Learning the Hard Way

Here's a question to get you thinking.  How did you learn to cross railroad tracks at a ninety degree angle?  Did you learn about the safer method in gym class at school, during your driver education course, or via a public safety announcement?  Probably not.  If you're like me, you learned the hard way - by having your bicycle abruptly disappear and finding yourself pitched head first into the traffic lane.  I won't forget that lesson, but I would rather have learned it minus the crash.  This is but one example of many dangerous situations that arise for cyclists that haven't taken a course in cycling safety.  Based on the crash data, just knowing what those dangerous situations are and having a basic safe cycling skill set can address a large majority of the risk in using a bicycle - for both transportation and recreation.

There is a dearth (scarcity) of education for cyclists that are looking for information and skills on how to ride safely and competently.  From  grade school through teenage years and into adulthood,  there really isn't embedded education that familiarizes cyclists with the tools needed to ride safely.  Imagine if a fraction of the time and effort spent teaching teens how to drive was dedicated to education on safe cycling, pedestrian safety, and transit.  The focus on one preferred means of transportation, the car, biases those teens toward driving as the socially acceptable option.   It also leaves those that choose to do something other than drive a car pretty clueless.  As captured in the introduction, I initially took the clueless route to earning my stripes as an occasionally bruised, but now much safer, bicycle commuter.

It's clearly not efficient, or safe, to learn how to ride by screwing up a lot and gathering advice in bits and pieces from other more experienced riders.  After a lifetime of going about this the hard way, I took Traffic Skills 101 (TS101) and followed that up with the League Cycling Instructor (LCI) training.  Now I can do my part to spread some very powerful information by teaching Traffic Skills 101 to other riders.  The next course in Hartford is planned for Sunday, March 30th.   You can register online through Bike Walk Connecticut.  If you want to spread the word about the TS101 course, you should invite others to this Facebook Event.

Traffic Skills 101 is a  comprehensive, full-day program for adults and mature teens who want to improve their street riding skills and increase their cycling knowledge. The course includes classroom time, parking lot drills, and a road ride.   Many different types of cyclists will benefit from taking TS101.  It is ideal for cyclists who want to build upon the basics, those returning to cycling from a long hiatus, people who want to be more independent on their bike, and those looking for more confidence cycling in traffic. The class also satisfies the requirements to pursue a League Cycling Instructor certification through the League of American Bicyclists.

Part of the reason for holding this early Spring course is to support the League Cycling Instructor course planned for April 17th through April 20th in Simsbury.  The LCI course is a specialized bicycle boot camp to train the trainers, and it is intense.  Those that pass the weekend course go on to teach courses like TS101 and other critical courses, including school based programs that have started in several CT communities, such as South Windsor and Simsbury.  Educating children and teens about bicycle safety is part of the solution to allow a safe transition toward a less car dependent future.

I'm also excited to be organizing a June 7th event in Hartford, Dinner and Bikes.  There will be a vegan buffet dinner, bicycle short films, and a book talk by Elly Blue on Bikenomics, How Bicycling Can Save the Economy.  More info to follow in a later post, but make sure you leave that Saturday night open.  Put it on your calendars now, as I know June can be a busy month.

Note to Loyal BBB Readers - I would love if all 9 of you would share in the comments something  you "Learned the Hard Way".  It doesn't even have to be about cycling.  I've got so many that I could write a book.

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No bikes

Not a lot of bike talk lately. The snow is high and the roads are unpleasant.

So, the hearty have transitioned to skiing for recreation.

I've skied all over the place lately and it's really improved my mid-winter outlook on life.

There was some great snow last night that ameliorated the nasty crust. I went over to Cedar Mountain for a little while and I felt like one of those backcountry skiers who are so cool right now.

Last weekend I skied at Craftsbury Outdoors Center, which is such a cool place.

Johanna liked it, too. 

All the skate skiers zoomed past me, but I quashed my insecurities by reminding myself that I could also ski the snowshoe trails. 

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Cycling and Hartford Conclusion

Cycling and Hartford: Coda

So where do we go from here? I don't know, because the big picture looks (note "looks" in italics, i.e. not "is") bleak. If I try to put a positive face on it, I could rationalize that pragmatism has also a positive flip-side and, that is, it's important to solve small problems first. Politics is often very adept at that, too, especially when it originates with grass roots movements. One hopes then that the chain of interlinking solutions to local problems then creates a new kind of attitude and practice (let's call it an ethos) that leads to even more significant changes. In this sense the Flower St. closing (in Hartford) is symptomatic of the larger problem of a more sustainable Hartford. The city and the state have built the busway in part because it will help relieve traffic congestion in the city. This is very good, of course, and it's also apparently in line with increased sustainability. At the same time, however, closing Flower St. to cyclists, pedestrians, and, in fact, local inhabitants essentially ignores the quality of life of these groups, who don't need the busway and who have the most invested in the city (because they live there). This is not sustainability. Some will argue that the street closing is a necessary tradeoff that serves a greater, public good. In pure numbers, perhaps this is true. Even if the busway were to serve many more people than expected and even if, then, these commuters were to frequent local businesses, etc… couldn't the city and the state have found a better solution than closing off the street? (The pedestrian and cycling detour is not just an inconvenience it's an added blight, also.) After all, isn't the best longterm investment and resource of a city the people that populate it? The Flower St. closing has been on my mind, not because I personally feel aggrieved by it, but because it is symptomatic of the things we need to do better.

The Italian philosopher, Antonio Gramsci, wrote that we must be intellectually pessimistic, but we must also have an optimistic will. With Hartford's rich cycling legacy, you would think that we would have a lot to build on for a sustainable future, beginning with the bicycle.

A short list of sources:

Russell Arben Fox, "Bicycling and the Simple Life." Cycling: Philosophy for Everyone: A Philosophical Tour de Force. Eds, Jesús Ilundáin-Agurruza & Michael W. Austin. Sussex, UK: Wiley, 2010:94-105.

Todd Balf, Major: A Black Athlete, a White Era, and the Fight To Be the World's Fastest Human Being. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2008.

Wiebe E. Bijker, "King of the Road: The Social Construction of the Safey Bicycle." Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs. Toward a Theory of Sociotechnical Change. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995:19-100.

Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities. Transl. William Weaver. New York: Harcourt, 1974.

Connecticut History Online. http:www.cthistoryonline.org

Stephen B. Goddard, Colonel Albert Pope and His American Dream Machines. The Life and Times of a Bicycle Tycoon Turned Automotive Pioneer. Jefferson, NC & London: McFarland & Co., 2000.

David Herlihy, Bicycle, The History. New Haven: Yale U Press, 2004.

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Cycling and Hartford Part IV

Cadenza/coda to come tomorrow.


Cycling and Hartford: Pt. IV: Build it and they will come?

But they don't have to, of course. We might be a nation that is ostensibly obsessed with gun "rights" when, instead, we should be more concerned with air and water quality, food security, and other pressing problems but these are the contradictions of "modernity" some might say. And we are definitely addicted to oil and gas but not necessarily because of natural causes but for historical reasons as we have mentioned before. As cities, like Hartford adapt and reinvent themselves does the bicycle fit into the changing urban landscape? Local associations and organizations like BikeWalk do their best to motivate cycle commuting, and we've even seen Pope-era kinds of developments in the second-half of the 20th C and in the first decade of this century in terms of cycling infrastructure. When I came to Hartford in 1966 (we lived on Webster St., near New Britain Ave.) the only cyclists I ever saw were "bicyclists", that is, children on "play bikes" and tricycles. The bicycle was basically viewed as a toy. No one. And I mean, no adult, rode a bike (at least in my very defective memory). As a teenager I bought my first ten speed (a French bike by the ominous name of "Unic Sport") and these were my wheels even after I got my driver's license. Sound familiar (except for maybe the "Unic Sport" part)? Fast forward (from the OPEC oil crisis of the early '70's when "economy" cars became popular in the U.S. and when commuting cycling became more prevalent) to our own time, we see more riders on the road. The infrastructure is much better, too, with the rails-to-trails movement, the Greenway, and consideration paid in many towns and cities to multi-use paths. In Hartford, marked bike lanes are intended to slow down car traffic and make cyclists more visible in some of the heavier trafficked intersections. All of this is thanks to advocacy groups working with local administrations. Urban cycling activists will often point to Portland and to several European cities and to the importance of bike share programs, etc… as instances of innovative urban planning, although in Portland it was more an epiphenomenon of the pre-existing cycling culture which won over city-hall. Ignoring our cold, wet winters, Hartford is uniquely suited for increased urban cycling because of its network of parks and its history with the bicycle. Yet, for all these opportunities cycling is not considered a means of urban revitalization in Hartford except by a small group of people. Implementing simple measures to improve conditions for cyclists would likely yield a more positive cost-benefit ratio in the long term than many other costly and ambitious public projects. More so, if we consider not only the effects for commuting cyclists, but for citizens in general (less noise and pollution). Moreover, even mass transit projects like the busway in Hartford is intended to serve people who do not necessarily live in the city, but suburbanites who make their living there. But is the difference between promoting less-costly innovative cycling projects and exorbitant expensive mass transit ones is that the former don't involve enough pork to make leaders and interested parties (who stand to gain from them) turn their heads. Unless cycling can quantitatively demonstrate that it can improve people's lives, enhance the real estate market, and create jobs (or at least be an important effect of it, as in Pope's day), it will be viewed by most as a marginal activity practiced by a "virtuous" (or foolish, depending on your perspective) minority of citizens (unless and until there is some critical threshold of cyclists).


Environmental and economic sustainability typically involves making tradeoffs, sacrificing something important and lucrative now for a longer term cost-saving objective. Shifting from gas to alternative energies is an expensive proposition, except in the longer term, as we know. And even if it were "impossibly" expensive, we might still have to do it. We often complain about the prices of things, but to sustain a quality of life for consumers and producers alike, we need to pay more for these goods and services. There are just too many negative hidden costs to our current lifestyle. But there are many sustainable choices that are actually far more fiscally smart and feasible in the short term, such as enhancing the cycling infrastructure, that would certainly be worth the price. It's an easy fix in other words. So, where is American pragmatism when you need it? Born in part from a frugal, hardworking, and dogged frontier mentality (also from the Protestant work ethic) American pragmatism conceptually works against sustainability because, by definition, "pragmatism" is primarily about the concrete and the present, not so much about the possible and the future. Think short term, not the long term. Consumer consumption, (since Thorstein Veblen theorized anyway) relies on an extreme version of pragmatism, now applies to a broad swath of the middle class and not just to wealthy elites . Think of the effects of it, the use and abuse of disposable goods filling up landfills. The most conspicuous of conspicuous consumptions is the mindless practice of accumulating unnecessary goods and disposing them irresponsibly as soon as they are no longer desired. Conspicuous consumption (which is the backbone of mass culture) is unsustainable.
So where do we go from here? Read more!

Cycling and Hartford Part III

More from Dario:

For the love of the bicycle

But before I explain what I mean by "And it gets worse", let's double back to an important love of our life: cycling? Cycling was born in England as an athletic, agonistic, class conscious, and elitist activity, not as an everyman, humble means of transportation. Only the wealthy, once upon a time, recreated. So, it makes sense that mastering an Ordinary (a high wheeler, a "Penny-farthing") would require the extensive leisure to do so. This was initially the case in the U.S., too. Mark Twain famously tried, unsuccessfully, to tame the tall beast, but he could afford the time and expense to learn how to ride (if he had only really tried). Cycling up until about the mid-1880's was the stuff of mainly well-to-do men and a few iconoclastic women. When eventually prices dropped for these expensive contraptions, people of lower social classes could afford them. A middle or even working class man on a high wheeled Ordinary riding alongside an aristocrat on a horse would literally see eye to eye. Metaphorically, the playing field had been leveled (and never underestimate the power of metaphors). When Pope began producing his version of the "Safety" bicycle, that is, the classic diamond shape design with two wheels of equal diameter, everything changed. Although expensive at first, prices dropped as competition from other producers, a more efficient production process, and the sheer volume of bicycles made and sold in the U.S. increased. Pope's genius was also in having promoted the production of the step-through version of the Safety bicycle for women (in the background of the image of the male Safety), thereby, opening up a huge market and also contributing, as Susan B. Anthony proclaimed, an important instrument to the promotion of women's liberation. Histories of the bicycle are filled with references to the democratizing effect of the bicycle.
Cycling in the 1890's was all the rage in the U.S. and elsewhere, especially competitive cycling. Major Taylor was perhaps the first, truly international American superstar athlete. And he was black. The League of American Wheelmen had been created in 1880, the mother of all affiliate clubs throughout the country. There were velodromes in many cities and major competitive races, track and road, including a velodrome in East Hartford. Pope promoted good roads and cycling parks to enhance the market for bicycles. Seemingly inhuman speed and endurance races captivated the American and European imagination from about the 1890's into the beginning of the 20th C. Then the bottom fell out, as they say. Cycling declined in popularity with respect to the initial craze. Certainly a less costly automobile (Ford's car for everyman as opposed to Pope's car for the wealthy) began to dominate the landscape. But this doesn't explain why we jumped into cars spending a lot more money and not using bicycles, for example, for commuting short distances, as happens everyday in many cities around the world. Marketing, irrationalism, desire to be better, faster than your neighbor, or even inertia are all logical and possibly good reasons. Time is money.

To answer this, perhaps we need to look at our own era. First, Greg Lemond, and then Lance Armstrong (however steep his fall from grace has been) helped make road racing enormously popular in the U.S. While they certainly contributed to the production and sales of higher end racing machines, did they actually contribute to cycling, meaning, recreational and commuter cycling? Did the people who went out and bought an expensive racing machine, ride outside of this specific conspicuous consumer activity (racing, fast club riding)? There is an uncanny parallel between the cycling paradigm in Major Taylor's era and in our own. Has this predilection for agonistic cycling been an impediment to the development of the bicycle as a means of transportation in the U.S.? And if this is true for us, why isn't it true for some countries in Europe, where there are many commuting cyclists?

At the end of the last post, the reflective interlude, I intimated that "And it gets worse", which I reprise in the introduction of this entry. If sustainability is about making conscious choices and mainstream American society and culture actively avoids sustainability, then this impulse to avoid is not only because of economic opportunism, but avoidance has also become an ingrained habit and even a cultural norm with ideological underpinnings. Indeed, things get worse. Read more!

Cycling and Hartford Part II

Dario continues:

Cycling and Hartford: Pt. II: Col. Pope and the Paradox of Progress

Hartford. 1895. Albert Augustus Pope, a Civil War veteran and Boston entrepreneur intuits that the cycling craze is at its height. Besides being a brilliant and savvy businessman, Pope, from a distinguished line of Boston entrepreneurs (mostly, lumber) has a sixth sense about these things. The commercial apex of the bicycle in the U.S., with literally hundreds of Columbia bicycles churned out on a daily basis at the Pope Manufacturing Co. on Capitol Ave. in Hartford is the sign that the apex is also the zenith. Pope puts his hopes and business acumen into the electric car. He even buys out George Selden's patent for the gasoline engine to head the competition off at the pass. But Pope's electric car doesn't catch on because the electric companies can't really see a profit in installing stations for charging the engine batteries. Plus, batteries don't hold a charge for long. Instead, there is plenty of gas in the earth and fewer technical issues with those filthy, greasy, smoking engines. Pope eventually sells a part of his claim on the patent to a cartel of fledgling car companies, perhaps with the idea that he can still maintain some profits and royalties. Henry Ford, as we all know, will eventually win the day, of course, stealing Selden's gas engine and thumbing his nose at the competition, and finally crushing his adversaries, including Col. Pope, in court. 

For a moment though, a brief moment, Hartford was not only the bicycle capital of the U.S., but also the automotive capital. (We could have been driving electric cars in 1900 and Lord knows what the technology would be like today!). Pope's legacy, beside Columbia bicycles and Pope cars, is that he created the Great Roads Movement. To sell more bicycles, Pope understood that we would have to improve the rutted, rocky dirt lanes that were just good enough for horse carts. Thus, the "roadification" of the U.S. was Pope's dream for the bicycle. And even after he formally retired from making bicycles and cars, he continued to promote and to lobby for paved roads throughout the U.S.. 

In the following image looking toward the state capitol, Pope Manufacturing, Capitol Avenue, we see the Pope factory on Capitol Ave (on the left) and the housing Pope built for his skilled workers (on the right). In this link, I-84 viaduct, you can see the area in the foreground where the Pope Manufacturing Co. once was. You can also see quite obviously the I-84 viaduct that bisects the city and gargantuan Aetna which rises beyond. Could Pope have foreseen this development, a day when there would be as many roads as, if not more than, people? How many occupants are in each of those cars? How much space is required for each of the vehicles? Was this Pope's and Ford's view of progress? From the perspective of aesthetics, the environment, and sustainability, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Plus, we ain't allowed to ride our bikes on the interstate.

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Rising from Ashes - Movie on February 4th

Heya bike folks.  I know you are jonesing for your bike that was put away months ago or is perhaps suffering with you through the winter on your stationary trainer.  Since Hartford loves you and we know that S.A.D. for cyclists is particularly harsh, there is a cycling movie at the Wadsworth on Tuesday, February 4th.

Here's the blurb.  Hope to see a bunch of folks out there.  Discount for Bike Walk Connecticut members.

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Don't miss the inspiring film "Rising from Ashes" on Tuesday, Feb. 4th at 7 p.m. at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. “Rising fromAshes” is a feature length documentary about two worlds colliding when cycling legend Jock Boyer moves to Rwanda, Africa to help a group of struggling genocide survivors pursue their dream of a national team. As they set out against impossible odds both Jock and the team find new purpose as they rise from the ashes of their past.


Informal happy hour meetup at the nearby Arch Street Tavern at 5PM, a short walk from the museum. In addition to popcorn, candy, and soda the theater has beer and wine available at their concession if you can't make it in time for happy hour.


Previous cycling films at have SOLD OUT so your best bet is to secure a ticket online ahead of time. For tickets, go to http://www.thewadsworth.org/events/films/. Discounted $10 admission for Bike Walk Connecticut and museum members, otherwise $12.

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Cycling and Hartford Part I

In a departure from the junk I usually write about cold feet, some slight by a faceless driver or comparisons of eggs and pedals we will feature some guest posts by Dario about cycling and the history of Hartford. One may not think about Hartford's rich cycling past when riding around these days because it's been obscured and generally erased by years of pro-car planning choices and neglect. So, read what Dario has written and either get depressed about once was or hopeful that our city can rejoin its past and have roads dominated by people and not machines.

Cycling and Hartford: Introduction

As everyone knows, Hartford was once renowned for its manufacturing and not only for its insurance companies. I've dipped into a few books about cycling and about Hartford during the late 19th and early 20th C and they got me thinking. Cycling was all the craze because human-powered locomotion was exciting, and man had never gone so fast. Cyclists were even beating horses in races. The craze fizzled quickly however, lasting only about 15-20 years (ca. 1880-1900), with the development of gas engine vehicles, the car in the early 20th C, and then, of course, with the Wright Bros. flying invention. Cycling enjoyed its heyday, like Hartford (although the city's fortunes began long before and lasted long after). And then it was over! It's fascinating and also a little sad. We have come to accept the excuse that cities everywhere have their great moments and then they decline, whether it's the small northeastern manufacturing town or the sprawling industrial cities of the Midwest. Cities are places where people make lots of money.

Take Albert Pope, for example. The bicycle and then auto entrepreneur-magnate did much to help Hartford. He was in it for profit, too, of course. But he also had a sense of people and of the place. When the capitalist winds shift (that is, industries come and go), cities' fortunes often shift with them, and the same occurred in Hartford to a great degree. In the next several "posts", I want to briefly reflect on why cities change. And I also want to reflect on cycling, too. But I also want to reflect on memory and time in terms of cycling, the city of Hartford, and the prospects of sustainability. That's a lot. And it will be confused. But, hopefully, it will also be a little interesting.

Cycling and Hartford: Pt. I: "Why cities change?"

Cities change because they are living organisms. When we first think of cities, we think of buildings, roads, commerce, finance, entertainment. Cities are places of exchange and intense interactions between and among people. But unlike their inhabitants, cities typically have a longer, much longer, life cycle. But they, too, eventually exhibit similar life patterns, without necessarily dying off completely. It would be far too easy, therefore, to apply biological necessity to cities in order to explain why they change and decay, something along the line of, "cities must also die in order to be reborn and to thrive again." (This is true in the animal kingdom in order to perpetuate the species, but not of the places and structures created by animals. Animals and humans tend to exploit their environment and then move on. Cities do have economic ups and downs.) But there is no guarantee that once fallen they will rise again. When it comes to cities, we human beings have adopted a scorched earth policy throughout history. When cities die, they do so not because they die a necessary, natural death, but because people kill them off with the choices they make. Why do some cities, great cities continue to thrive, whereas others suffer virtual, if not real, deaths, like what seems to be taking place in Detroit? 

Urbanists and economists can explain the mechanics of a city's decline. The anthropological explanation of why major cities continue to do well, change, adapt, is because the different generations of inhabitants, whatever their own values and cultures, are personally invested in the city. They make it work. Cities die as the result of lost income (again, bankrupt Detroit) apparently, but because those with money (and not only the very wealthy) don't really care, despite the rhetoric. Otherwise, why would important corporations, for example, that are essential to the life of a given city up and leave. A city's sustainability requires a population that is invested in it. One reason why Hartford, despite its woes, is still "on the map" is because the city's longstanding institutions are still heavily invested in it, meaning, that they can't just get up and move out, like companies that move production elsewhere. It's a relatively small city with a rich legacy of cultural and educational institutions and important industries. Yet being a relatively small city with a dwindling tax base, Hartford faces significant challenges. The possibility of moving to a regional tax base to support Hartford's infrastructure is highly unlikely, although it would be the "right thing" to do economically and morally (because many people work in Hartford, but live in the wealthier neighboring suburbs). It would make the city more sustainable in transportation planning, too, for example. 

Only in recent decades do we care about the concept of sustainability and how it relates to urban areas. When resources were considered infinite (perhaps up through the 19th C and before the energy crises of the 20th C drove the point home about the limited fossil fuels), we could view cities as if they were like consumer goods, destined to be obsolete. But not anymore. Hartford, for example, has changed dramatically, from one of the great manufacturing centers to an impoverished city (albeit with lots of resources still). Hartford had and has everything going for it in terms of geography, access to important technologies and education, and an extensive infrastructure that serves not only its inhabitants, but also the many people that come in from the suburbs to work there. So, what is its problem?
Stay tuned for Part II

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Chris Brown takes on the system

Chris Brown's argument on the motion to dismiss in Brown v. Redeker and the hearing on the mandamus was today. As you can imagine, I am riddled with biases in this case, so I leave it to the apt hands of the Connecticut Mirror and CT News Junkie for stories on today's events.

I'm sure that at some point, we'll see something from Chris. Read more!

Bicycle rights!

As you know, in violation of a hearing officer's order, the DOT decided to close Flower Street in Hartford to all users of the street. This severed the only safe bicycle & pedestrian route between Asylum Hill and Frog Hollow. Not one to take this lying down, Chris Brown filed a writ of mandamus against the Commission of the DOT to order compliance with the hearing officer's order to keep the road open and in the road's stead, construct a bridge. The hearing is tomorrow and is open to the public if you are interested. See a press release below:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 20, 2014

Side Street takes center stage: Commissioner Redeker and ConnDOT personnel to testify in Flower Street Hearing this Tuesday, Jan 21, 2014 CT Superior Court 95 Washington Street, Hartford, CT 10:00 AM

Christopher Brown v. James Redeker

HARTFORD –

Frog Hollow resident and cycling advocate Christopher Brown will be in Connecticut Superior Court this Tuesday, January 21 asking that the Connecticut Department of Transportation be ordered to reopen Hartford's Flower Street and begin construction of a bridge as per an administrative law judge's orders from 2013. Brown and his attorney Ken Krayeske announced their filing of a mandamus lawsuit on behalf of the neighborhood street in November 2013.* Brown will be taking the witness stand, as will DOT Commissioner James Redeker, and additional DOT personnel.

Since August 2012, Hartford residents have been arguing with ConnDOT regarding the unnecessary closure of Flower Street to accommodate their controversial CTfastrak project. This quiet side street provided pedestrians and bicyclists safe, direct passage between the Asylum Hill and Frog Hollow neighborhoods. Flower Street was an economic lifeline for area businesses and a safe haven for bicyclists from life-threatening conditions on nearby Broad Street. When ConnDOT closed Flower Street to vehicular traffic, businesses along Capitol Avenue suffered and/or closed and bicyclists were forced to choose between dangerous intersections and perilous interstate access ramps or extended detours of a mile or more.

Brown, a League of American Bicyclists' certified bike instructor, has been advocating for Flower Street area stakeholders since ConnDOT announced the proposed closing to neighborhood residents in the summer of 2012. “Flower Street was a vital route for bicyclists and pedestrians. Its loss puts our streets' most vulnerable users directly in harm's way.” Brown said.

*On Veteran's Day November 11, 2013, the Connecticut Department of Transportation permanently closed Flower Street to pedestrians and cyclists, violating legal decisions ruling the road must remain open unless a bridge is constructed at the crossing. ConnDOT's unlawful action left no option other than litigation, Brown said.

Ed. note: I bet this is the first bicycle-related mandamus ever filed. 2nd Ed. Note: I am wrong, there's 341 N.J.Super. 77 & 659 N.Y.S.2d 388. 

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Why is it Bash Bish?

I went for a hike yesterday with Johanna and Marko in the vicinity of Bash Bish Falls upon the Taconic Trail. For someone reason, everyone I know, myself included, always wants to call "Bash Bish" "Bish Bash". My theory is that "bish bash" rhymes with "splish splash" which is sort of a waterfall sound. Upon googling Bash Bish, the legend behind the name involves capital punishment for trumped-up adultery charges, witch accusations and suicide. It's quite depressing.

I have some limited experience hiking on the Taconic Trail sort of near here on Brace Mountain. Johanna and I actually rode our bikes up it once on our most epic mountain bike adventure ever. We rode on the multi-use trail. It seemed that it was seldom a multi-used trail, because hikers were pretty surprised to see people on bikes, not in a "go away" sense, more in a confused sense.

Anyway, this rambling mess I'm writing here is vaguely premised as a way to post some nice pictures of the hike we went on yesterday.

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Bike Wedding

Some people have those weddings with themes. Those people where people ride up on horses, or skis, or or dolphins or, well, bikes. I guess these are ok, but I don't like the idea that Johanna and I have to be united by an activity or that there's some sport that's so important that we've got to put it front and center at our wedding. So, anyway, I'm not going to ride up to the altar on a bike. There's also probably not going to be an altar.

All that aside, it's very important to get married in a place with canoes & water and bikes and bike riding places. Thus, Vermont seems like a very good wedding venue.

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Trip to the skatepark

I was waiting for some emails today and I got tired of waiting for them, so I went for a bike ride. As you may recall, it was cold. Here is me yesterday:

Here was me today:

No matter the weather, I look like a dork.

Also, studs may be good on ice, but they are terrible on concrete in skateparks. Read more!

Visiting the big City

For New Year's Eve and the few days before it, Johanna and I went to New York to visit her friend. Since Johanna is nice and all and I cleaned my bike since the very muddy Newtown race, I was allowed to bring my bike. We were staying in the Upper West Side, so this would give me an opportunity to go ride New York's first legal mountain bike trails at Highbridge Park. They've been open for awhile now and there are places to ride that are bigger in Queens and Staten Island, too. There was a big deal when these first opened, but I hadn't really heard about them ever since. There was even a race there that Doug et al. won. I found some reviews that weren't particularly favorable.

I'd never been to Highbridge Park before. It's this long skinny park up in Inwood. It's quite big and is home to the oldest bridge still standing in the city. The bridge is being redone as this sort of Highline 2 thing. I was hoping I could cross it, but it's shut. They're building a really awesome skatepark in the park underneath I-95.

I wasn't totally sure where these trails were, so I started in the southern part of the park and found some vague trails, but not something that people would make a website out of. Lots of elevation change, though. Eventually, I kept going north and found the dirt jumps and the real trails. They were surprisingly technical, especially so on a 'cross bike. Aside from the dirt jumps, though, they were also pretty forgot about: trees down, lots & lots of broken glass and sort of generally unused feeling, which is of course is really weird for trails in the biggest city in the country. You'd think the place would be packed or at least not empty- save some dog walkers, a dude who had just woken up and two friendly kids smoking a blunt. It was sort of cold and it was New Year's Eve, but still. 0% of the Manhattan population wanted to go mountain biking that day? People were riding in Connecticut. It was just especially odd, because I felt like I was riding secret trails around here, but it was a legit place with a map in Manhattan. I'll never understand the big City.

Then I rode to New Jersey.

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2014 - A year of what?

What are your plans and goals for 2014 ye loyal readers of the Beat Bike Blog.  Simple stuff or grand schemes?  Were you happy with your 2013?  How will 2014 be the same or differ.

Personally I've been doing an inordinate amount of navel gazing as 2013 draws to a close.  2013 brought some very interesting "firsts", but at the same time felt a bit lacking.  The time I spent engaged and animated, fulfilled really, seemed too short when compared to the grind.   I have some thoughts on how to rebalance.  We'll see if 2014 is the year for a new direction.  If so, you'll probably see it here.

The themes of my introspection circle around global impact, community involvement, and preparedness for an uncertain future of global weirdness.  It seems that within my lifetime we may see some serious upheaval and challenges to our current state of civilization. 

The timeframe probably isn't 1-5 years, but as with car free living,  I expect that building more resilience into my life - and that of my community - has near term benefits.  There really isn't a reason to delay transitioning to a more fulfilling, happier, and less fossil fuel dependent future state.  Clinging to the status quo may have some  financial benefit as the US rides what may be the final cresting wave of frack'd oil and gas.  Staying on that wave, as greater society seems intent on doing, seems irresponsible at best.  At worst it appears catastrophic, globally and economically.

Instead of getting discouraged and carrying a dour outlook into 2014, I resolve to make what incremental changes I can.  Teach more Traffic Skills courses.  Expand my garden plot.  Can more preserves and vegetables.   Engage in community focused bicycle and pedestrian education and advocacy.  Maybe even make some more radical life changes. 

Any resolutions of your own?

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Crashing is Okay

It's that time of year again when folks at work look at the bicycle commuter with a head tilt and ask, "You didn't ride in today, did you?"  I'm toying with escalating ridiculousness in my response.  "No.  Actually I decided to ice skate."  Or, "Riding a bicycle in the winter is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of.  Do you think I'm an idiot?  I stole my neighbor's car today."  I'd be interested to hear responses from other year round commuters when this perennial question returns each winter.

As an experienced user of the bicycle, my own two feet, transit, and even the occasional car, I should be patient in my treatment of those that ask seasonal and weather related questions that can seem repetitive.  The asker of the question doesn't realize they aren't asking a novel question and therefore don't expect or deserve my impatience.  In truth the question is welcome.  If I can find a way to twist the answer in a way that catches the person's attention or makes them think, perhaps they too will look critically at their rampant single occupancy vehicle trips.   As a friend of mine likes to remind me, clever assholes don't change many minds.

On the topic of changing trends, I've seen several more winter bicycle commuters at Pratt & Whitney.  Studded tires even.  Tomorrow will be a good test of these hardy souls with the low teens and 2-4" of snow predicted.  I received several email from co-workers disappointed that the bicycle racks near their building had been removed.  Curious,  I've dropped a note to our Facilities department who may not have realized that bicycles work in cold weather too.

The CT DOT seems to forget each year that the bicycle and pedestrian crossings adjacent to the Connecticut River highway bridges also need to be cleared of snow and ice.  Eight lanes of highway can be bone dry the day after a storm, but the eight feet of multi-use path can be left for weeks unless pestering ensues.  The level of clearing doesn't match that of the highway lanes.  For example the Charter Oak Bridge was plowed, but a 1" deep layer of dense and icy remainder was left along the entire length of the crossing.  No salt or grit in sight.  There is a tight downhill turn on this crossing, and even with studs the ice can be tricky to navigate.

That brings me to my final topic.  Crashing.  I crash.  On Saturday I spent several hours riding with Salem on my Kona with studded 700x35 Nokians.  They are a bit slow and noisy, and klunky for handling on dry pavement, but they significantly reduce my crashing in the winter.  We hit the perfect level of snow on the ground, smoothing out the trails and quieting my tires.

Later in the afternoon I thought it would be fun to take my fixed gear Schwinn out for an in town trip.  It was fun, and I got to practice locking up the back tire.  Feeling pretty good about my traction and having leaned turns all morning I headed into an intersection.  The slick tires didn't do any good at all in a hard right turn on a 1/2" of packed street snow.  Sliding sideways on my hip, I sprung up and did a little "I'm okay.  Enjoy the show!" dance for the concerned onlookers.  A friendly fellow picked up my fractured rear reflector and made sure I wasn't injured.  Fortunately I've entirely given up on pride, so no other damage was sustained.  When crashing on snow you typically slide, a good way to bleed off the forward momentum.

Crashing is okay, and it can be fun.  If I didn't do it often, it would probably hurt more when it happened on rare occasion.  Falling down is part of the human condition.  It's how you get up that matters.

More hardy P&W bicycle commuters confusing their co-workers this year.

Salem leads the way

Hopefully South Windsor's Bissell Bridge will be cleared more regularly this winter 

This is what happens when you forget you're not on snow tires.

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Top 10 list

Connecticut Magazine and Hartford Magazine publish these stupid lists that rank towns in the area. As you can imagine, Hartford is always at the bottom of the list because everyone hates us. I used to think that if there was a list about rampant ATV use in public parks, Hartford would be right at the top. Sure, Tolland and bunch of places east of the river make a valiant effort, we're the best around here. Then yesterday, Salem and I were riding on that new bike path in Glastonbury. It's a very Glastonbury feeling bike path: well kept bridges, pine trees, some lights at the beginning, etc. It's not one of those Hartford or East Hartford bike paths next to an interstate highway. Well, what did we see, but crazy ATV tracks everywhere. Gravel spit all over the path, the hills on the sides totally torn up. This wasn't an ATV that took one lap of the path, this guy was out there fucking stuff up for awhile.

Geez, Glastonbury, can't we have our one thing? Read more!

Throwing down the Gauntlet, or Chris's Great Idea

You either engage or enrage.  Pick one.

What an amazing community showing at the third and final public info session.  The pitch from the seemingly professional Boston planning and marketing firm, Utile, envisioned a smooth and continuous outgrowth of the existing Downtown Hartford pattern.  Curiously, embedded in his delivery, one presenter cautioned that it is hard to understand or plan for the future that you cannot see.  The minivan or the personal computer were offered up as game changers.  I was on board for most of the presentation, the developments and plans they presented did seem to be contiguous with the fabric of downtown Hartford.  Unfortunately, the consultants not being local, missed the fact that Heaven is not and should never be a town green.  For those new to anything outside the cozy womb of downtown, Heaven is the enthusiastic remaking of an otherwise neglected city owned space bridging I-84 as a mecca of legal walls, skate park, and performance space.

Why can't the model for development in Hartford be a game changer.  The junction between Hartford's downtown and the near North area of empty lots and under utilized spaces served as a buffer, perhaps historically intentional, between an income level (and color) of residents that did not fit into the calculations for likely residents and customers in the newly developed housing proposed for the study area.  The Heaven skate and graffiti park straddling I-84 may not look like the grassy knoll that the insurance companies would instinctually prefer to overlook or walk past.  But the vibrant youth and young adults, the current makeup and future of Hartford that showed up in force, made clear that any plan for the area needs to balance the business needs with that of a rising, organic, and local creative class.  That rising tide, if not used to fuel Hartford's growth and regional draw, could turn and leave or become stagnant and frustrated in the box that they are consigned to.  You don't want to end up with frustrated graffiti artists, believe me.

I agree that there there is much opportunity in the area just North of I-84.  Open space provides a developer a blank slate without the hassle of redeveloping.  It also cuts down on demolition costs.  The vacant space often comes with funding or tax abatement from the city and / or state to fill it up with something that adds to Hartford - jobs, housing, commercial space, groceries, or even industrial.  Being a city, it is infill like this that pulls in new residents from the burbs (finally seeing the light) and is best done with some sort of plan.  Developers (large and small) don't like to risk or waste their money and plans generally last more than the tenure of a mayor or through the current whims of the city council.  Plans are good, but only if the plans involve, complement, and have the support of the community.  This plan wasn't looking good out of the gate.  Out of town consultant.  Poor publicity and minimal public involvement at the first two info sessions.  Unfamiliarity with the area and an overwhelmingly downtown-centric lens on the plan.

The residents, NRZ's, and Heaven supporters got news of the third and final session and showed up in force. It took grass roots organizing, but the session at the Hartford Public Library was packed.  I'm a huge fan of HPL, but please note that all three info sessions occurred outside the area being studied.  Good on ya Hartford citizens for making the appropriate noise.  I'm glad I live here, especially when I see stuff like this come together.  At this point we need to keep a keen eye on the final report and make sure that the input from the final session was absorbed and incorporated.

Now I ask, what should Hartford strive for as a future state so that we're not at the third and final session trying to claw back the community focus of an urban development plan?  Chris Brown said one of the most prescient things I've heard in a while during the feedback and comment session.  "Why can't Hartford develop an urban design firm of it's own?"  When studies like this are taking place, it could be with a firm having local roots and connections.  If an outside firm comes in on big projects, it will also be able to contract portions of the work to Hartford-local urban planning professionals.  I challenge Trinity College, UCONN, or Capital Community College to fill this vacuum.  There are local and national jobs in urban design and transportation planning.  Can we start filling them in Hartford, Connecticut with students educated in Hartford?  UCONN is bringing more classes and the metro Hartford Campus downtown, that would be a great fit.

A penny for your thoughts o'loyal readers and radical thinkers?

Don't piss away what you just started.  Build on it.  Own it.  Make it awesome.

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Bike tour

I was looking for a good map of Nepaug last weekend and I stumbled upon this. Now, I pay for racing sometimes and sometimes I'll even pay for one of those charities ride, but I've never paid some dude to go for a ride. Nepaug might very slightly inscrutable with its majority ATV and truck trails, but there's really only like four trails there. If you look at the Bike Rag map, I don't think you'll get that lost, especially in the era of googling phones. As part of my desire to explore new mountain biking spots this Fall, I headed over there.

As if magically triggered by my reading of that guy's advertisement, I met this dude in the parking lot who offered to show me around on account of my not riding there in seven years. Steve from Benindorm was a great riding partner, though we eventually got separated and then somehow rejoined going opposite directions on the trail. I have to admit that's the first time someone in a parking lot wanted to ride together and like the second time someone offered to show me the way on unfamiliar trails. Even during the ride, the two other riders I encountered were super friendly. Two, no three! cheers for Nepaug.

Today I went for a ride at Penwood. It was really pretty, though it started super icy. This was a direct result of me talking trash about studded tires.

On the studded tire tip, do you need some studded tires? Mike from Wethersfield, who's moving to Texas, gave me two sets of studded tires because he wrongly believed that it doesn't snow it Texas (it just snowed in Texas). Drop me a line.

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If you like Hartford and Graffiti

I was reminded this week why Hartford is such an amazing city, especially if you give a damn.  There are so many opportunities to get engaged and influence the direction of the city.  Hartford is small enough that you only have to show up and you're making change.  This post may not seem like its about bikes, but it is.  Remember that being a cyclist or pedestrian means that you have decided to harbor radical thoughts.  Don't sit at home stewing in radicalism when action is imperative.   Hartford (or whatever city you call home) needs your radical thoughts for planning and the intellectual discourse.  These city plans and discussion groups often involve transportation plans, proposed bike lanes, and road diets.  Showing up at the meeting on a bike, and asking questions pertinent to non-motorized transportation keeps the topic at the top of the list.  Don't let your city wave the green flag without actually doing the stuff that makes change.

This time the info session is in Pope Park.  Do you think downtown dwellers can find it?

Next week you can weigh in on two different Hartford plans.  The first is the Hartford Parks Plan on Monday, December 9th at Pope Park from 6-8PM.  This is the final public comment session.  Hartford has extensive park acreage, and a limited budget for upkeep.  The public comment sessions are being used by the consultant along with paper and online surveys to find out what is important to Hartford residents.  The last info session rolled out a map showing desirable bicycle connections between the parks, which would also serve as a network for bicycling throughout the city.  This is a big deal.

If you're not at the table, your favorite park features might get dropped as the park plan is laid out.  This is a bit disconcerting for parts of Hartford's population that haven't been coming to the meetings.  The attendance and survey responses have been dominated by Westend and Downtown residents.   This last public info session has been wisely moved out of Downtown, which should make it easier for Frog Hollow, Behind the Rocks, and Barry Square residents to attend.  Spread the word if you live in one of those neighborhoods.

The near North of Downtown is being evaluated and a plan is being put together.  There is a public info session on Wednesday, November 11th at the Hartford Public Library at 6PM.  The initial feedback I'd heard on the North Downtown plan was negative, and that includes complaints of very little publicity for the previous public info session.  That means its time for residents  and business owners to show up in force and make sure their interests are being taken into account in this plan that will guide the City of Hartford when zoning and developing the area.  The planning also impacts the layout and improvement of city streets, which are currently highway no-man zones north of I-84.  I'm curious why the consultants didn't pick a location for this info session that is actually in the zone that they are studying?

If one is looking for information or intellectual engagement, it's here in spades.  Just this past week I went to a moderated discussion with the DEEP Commissioner at the Mark Twain House and a panel discussion on Hartford urban issues at the Hartford Public Library.  Coming up next Saturday is a presentation / discussion at Real Art Ways where they will be asking the question, "How do our surroundings shape us?"  A fitting question with all the Hartford plans in the offing.  The event starts at 1PM and appears to involve food if you get there by 12:30PM, and they want folks to RSVP.

All of these info sessions and discussions tie in to one of my favorite things.  Graffiti!   Heaven, a mecca of legal walls, just north of Downtown Hartford has a bunch of new stuff up.  Also took a stroll up the train tracks and was rewarded with several great pieces.  Don't forget to represent for Heaven, and tell your friends.  Friends don't let friends miss out on great street art.

So happy to find hieroglyphics.

They're watching you from the pyramid in the sky.

I really like when the graffiti includes characters along with the burner.  

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Blurry, misty ghostly ride

There's this big park in Tolland called Crandall Park. I went there yesterday as part of my explore-the-trails-between-Storrs-and-Hartford-on-Thursday-because-I-have-class-in-Storrs-in-the-morning-and-office-hours-in-Hartford-in-the-evening-so-I-have-free-time-between-1-and-4-and I-brought-a-car-tour (took a long time to put those hyphens in). As you may recall from Gov. Malloy's forecast yesterday, there was a lot of fog. You also may recall that I wear glasses now. Generally, I think they're great, because I can see things and also because I can recognize people. It's nice that people don't think so rude anymore. In fact, yesterday involved a lot of glasses reflection now that I think about it. I was sitting in the library reading without glasses and several people came up to me to say hi and from their initial saying-hi distance I couldn't really tell who they were. I wonder how I had any friends before glasses.

Anyway, I don't usually get glasses fogging up problems unless I'm eating soup or I stop riding after riding intensely. To cure the first problem, I take the glasses off until the soup cools. For the second, I start riding again and the rushing air seems to work as a defogger. Yesterday, the moving didn't work at all. The humidity was so high that they would stay fogged no matter what I did. So, the world was foggy and my glasses were foggy and I pretty much was blind. I still rode a few miles like this, albeit very slowly. Eventually, I decided it was too annoying. I put my glasses in my jersey pocket and my old nemesis depth perception returned. When I first started wearing glasses, the ground seemed really close, so without them the ground seems really far. Also, I was riding a 29er, so ground actually was pretty far. So, I spent the remainder of the ride hallucinating a tall bike in a fuzzy forest.

The trails at Crandall's are pretty good. I rode about 10 miles and I think there was maybe 1 or trail I didn't ride. Very, very twisty stuff, in a effort to pack a lot of trails into a small-ish area. Someone is putting considerable effort putting some new stuff in right close to I-84. They haven't removed the duff yet, so it wasn't the most fun surface to ride on. The park itself also seems pretty cool. It's got pretty much all the things you'd want out of a park except for a skatepark.

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Waiting for a Body Count

I work across the street from the amazing engine of development that is Goodwin College and regularly take the short walk from Pratt & Whitney to stretch my legs and put eyes on the Connecticut River.   Jarring me out of river staring bliss is the high speed outlet of the busy Route 2 exit ramp.  Even more disturbing than my alert high stepping to cross the street between speeding cars is the position of the new Connecticut River Academy magnet school building.  Something felt very wrong.  A school at the foot of a high speed exit ramp without any observable traffic calming or cross walks. Seriously?

The new building for the Connecticut River Academy

Consider for a second the increasing traffic from Goodwin College combined with the existing traffic from Pratt & Whitney and then add in a very concentrated traffic load from the school.   In the meantime, the CT DOT is asleep at the wheel.   Neither of the nearby roads, Willow and Ensign, have sidewalks passing under Route 2.  The Route 2 exit ramp that sends traffic rocketing past the new school is unchanged.  A valuable bicycle and pedestrian connection between the Connecticut River Academy and East Hartford's Great River Park remains (legally) disconnected.  I felt physically ill.

Goodwin College has decided to invest in higher education, magnet schools, rental housing, and riverfront property value in this previously neglected neighborhood.  This is despite the CT DOT scar (Route 2) that cuts much of the Goodwin campus and property off from Main Street East Hartford.   In what I've seen of Goodwin College's leadership, they are in it for the long game, which includes environmental sustainability, ethical stewardship, and community building.  It would surprise me if Goodwin College hasn't approached the CT DOT about fixing the looming hazard of the unadulterated Route 2 exit ramp.  Little do they know, the CT DOT is waiting for a body count.

I challenge Kate Rattan (CT DOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator) and Sharon Okoye (CT DOT Safe Routes to School) to take a long hard (proactive) look at how Route 2 and the outdated interface with this neighborhood can be improved to the benefit of East Hartford and safety of the youths that are soon to attend the otherwise beautiful Connecticut River Academy.  I understand the the CT DOT is a large ship to turn, but to do otherwise would be negligent.

A view up the Route 2 ramp from the corner of the school yard

The exit ramp traffic is moving too quickly to read this sign.

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