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