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Riding Right: Nine Tips for Better Biking

By kateziegler - 8/2/11 - 11:07 am

Originally posted at Union Jack Creative on July 29th, 2011 - from two Boston bikers to hundreds of new Hubway riders, nine tips to make biking better for you, and for the rest of us.

It’s no secret that we’re pretty big on bikes. We think they’re pretty fun to ride (and are kind of like magic carpets ferrying you home in the wee hours when everyone else is fighting for cabs) and we love when friends ask us for help breaking into biking in the city. More bikes are better for everyone involved, in our opinion.

And so, though we’re a bit confused as to the target market, we really want to get behind Boston’s Hubway bike share initiative, which had its grand opening last Thursday. Kiosks are up, bikes are out and locals are signing up – but what about that influx of new riders?

Where the Hubway bikes are

By adamg - 8/2/11 - 10:32 am

Map showing Hubway stations and the percentages of bikes that are available.

Via Sarah Grafman.

'I heard the roaring of the engine and turned around to see this homicidal maniac zig-zag ...'

By adamg - 7/30/11 - 11:31 am

Jonathan was among the bicyclists the driver of a gray Civic took aim at during last night's Critical Mass cork-up in Allston. He reports on the incident, notes he has the guy's license-plate number.

Goodness, why would anybody get upset with bicyclists?

By adamg - 7/29/11 - 8:53 pm

BostonTweet captured a little corking or something this evening at Harvard and Brighton in Allston.

Via Allston Rat City, who wonders:

Rotaries stymie bike-lane planners

By adamg - 7/29/11 - 12:02 pm

The Jamaica Plain Gazette reports the city will paint bike lanes from the Monument down Centre Street all the way to the beginning of the VFW Parkway - except through the large rotary where the Arborway comes in - because rotaries are just too risky for bicylists, who are advised to use the sidewalks around them.

That's a lot of bicycles

By adamg - 7/28/11 - 10:46 am

Whole lot of bikes

Dan K photographed City Hall Plaza full of new bikes awaiting the formal launch of the Hubway bike-rental network today.

Man with two OUI convictions charged with plowing through light, hitting bicyclist, cop

By adamg - 7/25/11 - 2:46 pm

A Jamaica Plain man with two drunk-driving convictions was charged with a third OUI offense after he allegedly disregarded a "No Turn on Red" sign in the Back Bay and hit and dragged a bicyclist in the crosswalk - then hit a cop as he was pulling over - the District Attorney's office reports.

Neither the bicyclist nor the Boston police officer were seriously hurt in the July 21 incident, the DA's office says.

According to prosecutors, Vinodkumar Patel, 58, was driving a 2003 GMC Yukon north on Mass. Ave. around 5 p.m.:

Maybe bright yellow will work better

By adamg - 7/24/11 - 5:38 pm

Yellow keep-out sign

Bike Share Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

By massmarrier - 7/20/11 - 4:19 pm

OK, kiddies, word from our bike czarina Nicole Freedman is that the share is on. Tuesday, 7/26 at 11 AM Eastern, Tom Menino will grab the first Hubway bike out of the dock (hope he has his credit card) on City Hall Plaza.

I'm still skeptical, but, hey, this is on sked.

No, JP not being bypassed by bike-rental network because everybody there already has a bike

By adamg - 7/20/11 - 9:53 am

The Globe notes that the draft map of the new Hubway bike-rental network shows no rental kiosks south of Roxbury Crossing and Brigham Circle:

"They're all in the downtown area, with the tourists and the wealthy people," lamented 21-year-old Genesis Baez, who lives in Jamaica Plain.

Brian McGrory fancies himself a latter-day Jonathan Swift

By adamg - 7/15/11 - 9:12 am

Or maybe he didn't think he was getting enough e-mail. But how long before Emily Rooney has him on her show to calmly explain why bicyclists should be shot on sight?

Is City Hall serious about cracking down on red-light-running bicyclists?

By adamg - 7/14/11 - 12:49 pm

Mike Ball, himself an avid bicylist, ponders the ramifications of a City Hall statement that Hizzona Himself wants bicyclists to stop for red lights and wonders if the new enforcement will also involve going after signal-disregarding motorists as well:

Where would you put the first bike-rental stations?

By adamg - 7/11/11 - 9:38 am

Hubway, the impending bike-rental network, wants your suggestions for where they first start renting bikes sometime this month.

Biker down in Cambridge

By adamg - 6/27/11 - 12:17 pm

Biker hit

Allston bicyclist beaten with own bike lock in two-fight road-rage incident

By adamg - 6/9/11 - 8:47 pm

Wicked Local Allston/Brighton reports on a June 3 incident outside 74 Harvard Ave.

North End could get bike lanes next to the curb, rather than in traffic

By adamg - 4/30/11 - 3:32 pm

NorthEndWaterfront.com reports on proposed "hybrid" bike lanes along Commercial Street and Atlantic Avenue that would swap the normal positions of car-parking and bike lanes on one side of the streets. Also, Segways would be allowed.

Masshole mayhem on Cambridge Street: Motorists vs. bicyclists, again

By adamg - 4/22/11 - 12:06 pm

Marjorie Arons-Barron reports on an incident near Charles Circle yesterday involving ten kids on bicycles riding abreast on Cambridge Street, and an increasingly impatient driver who finally had enough:

Bicycle locks no match for a large rock, but alleged thieves no match for pursuing cops

By adamg - 4/19/11 - 6:38 pm

Boston Police report arresting a pair of 50-somethings who allegedly used "a bag with a big rock inside it" to smash locks and make off with a pair of bicyles at Mass. Ave. and Boylston Street around 2:15 this morning.

Unfortunately for the alleged yeggs, Mass. Ave. and Boylston Street is one of the few intersections in the City that Always Sleeps that has a fair amount of foot traffic even at 2:15 a.m. and so Carl Effee, 54, and Carl Lemon, 52, were both apprehended in short order and charged with larceny of a bicycle, police say.

City to begin handing out "educational" tickets to bicyclists in Back Bay, South End

By adamg - 4/15/11 - 2:21 pm

Mike Ball reports on last night's hearing on proposed bike lanes along Mass. Ave. from the river to Symphony Hall. Among other topics:

The local D-4 police captain, Paul Ivens (also a cyclist) ... was jolly but firm. Along with their regular duties, his officers have issued several hundreds of tickets to bike-lane car parkers since July. He noted that they would likely be handing out non-ticket tickets to cyclists soon as warning educational devices.

Boston looks to install bike lanes on Mass. Ave. from the river to Symphony Hall

By adamg - 4/11/11 - 4:40 pm

The city holds a hearing on Thursday to see what people think of the proposed addition of bike lanes to one of Boston's busiest streets.

City officials say bicycles now account for up to 14% of vehicle traffic on the avenue during rush hours - and that Mass. Ave. has one of the highest rates of bicycle accidents in the city. Under the city proposal, five-foot bike lanes would be striped on both sides of the road.

The hearing begins at 7 p.m. at the BPL main branch in Copley Square.

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