Hey, remember that cop the summer before last who tackled a critical mass rider for apparently no reason? Well, he finally lost his job. It seems, internal affairs had a backlog of cases involving officers violently spearing innocent civilians, so it took a while to decide what to do with this one.

From Planetsave:

The Manhattan District Attorney said that the YouTube video footage along with witness accounts clearly contradicted Pogan’s claim that the cyclist was “obstructing government administration” and resisting arrest. The cyclist had charges dropped soon after the video became available.

Pogan was a rookie officer and he has still not given a legitimate explanation as to why he tackled the cyclist. We have learned that he was an offensive lineman on his high school football team — perhaps that could explain a bit?

Losing his job is good punishment, but I think it would be nice if they let the victim gain a little retribution. Here’s my idea: let’s dress the cop up like a circus clown, parade him through Times Square on one of these, and then have the victim tackle him when he least expects it. Oh yeah, and then spread it around the web via YouTube. That would be justice.

Just incase you think I’m being a little harsh, let’s watch the Asshole on Duty again:

Everyone can stop worrying. I’m reporting that HK Fixed has reported that Cycling News uncovered police reports that Lance Armstrong’s Time Trial bike has been recovered. I’m only working on a couple sources right now so I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but I think it’s safe to say whoever was responsible for the theft is an idiot.

Cycling News:

From rumors heard over race radio, the thieves apparently had no idea what they actually had and were trying to obtain a surprisingly small amount of money for it on the street.

That’s a shot from the aftermath of the Coffee-themed Alley Cat race held over the weekend. The race turned out about 35 riders some traveling from as far away as Providence, Boston and New York. Don’t they have coffee shops in those towns? The Scorchers blog has full race results as well as some great photos from Saturday courtesy of Caroline Treadwell.

A Providence Rider lost his Nike sponsorship after this photo surfaced.

On a personal note, it was my return to cycling, although I didn’t get as much attention as Lance Armstrong got at the Tour of Australia. I wonder why? Is it because he’s jealous? Probably.

Saturday was my first time on a bike in over two months since coming down with Mononucleosis late last year. It was also the first time in a while that I heard, “Are you fuckin’ crazy!” screamed at me by a angry woman in an SUV. It was at that point, on the really cramped part of Chapel Street near Wooster Square, as I passed a city bus on the left, ducked under his mirror, and swerved in front of said driver’s SUV (with grace and confidence I might add), that I realized how much I missed Alley Cat racing.

The race also featured a Coach Bus impeding my travel lane to make a right hand turn onto Olive Street, presumably to showcase our industrial architecture to out-of-towners. I didn’t mind that so much. My motto has always been, “If you’re going to kill me, do it in front of the tourists.”

A few minor flubs aside, the race was a great success for two first time organizers. Thanks Danny and Nick, folks from far away, and everyone else who helped out including sponsors and check point people.

Sure, illegal races through the streets of New Haven can be fun, but…

…..have you ever tried it on Coffee. If you want to find out what that’s like come out next Saturday, February 7th. There’s a bunch of local sponsors including BRU (formerly Koffee on Orange St.) who will hosting the after-party. All those sponsors will be giving away prizes too, so though the race as always will be fun, it might pay off to be competitive.

Everything else you need to know is on that nicely designed flyer, (except who nicely designed it)!! Thanks to Nick and Danny for putting this together, and to Demo for the flyer.

Say what you want about his anti-Semitic, racist, and xenophobic tendencies, but don’t dare question his passion for complete streets.

 

From the NHI Crime Log:

A shooting victim showed up on his bicycle to the St. Raphael’s hospital at 9:45 p.m. Thursday, according to police spokesman Officer Joe Avery. He was suffering from a non-life threatening gunshot wound to his left leg.

A few hours earlier, police responded to a report of gunshots at 5 p.m. at Shepard and Read Streets. Cops found bullet shell casings there, but no victims.

The victim told police he was afraid to go to the hospital.

Cops later identified him as a 26-year-old man with an outstanding warrant on a firearms charge, Avery said. The warrant carried a $75,000 bond.

BikePortland Managing Editor Elly Blue is on a swing through the East Coast. She’ll post regular dispatches from the road about the people she meets and the transportation and bike-related topics she learns about.

That’s from BikePortland.org where Blue’s brief reports have been surfacing every few days since before the holiday under Elly’s East Coast Tour. She’s back where she grew up in Hamden, and this time she’s brought with her a Brompton, plus all she’s learned from living in the progressive bicycling Mecca of Portland.

Blue’s posts give us folks here in New Haven a chance to hear from someone who truly understands what bicycle-friendly design means, given that she’s from a city where it’s increasingly been a priority focus for transportation policy over the last decade.

Recent events seem to suggest that the tide is turning here in New Haven as well. Her latest “Dispatch From New Haven”covers the Complete Streets initiative enacted a few months ago. Although, the law is more of a broad swipe at transportation obstacles, it is still a big step in the right direction for New Haven, and in turn for other communities, as it will provide a platform to launch bicycle and pedestrian projects in the future. As Blue mentions, New Haven is one of only a few communities in the country to enact such a law.

Speaking of progressive initiatives, the Farmington Canal Trail project is moving steadily toward completion on the New Haven portion. The bridge on Hillhouse Avenue was recently reopened after over a year. It was one of three bridges being rebuilt to accommodate the path near the current start of the New Haven to Northampton trail. Eventually the beginning of the trail will move further south toward Union Station and possibly Long Wharf. The date of completion for that phase is yet to be determined.

The final section of the New Haven portion running north toward Hamden is set to be completed in the Spring. This will allow 12 miles of uninterrupted riding (or walking) from downtown to Cornwall Avenue in Cheshire.

Hopefully, this will open up some real transportation and recreation alternatives to communities that reside along the trail. In the coming years, if the completion of this project proves to have made dramatic increases in the number of riders (and walkers) it will set a precedent for other communities to follow and possibly create a new way of linking our cities with the outlying suburbs. 

In other good news, the city announced that it would begin work in the Spring on the re-paving of Whitney Avenue from Canner Street to Trumbull. This is a project that was put on hold for over a year pending completion of the Ferry Street Bridge re-build. Apparently, the city can’t do two things at once.

The repaving of Whitney will finally give the Torosaurus the respect he so rightly deserves and bring relief to hundreds of cyclists who avoid that stretch of road because it is in such bad condition, particularly the right hand portion of the road, where slow vehicles like bikes are expected to travel. To the commuters who live on Whitney and have no other route alternative, this will prove to be a life changing experience for them. It means they will no longer have to ride 29ers and full suspension just to get to work.

 

I read an article on Copenhagenize today that sparked a thought in my mind. The article considered the significance of creating our own energy, particularly by pedaling. The author spoke of many good ideas, and some already being practiced. One inventor in Copenhagen converted a cargo bike into an energy station with solar panels and a wind turbine.

Another idea involved workers creating and storing energy as they pedaled to their jobs, then plugging in upon arrival to power a small fraction of the office’s energy needs. There was also a pitch to setup a boat that would be human powered with the result producing recorded music, a concert on the canal.

The combination of circumstances surrounding us and the opportunities and knowledge available to us - the general shift of our society towards renewable energy sources, the renewed appreciation for sustainable energy production, the technology available to easily produce our own energy with human work, powered by muscle - will give birth to a new human who will rise to meet the exceptional challenges of the post-oil age with strength and fervor.

The New Ubermensch will come out of darkness to greet the new day, declaring, “Cheap Energy Is Dead!” He will pity the man who passes him in a gasoline-powered vehicle as he happily walks or pedals through his environment. The Ubermensch knows that this man has yet to see the light but will soon be forced to reckon with the new world lest he spend the rest of his days in solitude amongst his withered, oil-driven machines.

The Neo Ubermensch will at once be aware of his energy consumption and able to produce it on his own with basic technology. There is no waste of energy to him. Energy is produced and then it is consumed, storage is useful but temporary. He produces that which he needs, and needs that which he produces. To hoard energy in the new landscape is futile and self-destructive.

Physically the Neo Ubermensch will be imposing. Now forced to produce his own energy, his muscle mass will have grown to comparison of his ancestors who themselves were responsible for their energy before the domestication of animals. Like his ancestors, Neo Ubermensch will be fit, strong, healthy, a well-balanced organism, more than ever ready to face the challenges of life. He is proud of himself, his family and the community his family resides in, because they are also inherently sustainable as a result of their structure.

In addition to his strength, Neo Ubermensch will be blessed with the technology left behind from the Age of Oil. He has at his disposal millions of cogs, sprockets, pins, gears, wheels and other basic devices which could be converted to power stations. It is with this combination, his strength and technology, that the Neo Ubermensch will rise above the greatest challenge in the history of the Earth: to convert a wasteful society, composed of billions of organisms, into one that is sustainable and healthy.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who wants to blog about bikes in Connecticut. Here’s at least two more people who want to do the same.

There’s another new blog in Connecticut about bicycles. I got a message from the administrator requesting a little plug, so here it is:

WalkBikeCT is an informational blog devoted to promoting walking, biking, and other progressive transportation solutions.

From what I can tell so far, WalkBikeCT seems to be a platform for the political process surrounding bicycle infrastructure improvement, offering ideas and solutions to one of our most basic problems – transportation. In other words, it is a much-needed, highly-informative, insightful and well-designed blog! This is exciting for me and anyone else concerned with these issues. So keep up the good work WalkBikeCT! You’ll be hearing more about them in the future.

Across town, The Scorchers are promoting cycling in their own debaucherous way by hosting a series of fun and competitive events this summer. They started a satellite blog (Scorchers 2009) that will keep us updated on the events they’re planning. Like WalkBikeCT, this is also big news for anyone interested in bikes. The Scorchers are all very passionate about cycling and they always find a fun way to share that passion, so definitely feel free to participate. All events are open to the public. From the new blog, here’s a summary of upcoming races:

The Scorchers have quite a summer planned for you.
April 11th and 12th, Yale hosts the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference Championships, and the gang has some Ivy League caliber bicycle debauchery planned for you. Right now it looks like we’re getting the closed-down-streets of the Crit. course to play with.
May 16th brings us another installment of Grand Theft Velo, the cult classic alleycat based on the video game of similar name.
During the last week of July, we will be hosting the Route One Stage Race (and New Haven alleycat) leading up to the NACCCs in Boston.
Late August brings the return of Kings Of New England, put on hiatus for a year because of “public outrage”. Let’s remind ‘em why those two words are fun together!

Public outrage is just another way of saying “they’re having fun and we’re not.” Don’t let this be you; join the fun!

There’s a shit-ton of snow coming our way as I type, and by shit-ton I mean the Connecticut variety – 4-6 inches. What does that mean for bicycle riders? First of all don’t even think about going out with road treads on a day like today. You’re going to want to opt for the knobbiest tires you have available. Something like this should do:

In addition to knobs on you’re tires, you’ll want some good foul-weather gear. I’m not going to tell anyone how to dress, you’re all grown-ups, I think, but let me just say garbage bags go along way. This is how I prepare for winter storm riding.

Garbage bags, are sleek, sexy, and if this runway in Milan is any indication of future styles, you’ll be seeing a lot more of them on the streets of New Haven. I’ve already ordered a custom-fit winter bag suit. It’s was designed by Versace in collaboration with the uber-stylish folks at Hefty. It comes with arm and head holes and a nifty yellow draw string at the bottom. Oh, and I dare you to try and rip it, it’s Hefty!

Last bit of advice concerning today’s weather is to ignore the parking ban. As far as I can tell, it says nothing about bicycles.