National bike to work week is May 17-21. To reward bike commuters for their efforts, BCBC has organized some local retailers who are generous enough to offer you free food for your morning commute. Look for our BCBC tables…

When:
Mon-Fri, May 17-21, 7:30am-9:30am
Where:
Washington Park (south end by Broad St) – Mon, Wed & Fri
Penn Station (by the bike racks outside the main waiting/ticketing hall) – Tue, Thu
Harrison PATH Station – Mon, Fri

Food sponsors:
Brick City Coffee – 11 Layfayette Street near Broad St (attached to the Prudential Center)
Harvest Table fresh food eatery – 127 Halsey Street (near Raymond Blvd.)
Brazil Gourmet fresh juices – sold at fine convenience and grocery stores
Art Kitchen – 61 Halsey St at New Street (inside Newark Art Supply)
Antojos Colombianos Restaurant & Panaderia, 530 Harrison Ave, Harrison

The ears are where its at!

Last Saturday’s Egg-mazing Bike Race was a huge personal success for me, the pink bunny, even if those pesky white eared rabbits made away with the first prize.  But my 2nd place win really was a team effort and I want to thank everyone for their hardwork, passion, time, and energy – all the things that went into making me a 2nd place champion scavenger hunt winner!   To retrace, my team really threw down the gauntlet in the first stretch of the race, pushing out in front of the pack, quickly capturing the first point by  translating that crazy Portuguese phrase, something about a billion chickens or something.  The next clue was at Newark’s swanky condo residences converted from an old chocolate factory, where we had to munch on the chocolate clue before getting our point.  We almost took the lead then, but again, those pesky weirdo bunnies were able to pull ahead, but at least we were able to fly by last year’s winner, Matt (above), who really miscalculated not only the quality of his ride but also his ears, or general lack thereof!

From there it was on to Riverbank Park where the awesome pit crew helped us prove our agility in deflating and pumping our tires.  Little did we know, our biggest challenge awaited us. We rode over to the waterfront and quickly found the clue on the Newark sign (right), telling us to look for our points near a water source so we went to the river, but……nothing, we spent precious time searching for what turned out to be a non-existant missing clue!

So we quickly headed out to the next bonus point and attempted to get the rest of the group off our trail, but they were too rascally and so together we journeyed into the industrial yards of the Ironbound where the future 3rd place winner, Margarita (left), started to catch up to us.  From there, it was a long strenuous ride over to the Ironbound Recreation Center where an awesome actual real life soccer coach helped us get the soccer ball in the net, gooooooallll!

See below as the white eared rabbits angrily looked on as I stepped up to make my goal.

After a treking way out to Avenue P by the I/9 and route 95 (as if we were going to Jersey City) to nab a few more bonus points, we took a turn at the bike waterfall, where one of the race creator’s, Ryan, helped us cool off with some bike water blessings.  Allison (below), a key team member, happily uses her own pedal power  to make the water fall (almost a pun).

We headed over to Independence Park for the next set of clues and obstacles, and discovered that it was opportunity for us to show off our true colors, pink! “What costume?  I came this way!”

The day was still not over and we had one final treat to eat at Ce Qui Sabe.  Proof of  just how delicious it was can be seen below by how vigorously  our photographer volunteer & BCBC member, Tim, chows down it, even though he wasn’t even competing!

We had precious little time before points would start to be deducted from our final score if we arrived late, so instead of riding to south street and scrambling to get the last bonus point, we decided to book it to the finish and try to arrive first with the most points.  But we were too late!  The rascally (one might suspect, cheating) rabbits had managed to sneak around us and make it to the finish line.

Next time you silly rabbits, next time!

See as I kick the people behind me's butts

And of course much thanks to Marie, Zoe and Councilmember “Augie” Amador.

Without you, my historic 2nd place would would never have been possible!

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The Egg-mazing Race will kick off at 10:30 am at Peter Fransisco Park (the triangle park next to Penn Station) and is guaranteed fun. The event ends at Hells Kitchen Lounge for food and prizes, and is sponsored by Councilman Augusto Amador, IBID (Ironbound Bussiness Improvement District), and Brick City Bike Collective.

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Registration is free, but space is limited. Pre-register here to ensure a spot!

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Feel free to contact us for more info at brickcitybikecollective@gmail.com or 973.937.8443

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My grandmother, who I was very close to, passed away about six months ago (as anyone who’s met me even once between now and then probably knows). She suffered from Parkinson’s Disease for pretty much my entire life, and she fended off the worst parts of the disease until a few years ago. But her stories as a young girl include several iconic episodes involving bikes. She escaped  several brushes with death in the Holocaust, including a time when she, her brother and her brother’s friend fled to the border on bikes. I think about her favorite painting, too: Monet’s poppy field, because it reminded her of a field where she had ridden her bicycle before she came to America but after the Nazis had taken power.

I would like to think that this miracle – people with Parkinson’s riding bikes as easily as they ever could – might contain a hint about curing the disease or understanding how it takes hold.

I also like to think of my 83-year-old grandmother, always full of so much life even until the end, kicking Parkinson’s ass while riding a bike.And hey, if there’s one more way I’m connected to her, and one more thing I can do to honor her memory, I’m not going to complain.

Read about it here: http://dailynewarker.com/press/2010/03/11/custom-bicycles-handmade-in-newark/

You can check out the Award Winners and some other News from the event at the NAHBS website. You can check out all of our pictures from the event here.

Without further adieu, pictures:

The big convention hall room filled with beautiful bikes for the Handmade Bike Show.

The cutest commuter bike by Yipsan. Won NAHBS best city bike award.

The second best city bike by Vanilla.

The most beautiful bike there by Cherubim. Stainless steel everything, a seat made of rails, silver handlebar wrap, and look at those brake levers! This bike won President's Choice.

A 24k gold plated bicycle made by Peacock Groove. Notice, the rear dropouts are cut-out like a peacock. Sweet.

Perfect paint by Llewellyn.

Perfect powder and stainless steel lugs by a new builder - Mosaic. After building frames for Dean Cycles for 6 years, the owner/builder started his own framebuilding company in July.

Pegoretti bikes not only have exceptional craftsmanship, but are also hand painted. Although the paint was applied with textures, the 24 layers of clear coat make the tubes smooth.

In my opinion, Banjo bicycles have the best head badge. They play banjos and wear tweed suits. They make kinetic sculptures (like Arthur Ganson) and all have red hair. Strange. Oh yes, and they collectively make touring and city bicycles incorporating as many mediums and techniques as possible, including wood fenders and collapsible racks.

A wonderful titanium bike with interesting aestheics: titanium etched stipes meeting painted stripes that wrap around the cable stop.

Villin Cycles plays with metal. This is an example of their hammered lugs and fluted seatstays. They also etch and bend metal parts for their bikes. It makes you wonder, "What is that?"

Vanilla Cycles shipped in many parts of their workshop and set up demonstrations of work in progress. If you were wondering, this is how you can shape lugs. Interesting...

Look at that craftsmanship! It doesn't get better than that! This is a stainless bike with silver brazed fillets. Amazing!

More amazing craftsmanship by Bilenky. I think the guy in the picture told me that he spent 100 hours on lug shaping for this bike.

This Danish framebuilder brought the bicycle down to simple physics. With this braking system, you actually pull the cable to brake, no brake lever necessary. Also, the wooden handlebar grips can be removed and replaced with various decorations. He also makes hubs with the same function so your bike components can match.

Bring it back with Dromarti leather cycling shoes to match your Brooks saddle and shellacked handlebar tape.

Wood composite bicycles with stainless, internally brazed lugs. Pretty inventive. Each bike is made of a different combination of wood to accommodate for different bodies and riding styles.

A bike from Japan. No, it does not fold. The design is solely for shocks and tiny 20" wheels.

A Brompton folding bike. Really easy to fold and unfold. All 30,000 bikes per year are made by hand by 100 builders in England. For a train commuter, this would be a great purchase for $1400.

Ted Wojciak's lawnmower bike. Newark City Parks & Grounds should upgrade.