The flashing, honking mob going through Bushnell Park last night? That was the Real Ride.
The first Real Ride was in 2010. These begin in the Real Art Ways parking lot and take slow, meandering routes through the city, winding back to the gallery. A previous ride ventured into West Hartford.
Saturday evening’s ride went down Capitol Avenue, through downtown, over the Founders Bridge, and along the East Hartford riverfront. Fireworks were launched from a bicycle down by the river. This cool surprise was, from the grumbling I heard, not part of the experience that Real Art Ways had planned.
From there, the group of 100+ cyclists rode back into Hartford via the Charter Oak Bridge, then meandered through Downtown some more, until heading back to Real Art Ways via Park Street. Again, a dj on a trailer was towed by cargo bike the entire way.
This ride was smoother than previous ones, but could have been slightly improved had cyclists been given a quick lesson in how to ride on the street. This time, Real Art Ways was very concerned about having riders sign waivers (some opted to dodge this, thinking it silly), ride only two abreast, and stop at red lights, but it was clear that a large percentage had no idea about how to simply ride in traffic. This became obvious when it came time to make left turns, but riders were in the far right lane. I watched them wait through two lights because they had no idea how to get from one place to the next. For regular cyclists, this kind of maneuvering is nothing. It’s not brave. It’s riding the way we are supposed to ride. But for people who don’t know the pedals from the handlebars, a quick “how to ride a bike on the road” talk would have been useful.
Another Real Ride is being planned for this Fall.
See more photos
Tony C
Yup. Lots of clueless riders not schooled in basic vehicular cycling. Would be almost impossible to educate folks pre-ride. Those without a clue either need a Bicycling 101 or serious time on the road (and not rail trails). That said this type of event can kick start a nascent bike commuter, that up until this point was terrified of mixing it up with traffic.
It was a surreal event, and expecting more 100 riders too proceed 2×2 is unreasonable. There was minimal traffic blocked, and the public reception was overwhelmingly positive. I applaud the organizers and all those who came out to celebrate the fun and utility of the bicycle!
Kerri Provost
Every word there is true. Hoping some of the newish riders venture out onto the streets regularly. The way to make the roads safer for cyclists is by adding cyclists to them.
Julie Beman
I don’t think it’s fair to call folks “clueless.” Did the event description say “street riding experience required?” No. It was promoted as a fun, laid-back, all-ages cycling event. Nothing about required experience.
It’s not “almost impossible” to educate folks pre-ride. It’s quite possible. Put up signs. Hand out guidelines.
Novices aren’t clueless. They’re novices.
Kerri Provost
Clueless. Without a clue. Maybe that has a negative connotation, but I think it’s apt. People seeming lost on one side of an intersection had no clue as to how to proceed.
I’ll say that more/better marshals could have helped this. They were present some of the time, but whole chunks of the group were left to their own devices at others.
I’m pretty sure that this is called a fun ride so that people do not show up expecting it to be a race. It gives some idea about the speed of the ride. A ride can turn unfun quickly if people get stranded or make dangerous maneuvers because they have no clue as to how to ride safely.
I agree that they could hand out information before the ride. The event began, technically, at 6. This allowed three hours before the actual ride for information to be given. If there is time to decorate bikes and to track down folks for waivers, then there is time to do some quick schooling about safe riding…which, for the most part, can be boiled down to “act like a car, not like a pedestrian.”
Dave Mourad
We could always use more Marshals, and I encourage any people who want to volunteer for the next ride to do so, but I credit those that stepped up to help out in anyway we could. We had a circumstance while riders were idle at Arch Street en route back to Real Art Ways. Most of the chaos was created when the rider of the Deejay cart got injured and once word arrived I needed to take the time to the med kit transported to him. Fortunately he was ok, but without the music to gel the group of 120+ together I found that some impatient riders lead a massive group Westward towards Bushnell Park, and I quickly sprinted to the head to re-route riders back on course, but by that time we were more splintered than I would have liked. More Marshals at the front would have likely solved this, but the emergency took me out of my normal role, but alas riders improvised and found themselves safely back to Real Art Ways in substantial groups.
In the past we handed out maps of the route and they were rarely used. It appeared on Google this year and was accessible from realartways.org and Facebook for those that wanted to see the route and areas covered. Maybe some quick schooling for newbies would help, that needs to be tried and evaluated, it’s definitely worth and attempt – but nothing prepares new riders for the road like the experience of riding itself. Materials an knowledge that explain safe riding will never guarantee it will be practiced. My observations noted that it was mostly VERY experienced riders that decided to take up a lane or more of the street and indeed not the newbie. A group mentality overrides the notion of proper riding in streets. The best Marshals can do without being militant on an Art Ride is to inform riders when a car is behind and to usher bicycle riders to the far right.
Again kudos to the volunteers, the staff at Real Art Ways and the good times had by all particularly after adapting to unusual situations with the deejay cart.
Julie Beman
Thanks for all your work, Dave. It was SO FUN!
Julie Beman
OK. I won’t quibble about the connotatations of “clueless.”
At any rate, while I certainly thank the marshals and other people who stepped up to help out, I’d like to note that we were clearly told at the beginning of the ride that we would obey all traffic laws such as red lights. That turned out not to be the case.
Although I’ve ridden in traffic before, I’d never been in a large group situation. I had no idea what to do when people blocked the intersection at a red light. I was waiting for the green light while people were streaming around me and through the red light. I mentioned that I thought we were supposed to follow the traffic laws, and my friend told me “not when they’re blocking the intersection.”
Huh?
It was really fun, though, and I’ll talk it up to others and do it again.
I volunteer to help write up the rules, but someone’ll have to tell me what they are, first. 🙂
Tell Chris I hope he feels better!
Kerri Provost
General Road Tips
http://www.bikeleague.org/resources/better/roadrules.php
Group Rides
http://www.bikeleague.org/resources/better/advancedcycling.php
Lane Positioning &
Turning and Turn Lanes
http://www.bikeleague.org/resources/better/ride_better_tips.php
Part of the reason that this education is so needed is because so many of the cyclists that we see riding around every day are not setting smart examples. I see lots of people riding on the sidewalk and/or in the wrong direction. I’ve actually been yelled at to ride on the sidewalk, and I had to explain that bicycles are not pedestrians. Bikes are supposed to be in the street and moving in the same direction as motorized traffic. Cyclists have the right to take the lane when the need dictates. If there are two left turn lanes, cyclists should be in the rightmost one, but they should be in one of those lanes because that signals that we are turning. I wouldn’t turn left from a right turn-only lane while traveling in my car, though I have seen people do this and worse, so even if cyclists are educated, I expect that those who are bad drivers are not going to be much better on a bike.
Julie Beman
Thanks for the links!
Heather B
I appreciated the marhsals blocking the intersections when they could, since it gave a fairly clear signal that we could go ahead and run the light and maintain our huge group.
It got confusing when no marshals were blocking intersections, and yet riders ran a light anyway. If I were to stop and wait for the light to turn green, riders would have swarmed by me anyway. When Julie tried to stop for that light at Capitol and Laurel, other riders and the marshals holding up traffic actually yelled at her: “GO!!!” like she was doing this wrong thing by obeying the traffic law like we’d been told.
The craziest traffic bit I saw was after the renegade speedpack took off for Bushnell Park on our return trip. I was at the tail end of this, not realizing it at the time. We traveled south on Trinity Street and then turned left onto Capitol just as a show at the Bushnell was letting out. Some riders rode to the top of that hill and then turned left. Others just darted left the easier way – into oncoming traffic lanes. We held up the entire intersection in a highly chaotic manner just as tons of cars were leaving parking lots and pedestrians were crossing Capitol. It was joyous as we were cheered and people around us wondered what we were doing, but the jaunt west on Capitol was probably off the route (the DJ’s slower group headed south on Washington from that intersection a little while later). I followed for a while and then doubled back looking for my family, wondering what the heck had happened, and frustrated by the pace and attitude toward traffic that had clearly left a large part of the group behind.
We had a couple incidents during and just after crossing the Charter Oak Bridge, too. The same person wiped out twice in the span of a few minutes (he was ok). Just off the bridge, we went under a dark overpass only to have difficulty crossing some unexpected train tracks exactly when fireworks were set off immediately in front of us. A car then zoomed by at a very high rate of speed with no interest in making way for cyclists who were taking up the entire span of road. These weren’t necessarily ordinary riding conditions.
It was total excitement though, and a really, really fantastic time.
Heather B
(East on Capitol, not west. In case that error above wasn’t clear.)
Luis
Well…I loved it, clueless peeps and all. I think when you have that many people you’re going to end up with your normal breakdown of riders and their own interpretation of what’s acceptable. I’ve never been a fan of helmets and I eat red lights on a bike under the same conditions in which I jaywalk, when I know I aint gonna get hit.
The only part that worried me about the entire ride was coming off the Charter Oak Bridge. The path that weaved itself onto the road deposits you onto a road where people don’t generally know to slow down…or see any reason to. I only realized where we were when we stopped at Wawarme to wait for people.
Keep in mind that the only time this area would be a concern would be under the very conditions we were in: A bunch of riders with one following the other in a lemming-like fashion in the dark. Otherwise, an individual rider knows to look at at areas like that.
Other then that, the ride rocked and I look forward to the next one and will probably get there hours before to pimp my ride!
Kerri Provost
The clueless people didn’t bother me. I felt sorry for them because they looked lost, that’s all. I think you and I share the same thoughts about cycling — people shouldn’t necessarily be forced into helmets or whatever, but then if something happens, they need to take total responsibility. If you want to get your brains splattered on the pavement, that’s your choice.
You’re right about where cyclists decided to stop after the bridge. I can understand why this might seem like a good idea…not much traffic…but this area, unfortunately, gets used sometimes for street racing. Thankfully, that wasn’t happening while everyone was down there.
River
i loved it too, and i think clueless peeps were less of a factor than the size of the group and the fewness of marshals. as has been pointed out, we were told one thing, but then we did another when it came to obeying traffic rules.
as for you, mr. cotto, you’re an adult, so i respect your decision to ride without a helmet and blast red lights at will. it’s not how i think people should *learn* to ride, though. we’re trying hard to teach our kids the rules of the road, that they have to behave like vehicles, because that’s what they are. biking itself is pretty safe, imho, but when you’re biking with moving cars, it’s a totally different game. in high school i paid the price (i used to be really handsome, but i landed on my face) for riding on the sidewalk when i had a collision with a car that was pulling out and the driver wasn’t looking out for cyclists, just for other cars.
so riding by the rules really is important, a matter of life-and-death even. for a fun, all-ages kind of ride i think some more clarity and guidance, and most importantly more marshals, would be a huge help.
all that said, it was a total blast. i loved it, our kids loved it, and we need more of that kind of thing in hartford. great work by the raw folks, and it’s only going to get better each time.
thanks!
Kerri Provost
Thanks for sharing about your sidewalk-riding accident. People really don’t think about why this is more dangerous than the street. It’s good for people to have knowledge, have education, and then go about making choices.
Richard
Well that sounds like fun for everyone. I do not bike but walk and only ask if anyone has to come on the sidewalk remember that you have wheels for your movement we have feet. We belong on the sidewalk and you all really don’t. Give way to us please. We have enough to worry about with drivers who turn on the walk signal, drivers who are turning and don’t look both way and pull out in front of us, and stinky cars and trucks that foul our air as we walk along. Anyway, more bikes are good, walking is nice and less cars should be everyone’s goal.
Kerri Provost
Absolutely!
I’ve been nearly run down by people riding bikes on the sidewalk. I’ve also had pedestrians jaywalk in front of me when I’m riding. Both behaviors are frustrating and are inconsiderate of others.