National Bike Challenge

Massbike is promoting the National Bike Challenge this year, a fun way to compete with other states to see what state is the most dedicated to cycling. See below for details, or read here.

———–

MassBike is proud to launch the National Bike Challenge in Massachusetts. This is a great opportunity to show the rest of the country how dedicated bicyclists in Massachusetts are! Building on the momentum of the MassCommute Bicycle Challenge, which took place during Bay State Bike Week, this friendly nation-wide competition runs through the end of September. We’re ready to hit the ground sprinting!

To register, do the following:

1. Visit NationalBikeChallenge.org and click “JOIN.”

2. Type in your Employer or School/University (optional).

3. If you are at a large employer, you can create teams within your company. To do so, click “Join a Team.”

4. Either create a team or join an existing team.

Prizes are given out on a monthly basis by the League of American Bicyclists. Powered by Endomondo, participants can track miles using a smartphone app or the Endomondo website. Once you register, all miles tracked through September automatically count toward the National Bike Challenge. Most importantly, we are competing against all 50 states! Let’s show them our biking prowess.

Add to Reddit.

Tweet

5th Annual Boston Bike Update 2013 Recap

Greg Hum plays drums on his bike, organizes the annual Midnight Marathon Bike Ride, and rides bikes after eating too much. He shares stories and more on his personal blog, The Humble Cyclist. Tweet at him, bro: @thehum. 

____________________________________________________________________

Last year, I live-blogged the 2012 Boston Bike Update and ended up with a pretty comprehensive post about it. This past Tuesday, for the 5th Annual Boston Bike Update 2013, I live-tweeted instead, using #BostonBikeReport. However, here is a recap from blogger Sicloot , a post by WestWood Biker who found the meeting “discouraging,” and below are some tweets from the night, and a link to the full Boston Bikes report.

Full house at @bikeboston #BostonBikeUpdate! @streetsboston twitter.com/thehum/status/…

— Greg Hum (@thehum) May 21, 2013

“Boston is 5th most bikable city in the country; biking up 82%” #BostonBikeUpdate @streetsboston @bikeboston twitter.com/thehum/status/…

— Greg Hum (@thehum) May 21, 2013

The nation’s 1st bike helmet vending machine is coming to #Boston this summer!! #BostonBikeUpdate

— LivableStreets (@StreetsBoston) May 21, 2013

Bike lanes coming to A & D street in #southie!#bostonbikeupdate

— SouthieBikes (@SouthieBikes) May 21, 2013

Thanks to @streetsboston for hosting last night’s #bostonbikeupdate, & all the people who attended. Here’s report: ow.ly/liwxT

— Boston Bikes (@bikeboston) May 22, 2013

It’s going to be yet another exciting year for biking in Boston!

-Greg

Add to Reddit.

Tweet

MBTA Offers Bicycle Amenities On Capeflyer Boston To Cape Cod Train

Greg Hum plays drums on his bike, organizes the annual Midnight Marathon Bike Ride, and rides bikes after eating too much. He shares stories and more on his personal blog, The Humble Cyclist. Tweet at him, bro: @thehum. 

____________________________________________________________________

The MBTA’s new CapeFlyer train service, which offers an easy alternative to driving or taking the ferry between Boston and Cape Cod, includes some pretty awesome bike amenities, including no charge for bringing your bike on the train and some bike tools on the actual train for bike adjustments:

Want to bring your bike down the Cape on @capeflyer1 ? We have racks & tools on board to get your bike in gear.. twitpic.com/crzyd6

— MBTA (@mbtaGM) May 20, 2013

Not only is this exciting because there has not been a Boston to Cape Cod train since 1959 (or 1996 if you count the Amtrak’s discontinued Cape Cod service), but also because bicycles accommodations are becoming more and more a part of Massachusetts’ transportation infrastructure.

Thanks to the CapeFlyer, getting to the beach with your bicycle, a Boston terrier, and a few beers has never been easier!

P.S. I can’t tell you how excited this makes me personally; the enthusiasm and support from the MBTA/MBCR while working with them to accomodate 700 bicycles on an express train for this year’s Midnight Marathon ride was not only monumental, but absolutely phenomenal. It’s an exciting time to be a bicyclist in Massachusetts, my friends. 

-Greg

Add to Reddit.

Tweet

Monthly Bike Parties Roll Into Boston; First Boston Bike Party Next Tuesday!

Greg Hum plays drums on his bike, organizes the annual Midnight Marathon Bike Ride, and rides bikes after eating too much. He shares stories and more on his personal blog, The Humble Cyclist. Tweet at him, bro: @thehum. 

____________________________________________________________________

Back in 2009, BostonBiker reported back on some observations from adventures with the monthly San Jose Bike Party group bike ride:

1. 

   San Jose Bike Party

   1500 people, no joke this thing is huge

2. People stop at stop signs and red lights (mostly)
3. People in cars are nice to the party members
4. All ages (family, child, old, college, high school etc)
5.  People love their cruisers/low riders/choppers/old shitty mountain bikes out there.
6.  It is done at night
7.  Music is provided by several bike trailers, and a musical couch
8.  BIKE PARTY!!!!
9. Seriously…BIKE PARTY!!!!!

Fast forward four years, and I’m very pleased to announce that Shane’s observations are soon going to become a reality in Boston:

Bike Parties are coming to Boston, and the first one is next Tuesday night, May 28th! 

From the Boston Bike Party website:

Bike Party is a phenomenon which has grown out of San Jose, California and spread across the country.  Massachusetts has a vast and diverse biking community with a lot of potential for some great social rides, and it’s about time we got a Bike Party of our own!

The idea is simple: we have fun while riding around together on bikes.  It’s a monthly social ride to make friends, hang out with fellow bikers, and promote biking in the Boston/Cambridge area by showing all the walkers and drivers how we have a good time!

There is no cost to join us, and no obligation.  It’s just an informal bike night out around town to have fun and socialize.

Hopefully we’ll see you at the first Boston Bike Party!

1. Keep to the right lane and off of sidewalks
2. Never ride against traffic
3. Stop at red lights
4. Ride straight and predictably
5. Ride smart. Don’t ride inebriated or unsafely.
6. Remind others to be safe. Help remind others who aren’t following the rules.
7. Stick together! It isn’t a race to the end, it’s a social ride together. If the group is held back, wait. If you’re falling back (which is hard) catch up!

You are each responsible for your behavior! All participants ride at their own risk.

• Meeting location: Dewey Square Plaza
• Date: May 28th, 2013 
• Meet time: 7:30pm
• Ride Departure: 8:00pm
• Facebook Event Page | Boston Bike Party on Facebook
  

Elodie, Boston Bike Party’s founder, a recent Boston transplant and France native, felt inspired to bring Bike Parties to Boston after participating and falling in love with DC Bike Parties while living there.

The DC Bike Party Experience from Charles Pulliam-Moore on Vimeo.

I imagine an amazing party on wheels akin to the closest thing Boston has to a Bike Party: the annual JP Halloween bike ride:
.

I’ll have the Hum Drum out for this one. See you on Tuesday!

-Greg

Add to Reddit.

Tweet

HubWay Is Hiring

Check out the new positions here:

Bicycle Service Technician

Add to Reddit.

Tweet

Cyclist Struck And Killed At Beacon and Charlesgate

(via)

Apparently she was struck by a dump truck.

This afternoon, MIT visiting scientist Dr. Kanako Miura, 36, died in a bicycle accident in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. Miura was a native of Japan and had been at MIT since the fall of 2012. Within MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), Miura worked in the laboratory of Russ Tedrake, an associate professor of computer science and engineering. (via)

At about 3:34pm, on Sunday, May 19, 2013, officers from District D-4 (South End) responded to an accident involving a motor vehicle and a female bicyclist. On arrival, officers located a female victim suffering from what appeared to be life threatening injuries. As a result of injuries suffered in the accident, the bicyclist, a female in her early twenties, was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Detectives – assigned to the Boston Police Department’s Accident Reconstruction Team – are currently investigating the facts and circumstances surrounding this accident. At present, the cause of the accident is still under investigation and no violations have been issued at this time. (via)

On Sunday afternoon at about 3:30, a 20-year-old woman was either riding her bicycle or walking beside it when she was struck by a truck, police said. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. There was a mangled bike found about a mile from the crash scene on Bay State Road. “It’s really a bad intersection, ” one resident said, describing the corner of Beacon Street and Charlesgate West, where the crash occurred. There is a bike lane on Beacon Street, but police said the woman was hit by a truck that did not stop. Investigators are trying to identify the driver of the truck involved in the incident. “People just don’t care anymore,” another resident said. “They are in such a hurry; they don’t care who they hit at all.” Police pulled over two trucks after the crash but they would not confirm whether either vehicle was involved in the incident. “It’s very scary; I live right next-door. I hope they honor the victim by making the road safer,” a resident said. As of Sunday night, police had not made any arrest or issued any violations.(via)

our hearts go out to her family and friends, more information when I get it. Of all the cyclist fatalities in the last two years, nearly all of them have been caused by large trucks. Perhaps its time the city does something about this.

Add to Reddit.

Tweet

Tour De Southie

The South Boston bike scene is heating up, check out this awesome upcoming event:

Join us for a casual bicycle ride around the neighborhood. Nicole Freedman, Director of Boston Bikes, will be our special guest for the ride. Nicole will share with us any plans for bicycle lanes that may be in the works for Southie residents, and we will also have the opportunity to share our thoughts about what its like to ride here and where we’d like to see improvements.Cyclists of all abilities are encouraged to attend. Please keep in mind that we’ll be sharing the road with other vehicles. Helmets mandatory.Looking forward to seeing you there!

More details here.

Add to Reddit.

Tweet

City Releases Crash Statistics: Mayor Proposes Mandatory Helmet Law

As a follow-up to City Councilor Ayanna Pressley’s hearing in December 2012, the City of Boston’s Crash Data Report has finally come out. You can find the report at the following URL: http://www.cityofboston.gov/news/uploads/16776_49_15_27.pdf.

highlights include this lovely opening from the Mayor.

Dear Fellow Bostonians,

During the summer and fall of 2012, our city experienced five fatal bicycle incidents that led to this report. Through detailed analysis of four years of police report data, City officials will have concrete information with which to make the roadways safer for vulnerable users. This document will help us smartly apply our resources to continue improving our streets using the “six E’s of bicycle planning”: Engineering, Education, Enforcement, Encouragement, Evaluation, and Equity.

Since the City of Boston bicycle program launched in 2007, we have gone from being called one of the worst cities for cycling in the country to one of the best. The addition of nearly 60 miles of on-street bicycle facilities, hundreds of new bike racks, and the overwhelmingly successful New Balance Hubway bike share program has brought cycling into the mainstream here in Boston. Boston is well on its way to becoming a world-class cycling city. The bicycle has become a critical part of our transportation system.

Boston streets are full of people commuting to work and school, families enjoying a weekend ride together, and every type of rider in-between. This spirited resurgence of the bicycle has placed our city streets in a time of transit ion, from one dependent upon cars, to one embracing more active transportation options. Transitions can be difficult.

The close-knit community among cyclists continues to impress me. When one member of the community suffers from a terrible incident, the degree of separation to all cyclists is not far. We must work tirelessly and collaboratively to continue improving the safety of our streets. This report will help guide the process of continuing to grow Boston’s vibrant bicycle community.

Sincerely,
Thomas M. Menino
Mayor, City of Boston

But what really seems to have some in a tizzy is the notion of a mandatory helmet law being proposed by the mayors office.

Helmets are very useful in reducing injury to your head AFTER the accident occurs. Having a helmet on will reduce your chances of getting brain damage once the car has run into you, but wont keep it from hitting you in the first place. Or from the street being full of pot holes, or from poorly designed intersections, or red light runners etc.

One can only assume at the behest of the Boston Public Health Commission. The BPH seems to be obsessed with helmets, something I (and many others) have disagreed with in the past.

The whole thing is full of statistics here is just a taste:

74% of people are already wearing helmets

21 is the age most likely to be in a crash

Most crashes happen at 5pm

The report is well worth a read, read it all here.  Leave your thoughts, findings, statistical analysis in the comments.

Add to Reddit.

Tweet