Plainville Greenway Alliance

I discovered this on my ride to Cheshire yesterday. It's painted on the side of an active industrial building right alongside the trail. In fact, the white lettering in the upper left hand corner reads: "This mural is dedicated to the Town of Southington by the students of the 2012 YMCA's Fine art of Graffiti Class". What a cool gift. The only thing missing might be a bench where I took the photo from to sit and enjoy the artwork, you know, like in a museum.

I recently completed a cross country trip by train and car (no bike this trip), and enjoyed a fun dinner at Toro Bravo in Portland, OR. We tasted a brilliant, mouth watering array of tapas (small plates) while seated at the counter that looked directly into the food prep area where these dishes emerged from the ballet like movements of the professionals working there. But the big surprise for me, in addition to all the wonderful food, was the number of bikes out front on a really nice SAT evening in Portland. I guess I shouldn't really be surprised since Portland is one of the most bicycle friendly communities in the US. It's one thing to read about it, but something else to see it in person. Anyone care to join me for a ride to dinner at Fiore's IV or J. Timothy's here in Plainville?

I have a dream! One day, I'd like to see lots of kids in this town on bikes. With more kids biking, maybe more adults would be motivated to do so as well, but let's focus on the kids for now. How about a "Bike to School" month, maybe in MAY? There could be rewards for the student who bikes the most days, or the one who rides the farthest. The rewards could come from Plainville businesses, maybe a free pizza, ice cream, or a grand prize of a new bike. It's been done before, and I've seen it in Bay Village, Ohio, a village about the same size as Plainville, and just a little flatter. I was so impressed I took some photos like the one above, and wrote about it for a national cycling magazine. The photo here is taken at the Middle School, on a side street where the latecomers must lock up to the picket fence because the bike racks in front of the school and the picket fence along the main street are full of bikes, on both sides! You can read the article and see...