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When the Party is over...

This is what Sunday morning had in store at the NBX Grand Prix at Goddard Park. For all of those who showed up after a raucus night at the HUB, you RAUC! As for the rest of you, I hope you had to run the sandy sections over and over in your hungover mind. You missed a great event. Nice job NBX! I can't wait for next year.

The Crow Has Landed! (The Final Chapter)

...Suddenly, the Tall One said, Let's Party!!!

Scare Crow

Inside the Temple, the crow saw many great riches.

The natives emerged and offered him water. They were naked except for their AceCaps.

A tall one eyed his feathers covetously. There was an uneasy silence...

A Crow's Eye View

After landing to get a closer look, the crow was set upon by a muscular flock of brightly-plumed sentries. "Take me to your Leader", said the crow.

As the Crow Flies

The Crow circled. From above, he spied the glare of many shiny objects. His neck feathers bristled. Could this be it?

The Crows are Coming!

Its going down Saturday evening Dec. 8. Wear a white carnation and the crow will know.

Jamis Bikes in 2008!

The Hub is pleased to announce that Jamis Bicycles is on board for 2008. We're stoked to get their well rounded line of bikes including steel-framed commuters and road racers. Look for them here after the new year. Until then, we're gonna party like its Two-Thousand-Zero-Zero-Seven!

Know when to hold 'em...

Thanks to Chris Foster for donating this curious little gem. Peter thinks its Polish - I'm not sure why.

Hats

Who says you can't buy style? The Hub is now a dealer of Attleboro's own Ace Hats. Each of these locally made lids has two unique patterns, are reversible, and will make you (or that style-challenged loved one) look like a million for only 35 bucks. Come on by and try one on.

The Way it Used to Be

To all you nostalgic nature freeks out there the cold temperatures and shorter days have resulted in a used bike bloom at the Hub. Come on in check out the variety of species and colors that have blossomed over the past few days. Choose from road bikes and mountain bikes and even a folding bike originally purchased with coupons from Marlboro. Whether you're a chain smoker, lost your licence from that DUI, or just want to remember the way it used to be, there's something used for everyone here at the Hub.

We can get there from here

The "Getting There..." conference seems to have been a success. It wound down yesterday with a rally at the State House where 30 or so cyclists and transit activists showed up to make some noise about better alternatives to the ol' ball and chain. You know what I'm talking about: the coffins with cup holders that pollute our air and make us bomb oil rich nations into submission.
Now lets follow up. Word is that five letters on a particular issue to a State Rep or Senator is usually enough to get onto their radar screens. Lets shoot for 10.

For your state representative contact information, go here.

For your state senate contact information, go here.

Keep it simple. Let them know that bikes are good transportation and should get more consideration in future plans for our urban transportation network. Let them know that an adult on a bicycle equals one less car on our astronomically expensive highways and public road network. Let them know that you're a voter (you do vote don't you?).

Really Big Bike Rally

Alright. Listen up. If ever you wanted to make your voice heard regarding tax payer support for safe and effective bicycle infrastructure, ride your whip down to the State House next thursday (10/25) at 5:30 for a good, old fashioned rally. Make a sign, paint your face, or just get ready to be counted as one of the many that would like to see your tax dollars used to make our urban streets more bicycle friendly.

The event is the evening segment of a conference sponsored by the Sierra Club of RI on the future of sustainable transportation in our little state. The conference will feature discussions on the future of mass transit, creating more bike-friendly streets, and neighborhood walkability.

Following the evening rally at the State House, we will ride to Local 121 on Washington Street for more discussion and a film. (Major props to State Rep and Local 121 owner Josh Miller for hosting the event)

Hope to see you there!

huh?

I got that familiar sickening feeling when the driver's side door opened in front of me. Luckily, I was able to get past before I heard the thud of the lock in my bag put a mark into a brand new Cadillac. So I stopped and turned to go back to make sure everything was OK. Right away the old dude gave me attitude. "no", he said, "everything is not OK".

Thinking of the 15 stitches in my chest from receiving the "door prize" a few years before, and this guy's lack of any concern for me, I pointed to the huge mirrors on the side of his elephant of a car. "that's what those are for. next time you should take a look."

He gestured to the line of car traffic passing along Broadway which is plenty wide for all to share. "Those cars aren't even close...there's no need to look".
"Um...you might find a guy on a bicycle going by."
"Why would I? I don't see a bicycle lane."
And on. And on.
Finally he said "you're a typical Rhode Islander: Rude!"
"So why don't you back to where you come from?"
"I am from here!"
"Huh?"

So once again I'm left scratching my head at the complete breakdown of communication between "us" and "them". Of course what may have prevented the whole incident would have been the striped bike lane along Broadway that the City has been promising for the past several years. As it is there are no stripes on Broadway even for the car traffic. Some drivers actually imagine that there are two lanes along this busy residential street which leads to ridiculous displays of muscle flexing and muttering.

Of course the only thing more ridiculous than this whole confrontation would have been to point to the pavement where the lines will someday be to explain to an individual who simply doesn't think of bikes in the same 21st century way that I do.

Attention Ladies...

...Steph requests your presence Sunday mornings. Its not exactly breakfast, its not quite lunch...its a social ride for women only. Show up at the Hub at 8:30 Sunday mornings for 2-2.5 hours. Distance is up for debate, but be reasonably prepared to get the ol' heart going. You'll return to the Hub when the rest of us roll in around 11:00. Questions? Give a call into the shop T-Sun 11-6. 401.383.9934. Hope to see you then.

Mondays the Hub is closed

It was Peter that got us out to Carr's Pond yesterday for what may be a last stab at pure summer. The air was a silent blue, the water crystal clear, and the sun...

Its roughly 15 or 20 miles from Providence to the edge of those woods. Peter led us down the Cranston Bike Path to where the pavement ends, we zigzagged to New London Turnpike and over the highway from Coventry into the piney woods of West Greenwich. Once we got off the road its classic New England singletrack to the pond.



After a dip in the water and some sun on the rock, we headed back to the place where people work on Mondays. I wonder what that's like?

There's no such thing as a ...(part 2)

Today there was an exceptional rash of "department store bikes" coming into the shop. Its exhausting explaining to people why we will not service their bike. I personally have this conversation 2 or 3 times a day. While most of the time people will accept our explanation and move on, occasionally people will persist. How many analogies do I need to come up with to make it clear?
The bottom line is if you want a bicycle that works now and is servicable in the future , buy one from a local bicycle shop - not necessarily ours - but one that is convenient to where you live and work. Build a relationship with the people who work there. Support them and they will support you.

If you still don't get it or you think our attitude is elitest, Google "Department Store Bicycles". I think you will find there are many others out there who feel our pain.

OK. Here it is. My new cross bike is out of the barn. Brian at Circle A Cycles finished it last week and I finally found the time to build it up last night. This morning, after stopping by to show off the finished build to Brian, I road it up to Chase Farm and did a few laps of the old Wednesday Night course. This gave me a chance to play with the fit a bit and break in the upholstery. I had planned to only be out for a couple of hours, but this bike felt so good, I kept going so that I finally rolled in 4 hours later, so stoked.

The season is just getting going. For the next three months, cross racers and fans are getting some every weekend somewhere. Check the schedule and plan to get out there at least once this year. Make a roadtrip out of it. Go check out the leaves, whatever. You will not be disappointed.

PBAC

Jesse and I were recently interviewed by WBRU for a story on the growing bike culture in Providence. It seems as though we're not the only one's who've noticed the new numbers of cyclists out there. Its awesome. Many of you are from the ten's of thousands of students who fill our universities here; but many still are the young and not so young professionals who have recently graduated or have decided to relocate here from other parts of the country. These people come here not because its cheap (see high cost of living) and not because its easy to find work (see Boston), but because Providence offers a scale and style of living that is unique. The people who are staying here want to be close enough to easily work in or visit NYC and Boston, but neither can they afford to live there nor want to have to sit in traffic to get there (see Providence Train Station). Keeping these people believing in a bright cycling future here is vital if Providence wants to actually be the place it promises them to be.

A group of frustrated cyclists has recently come together to discuss a strategy to light a fire under the City to make good on some of those promises such as the "Providence Bicycle Network" in particular and safer streets and parking in general. The Providence Bicycle Coalition (or some such thing) is looking to get off the ground and show our elected city officials that cyclists are taxpaying, homeowning, voting adults who are losing their patience with empty promises. The money is there. What are you spending it on?

Stay tuned.

Check it out:

Go see the "...Transportation" show at 5 Traverse Street. Tonight is the opening. It's Art, you know.

There's no such thing as a ...

Its tempting, I know. You're walking down the street and as you approach that tree ahead you realize that yes, indeed, leaning up against it is a bike that appears to not be locked up. "Abandoned," you conclude, and you decide it only needs some air in the tires to be the free bike of your dreams. So, after looking up and then down the street to make sure you couldn't be accused of stealing this gem, you decide to wheel it away. The Hub happens to be on your way home and so you decide to push it on in.

The conversation always starts like this: "So i found this free bike and I think it just needs..." Fair enough. There are two possible ways this can go. Either we think it's a good idea or a bad idea to pursue the repair. Rarely in the free bike scenario is it a good idea to spend the money on having it professionally repaired. This is for the same reason that when you see a computer by the curb, there's usually a reason why someone has left it there. If you know computers, it should be more or less easy to determine whether it is worth bringing home. While bikes are not the new and rapidly changing technology that the computer is, they are also machines and are either well designed or not well designed --well maintained or not well maintained. Occasionally, the computer nerd will strike gold. Most of the time, they just keep walking.

The bike in the picture above was never meant to last beyond some child's 12th birthday, much less provide a full grown adult with 4 years worth of transportation and recreation. If the bike nerd walked by this tree, they would keep on walking and so should you.

Woonasquawhatsit?

I was doing the my favorite road loop out in Smithfield the other day and while returning through Centredale, I decided to take a chance on the Woonasquatucket River Greenway to get through the Manton Avenue madness. For the past few years I have been venturing through there as I have seen different sections being paved but there has always been a critical section that has forced me on to some horribly washed-out gravelly path. This time I made it from George Waterman Road in Johnston to Atlantic Mills in Olneyville without a hitch.

I know this has been a long and complicated process and my hat is off to Lisa Aurecchia and the rest of the folks over there fighting the good fight to provide more access to this former industrial cesspool. I hope this gets more people pronouncing the word "Woonasquatucket". Go ahead and try it: WOON - ASS - QUA - TUCKET. o

Or...gone

So we're back after two weeks of vacationing. I took 2 weeks in Oregon tripping around the coast, Crater Lake, Portland; and a week on the bike in the Columbia River Gorge. Good stuff. Jesse spent his vacation building our new pro den



... and then being arrested by the FBI .

I'm sure Jesse has some things to say about his FBI pals, but I think his lawyers have advised against it. For my part, I would like to give a shout out to Stacey and the rest of the River City Cycles folks. They let me leave my Bike Friday case there for the week I spent on the road, and had a 16" tire in stock for my trailer.

More Blogs!!!

Holy Blogoglobe!
Check out these two new blogs from Hannah and Dan.

Go Forth

Graduation season is always an interesting time here in the heart of the Brown U. and RISD ghetto. During exam week, the tension amongst the students on the hill is palpable; followed by the giddy intoxicated release which signals the start of summer vacation; and climaxes during graduation weekend when parents and grandparents spend half of their day looking for a better parking space; and then there is silence until September.
Congratulations to all of those who ran the gauntlet. You're not necessarily a better person than you were when you started, but you're worth more. Good luck with that.

World Cup in the House

After months of promise and rumor its official: the UCI has finally signed a contract with local promoters to schedule a Cyclocross World Cup event this coming October. This is a great honor because after having hosted the US National races for the past two years, Providence was chosen to be the first US event in recent history to draw European pros. Needless to say, we here at the Hub are extremely excited to host our friends from across the pond. In fact, tonight I am going home to brush up on my Flemish. I trust, you will be doing the same.

Bike To Work Day

Bike to Work Day is Friday May 18. Come down to the park across the street from the Biltmore Downtown. There will be refreshments and a speaking schedule from 7-9ish. Check it out
To get into the spirit(s), come on down to the HUB thursday from 5-8pm. We are proud to be hosting the RI Environmental Society's Thirsty Third Thursday which is a monthly social gathering that meets at various locations around town. There will be refreshments and environmental types to talk bikes, biodiesel or beach erosion. See you there.

It takes a village...

I'm a city cat, but one of the most enviable elements of country living is that when people see each other while they are walking or as they pass in their cars, they tend to greet each other in the way that is customary to the local culture. My own experience is from Vermont. In Vermont, if you're on a country road approaching another car, the local custom is a lift of the fingers off the top off the steering wheel as you pass. Its a subtle gesture requiring minimal effort, but the effect warms the heart, and certainly can't help but maintain the foundation of a strong community.

In the city, often we forget to maintain such a basic foundation of community - probably because we feel more anonymous, and the population here is more transient that your typical rural town. While I can understand why the steering wheel wave would grow tiresome on the busy streets of Providence, there's nothing worse than walking by another human (within inches say) without even the most minimal recognition that the other exists. Unfortunately, it happens all the time.

When I ride my bike around town and see other cyclists, I try to at least make eye contact and throw out a nod. Of course, sometimes it's not always returned, but if eye contact is made I feel that there are other people out there and who know I'm out there; and that makes being on bicycle in 2007 America a notch less lonely.

Providence Bike Advisory Commitee

You may not believe it by the poor condition of the roads, the lack of bicycle friendly signing and striping, and the attitudes displayed by some of the higher horse-powered amongst us, but Providence does have a Bicycle Advisory Commitee. We met last night to discuss the up coming (May 18, 2007) Bike to Work Day event. Bike to Work Day is an opportunity to show your support for those who find bicycles a good option for daily commutes into the congested downtown. These events occur in many places where there is an awareness that the choice a bicycle over the single occupancy vehicle is available to many of us and there are many more who would like the opportunity make that choice.

My feeling is that the biggest obstacle for most is the perception that it is unsafe to ride a bicycle on city streets. Of course, it can be a daunting proposition for those who are trying to imagine themselves trading the relative comfort and safety of being behind their familiar steering wheel for the relative exposure and effort of riding a bicycle; but Bike to Work Day is an opportunity for a publicly sanctioned event that draw cyclists together into a visible unit doing what they do safely and efficiently. Those who attend this event tend to come from all over and have different routes they prefer which, at least on this day, converge at a table full of fruit and pastry laid out with them in mind.

The upside is that events like this provide an opportunity to showcase a community of professionals, tax payers, voters and what have-yous who consider their bicycle a viable option to making that regular trip into the city during the most congested times on our public roads. It is an opportunity to repesent an adult on a bicycle as one less adult in a car - taking up space on our roads, burning fossil fuels, filling up valuable real estate currently used as parking. These adults are happy to do it because they realize their ride is at once a necessary trip to work as well as the excercise they find a hard time fitting into their increasingly busy days.

The downside is that we celebrate this convergence one day out of the year. Politicians show up to talk about all the things they have done to support bicycling as a viable form of transportation and to share all of the warm and fuzzy feelings that are associated with saying in words that they are on board with bicycling for every one's heath and welfare. When the PA is turned off and the banners are taken down, where is the follow through? Where is the "Providence Bicycle Network" that of friends in City Hall have been boasting about for the past 10 years now? It sure looks good on paper, but I'm not sure they're getting it.

What they are failing to realize is that Providence is in the Stone Ages when it comes to providing real incentives in the form of public awareness and infrastructure that should let cyclists and motorists know where to be on the road and how to behave. When young, vibrant people are searching for a city to call home they look for such things to attract them here and when they don't see it, they take the job in one of many cities where they do.

For us as individuals however, its not enough to saythat the City owes us these things. Its a chicken-or-egg thing. Let our politicians know that we are out there by being out there. Don't wait for that magical day when a lane gets striped from your front door to the office-it just aint gonna happen.

Whats on top of your toilet tank?

With all the great blogging going on out there, who has time to read useful, intelligent and funny things, Right? Well, the exception to the rule has got to be Cranked - a bicycling magazine from Seattle. We think its the smartest thing since chamois butter on a hot summer day - great photgraphy, smart writing and good vibrations all in a neat, glossy package. This issue features articles on Bike Polo and wheel building. Come on in and buy em up so we can keep future issues coming in.

WTF!?!?!

Evil snow leopards
Sneaking up on sacred temple
storm in from the west

Domo Arigato

Ah... Providence in the Springtime: the birds are buzzing, the bees are singing, the lotus flowers and orange blossoms are peppering the countryside...at least thats what we hear from Hannah. She's back in town after a few months of worldly traveling - mostly in Japan. She stopped by today and brought us cool gifts with Japanese characters on them. We all asked her the obvious questions about Keirin racing and Karate and she gracefully answered in perfect Haiku. It was a nice break from my 700th flat fix of the week. Domo Arigato.

BIKE POLO IN THE HOUSE

For those of you who WEREN'T there. You missed another savage/friendly game of bike polo last night. The first of many to come. See you next Sunday night at the corner of Hope and Benevolent Streets, or come to The Hub by 6:00.

This is Scorpio, signing off.

The Hub Providence

Welcome to the Hub! We thinks blogs are pretty creepy so naturally we wanted to get in on the action. I promise this space will be reserved for the latest dope on cycling culture in Providence that passes through our shop, thoughts on good places to eat lunch, and of course personal dream analysis. Thanks for tuning in.

It's The Hub!

We got it on Lock.