bicycling

Illac posts photos.

Michael Pahre explains why.

The city's doing a survey in which you're asked to track your riding habits in the city for one day on a Google Map (props to whoever at City Hall thought up using Google Maps). The city says it'll use the information to help plan such things as new bike lanes and locations for bike racks. Hmm, now that Hizzona rides on two wheels, one wonders if Hyde Park Avenue will be in line for a bike lane.

Via Harry Mattison.

Or, at least, dons the helmet for some serious biking. Mike Ball is astonished at the mayor's appparent change of heart toward the two-wheeled:

... If Tommy now likes bikes, things will get better for us cyclists and commuters alike. Hyde Park Avenue is big enough for both of us. ...

Dave Atkins applauds Hizzona and describes the benefits of biking to work downtown from Westwood:

... I don't claim to relate to the people of all the neighborhoods I ride through, just because I'm on a bike, but I see parts of the city I would never notice if you just got in your car and rode the MassPike from suburban Westwood in to work downtown. My daily ride takes me through Dedham, Roxbury, West Roxbury, Roslindale, Jamaica Plain, the South End, and parts of Southie. Sometimes I ride home through the Back Bay, out past Fenway and BU, Allston-Brighton, through Newton, Brookline, Needham, etc.

Cool for bicyclists; motorists might want to consider alternate routes for Sept 23.

Paul Levy points us to Hub on Wheels, a one-day bicycle festival aimed at supporting digital education in Boston public schools. How festive? Imagine Storrow Drive completely closed to car traffic:

You'll ride over scenic pathways, colorful side streets and main roadways - including a car-free Storrow Drive! You can choose from a 25 or 45-mile loop. Either way, it's a great opportunity to see the city and meet people from all over Boston.

Hmm, now there's an idea: Close Storrow permanently (that tunnel's falling apart, anyway), then have people park in Brighton and rent them bikes for the commute to and from downtown.

Joel Patterson wonders if Boston could copy Paris and start offering cheap rental bikes as a way of reducing pollution and generally Massholishness.

Sure, but howzabout the city make Boston safer for existing bicyclists first?

Friends,
There will be a bicycle loading from 10AM to 4 or 5PM on Saturday, July 7th, 2007 at building N of the Sam Adams Brewery Complex on Boylston Street (2 blocks south of Stony Brook Station). Those of you who know about Bikes Not Bombs also know that these shipments make a big difference in improving peoples lives with appropriate transportation and education. We have plenty of bicycles. We just need some able-bodied help in loading and packing this container. We'll take a break for lunch (pizza & salad) around 1PM. I'll see you there.
Peace.
Jon Allen
Bikes Not Bombs
http://bikesnotbombs.org
Village Bicycle Project
http://www.pcei.org/vbp/

You know all those bike racks the city claims bicyclists are being too lazy to use? Mike Mennonno wonders what sort of crack the city Transportation Department is smoking.

Frances was on her bike at the time, so she had to use some verbal shorthand when addressing the guy in the red SUV double-parked on Mass. Ave.:

... When I sped by your window on my bicycle and you heard me say "Asshole," what I really meant to say was, "By stopping your car in the middle of traffic on Massachusetts Avenue so that your friend could run in to the Walgreens to make a purchase, you disrupted traffic patterns, causing the 77 Bus to stop in the middle of the street and forcing me to slow down. I also had to move far into the middle of traffic to go around your vehicle on a heavily traveled street, thereby putting myself at risk at being hit by a car. Furthermore, it interrupted what had been, up until then, a very pleasant ride on what can sometimes be an unpleasant route." ...

Craig Koebelin reflects on his many years of bicycling while intoxified:

... There is a little spot on the Charles in Lower Allston opposite Cambridge where I would stop on my way home from my part-time job in the Hospital District to my then-home Arlington, I would draw on a pint of vodka acquired in a Brookline or Allston store, watch the crewers, wondering if they were actually having fun, the rising of fish, ducks, the sunset, chat on the cell phone, skip stones, get extra fortified for the subsuing night ride down Mass Ave to Arlington, once I did the whole pint and had a fall-down between Porter Square and Alewife Parkway, leaving a scar on my right knee, yet another scar, I don't need tattoes life has tattoed me quite enough. ...

Sharon checks in from a conference on making greater Boston more friendly for pedestrians and bicyclists. She points to the Boston Bicycle Planning Initiative, which is working with both MassBike and WalkBoston to make the Hub more walkable/bikeable. She doesn't note that the group's URL, BikeTheHub.org is a way cooler name.