in the meadows look like summer snow.

In other news, I have become quite terrible at riding a bike. I went down to the Blowhole Monday afternoon and crashed five times! Really, five times! I also almost lost my pump. Maybe it's 'cross bike overload or something. I rode out to Penwood last week and double flatted. The bike is definitely trying to tell me something.

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I need some bike mechanics.

Heya kiddos.  The Discover Hartford Parks Tour is Saturday, September 29th.  I'm looking for 6-8 mobile bike mechanics / route marshals.  Anyone interested should drop me a line.

You'll need some basic bike maintenance skills, and the ability to ride 10-25 miles - slowly.  Will also want 1-2 folks to be mechanics / sweeps for the 40 mile route.  I've heard that there are some world class bike mechanics that read the Beat Bike Blog.  Time to come out of the shadows and support a great event.  You'll need to bring your own basic tools and a pump - basically what you might bring on a multi-day tour.  I'll round up some tubes and patch kits to distribute.

You also get a free entry - and probably a t-shirt from the event.

Note:  Registration for the tour is now open.  If you don't want to volunteer, you should register now.  It's only $25 for Bike Walk CT members if you register before August 29th.  And help us spread the word with this Facebook invitation! Read more!

Flower Street Scoop

I was hoping for a rope swing to get over the busway at Flower Street.

A source has forwarded an email to the beat bike blog from the Department of Transportation with some positive news regarding the disposition of Flower Street. It looks the DOT may have realized that the busway should accommodate its neighbors and human-powered modes of transportation.

To wit:

The Commissioner requested that we examine the feasibility of several options for maintaining pedestrian access between the two neighborhoods during construction to the extent it can be allowed by ongoing construction activity, as well as maintaining or creating access long term after opening day.

For the construction period he requested us to look for opportunities in the construction schedule when access for pedestrians could be maintained.   Any access during construction will definitely require the design and installation of a new crossing with gate protection, and probably will also require relocations of existing sidewalks with clearly defined pathways to the crossings.  When the access can be open to pedestrians, the design of the new sidewalks and gates will have to steer pedestrians clear of the active construction zones and lay-down areas so the pathway may well move to different locations at different times during construction.  But it is understood that there will be significant periods when access is prohibited during construction.

For the post-construction period, he requested us to do an initial feasibility review for at-grade or grade-separated pathways for pedestrians.  If an at-grade crossing cannot be designed to meet the state and federal standards, then a  grade-separated option should be examined for feasibility.

One concept that was raised by a party at yesterday’s field trip was to build a switchback ramp beginning at grade on Flower Street and going perpendicular to Flower under the highway viaduct, then crossing the tracks and CTfastrak in roughly the current Flower Street alignment but above-grade.  The same kind of ramp and switchback might be required on the south side of the tracks but would not be constrained by the viaduct overhead.

Another option raised was to do a straight ramp/sidewalk that starts on the north side of the highway viaduct by the Aetna driveway  and roughly follows the alignment of the current Flower Street sidewalk across the tracks and CTfastrak, returning to grade on the south side along the Courant parking lot and sidewalk.  Might  the grades in the area make it viable for such a grade-separated ramp/sidewalk to meet allowable ADA grades without switchbacks?   Also, bringing the ramp/sidewalk down on the Courant side will have a long run and we need to avoid interfering with the access to the parking lot.

The final option to be examined would be a very quick feasibility of a Flower Street roadway bridge that grade-separates Flower Street from the crossing.  This option is no doubt very problematic and very expensive.  But if it is not technically feasible, let’s present the details of the analysis which should then allow us to rule it out conclusively.  Clearly there are several key issues, any one of which could be a show-stopper.  Given that you have to take off from Flower on the north side and elevate the roadway to approximately 22 feet over the Amtrak tracks, is there enough space to reach that elevation over the tracks and still leave adequate vertical clearance for the roadway under the viaduct?  As the roadway comes down to grade on the south side, the roadway and retaining walls likely block off access to the Courant building and its loading dock, and for what distance up towards Capitol Avenue does the raised roadway run?  What other issues?

Finally, I know we’re already working on the feasibility of several options to keep the roadway and pedestrian pathways open for as long as possible.  We should finalize our conclusions for the latest date by which we must close the roadway.  And, if, in the event there is no viable, feasible and safe pedestrian option, we should also determine what is the latest date by which we would have to close the pedestrian pathway permanently.

The Commissioner would like these analyses to be done within three weeks, so that should give you some guidance as to the level of detail and effort that is desired or required in order to get these initial feasibility analyses to a point where decisions can be made.

I could summarize, but I thought this email excerpt would not miss points that I might. Feasibility studies are often the start of positive developments with the bike/ped stuff we care about (see Putnam Bridge). None the less, interested parties need to stay on top of this. Read more!

Thoughts on Flower Street

You may recall that the Putnam Bridge was supposed to be refurbished and the DOT declared that a bike/ped lane was impossible. There was no possible way. No amount of engineering could get a bike/ped lane on the Putnam Bridge. People got angry. People leaned on their elected officials. Suddenly, the Putnam Bridge developed a way for things other than cars to get across.

Flower Street is a very similar thing, but where are our elected officials on this? Rep. Gonzales has been silent and so far Sen. Fonfara has been, too. Clearly, constituents are riled up, and for good reasons. I saw that the Mayor wrote a letter, but the DOT is going to listen to State legislators, not municipal people. They control the DOT budget, not the towns.

There's an obvious and appreciable negative economic impact here and I cannot fathom why DOT is being so tone deaf. Must be the engineers' superiority complex. Read more!

DOT Violates Own Policy

Photo by Christopher Brown, used with permission // Looking north on Flower Street.

During the winter-that-wasn't, James Redeker, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation assured cyclists that the DOT was entering a new era, taking seriously the safety of cyclists through initiatives like the New Britain-Hartford Busway (now called CTfastrak).

We thought those promises were too good to be true.

Now, in August, the DOT is telling cyclists that their safety is, well, you know, whatever. They are doing this through a plan to permanently close Flower Street -- a small street connecting Capitol Avenue with Farmington Avenue -- in Hartford. Cyclists have been told to use Broad Street, one block away. This would not be a terrible idea, if Broad Street were remotely bike-friendly and not due for major construction starting tomorrow.

People are pissed.There is a public hearing slated for Thursday at the DOT. Read more!