An actual bicycle way-finding sign in Bamberg, Germany showing bicyclists the way to the biergarten.

Translation – Bicycle ride to the biergarten!

.

On 9/17 at 6pm, BCBC will be riding from Newark to the Biergarten at the Deutsche Club of Clark.

.

The next and last biergarten of the season at the Deutsche Club will be on Friday, September 17th. The plan is to meet in Newark around 6pm and ride the 15 or so miles to the Deutsche Club at a fun and casual, 3-speed friendly pace using mostly quite residential streets (exact details on the meeting location and time will be forthcoming).

.

There will be live music at the event along with German foods and plenty of bier (note – vegetarians will have some, but limited options). Last call is at 10pm but festivities typically go longer. At the end of the evening people Andy B. will escort people the 3.3 miles to the Rahway Train Station so they can take the train back to Newark. People also have the option of taking the train from Westfield on the Raritan Valley Line which is slightly closer at 2.7 miles. Either way you will be going home at night so a proper assortment of front and rear lights are a must.

.

Here is a link to the bike route

.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity for a fun filled ride with New Jersey’s largest and most authentic German Biergarten as your final destination. If you would like to attend, please RSVP to “ajbesold [at] yahoo dot com”

.

And while bikes and bier are some of the greatest things that make life worth living, it should go without saying, but drunk bicycle riding IS DWI and will not be tolerated on the ride back to the train station.

.

.

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 tour starts out in deep city passing two beautiful train terminals along the way, then heads slowly, diagonally, painlessly uphill to Newark’s largest public sculpture on Bergen Street. Then it’s almost a continuous coast downhill from there.

I’d like to start at 7pm if possible, 7:15 at the latest. Let me know if that’s too early for everyone. A larger map for printing is available here: art tour map

Cheers!

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!

.

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.

.

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

.

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

…

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.