Candy Cranks

Our city has officially been invaded by the Hubway Bike Share System!  I’m seeing sooo many people out and about on these bikes!!  Check out http://www.thehubway.com/ for more info:

New Balance Hubway is your Boston bike sharing system. Launched in Boston on July 28, 2011 with 61 stations and 600 bicycles, with an eye towards expanding into Boston neighborhoods and surrounding communities, New Balance Hubway provides you with an accessible and green transit option. Rent a bike near your home or office and pedal your way to the next lunch meeting, errand or shopping trip, or to visit friends and family.

Joining New Balance Hubway is easy and tailored to fit your needs. Choose between an Annual, 3-Day or 24-Hour membership and access our fleet when you want it, 3 seasons a year (the system is shut down in the winter). Rides less than 30 minutes are always free. Please review our Pricing page for additional information on membership costs and usage fees.

Anxious to ride? Keep in touch with us here, as well as on our Facebook and Twitter pages in the days up to the official launch of your New Balance Hubway system for the latest news!

A Beautiful Ride.

Join us for the 7th annual Hub On Wheels citywide bike ride on Sunday, September 25th, 2011. Experience a car-free Storrow Drive, explore hidden pathways and historic neighborhoods, and take in views of the Boston Harbor that you’ve never seen before.

The ride starts and finishes on City Hall Plaza in downtown Boston, with three different routes to choose from: 10, 30 and 50 miles. Sign up now for what’s sure to be the best ride of the year. You haven’t seen the Hub until you’ve seen it on wheels.

An Action-Packed Race.

You won’t want to miss the third annual TD Bank Mayor’s Cup Professional Criterium race, the same weekend. More than two hundred professional racers, including national champions and Olympic cyclists, descend on Government Center to compete for $40,000 in prize money.

The TD Bank Mayor’s Cup is high-speed, spectator-friendly entertainment. Tight packs of professional cyclists will sprint around the course and dive into sharp corners at top speed.

An All-Day Cycling Celebration.

The Boloco Block Party will be in full swing all day long. City Hall Plaza will be one big bike festival with food, music, and an expo. Also be sure to catch the second annual mascot race and the kids’ race, open to any and all cyclists age 3-9.

So I’m walking along in the city today and I hear the song ”Low Rider” booming at max volume out of speakers from somewhere.  When I turned to the source see what the source of the music was, this is what I saw:

What a cute and innovative idea!  They even have a locator map to show you where the Rolling Wrench is currently located.  Check out their website:  http://rolling-wrench.com/index.php

Tony Cervati — known in the diabetes and cycling worlds as “Type 1 Rider” — is a 42 year-old man with Type 1 diabetes. In June, he will leave everything behind to bike the longest, most dangerous, unsanctioned mountain bike trail on the planet. 

After three years of training he will ride the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route from Canada to the Mexico border. This route is roughly 2800 miles long.  He will ride through grizzly country, ice, wind, snow, desert and more than 200,000ft of elevation gain (roughly the equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest seven times).  For thirty days, he will be alone without any support from the outside world. Should something go wrong, he will have only one way to communicate for help: a satellite SOS device. 

Tony’s insulin dependency creates mind-numbing logistical hurdles. He faces serious, life-threatening challenges, especially at high altitudes, but he will stop at nothing — even if it means putting his own life at risk — to prove that a life with diabetes can be lived without limitations.  Completing this ride is his life mission.

Spread the word and offer your support!

Date: May 18, 2011 7pm-10pm

Location:  Regent Theatre: 7 Medford St, Arlington, MA – in Arlington Center

2nd Annual Bike Film Festival featuring  Nicole Freedman – Boston’s Bike Czar & Richard Fries – Master of Ceremonies for an evening of Bike Films, a Great Jersey Giveaway & Raffle for other cool bike-related prizes & Free Refreshments.  Proceeds go to MassBike

Love this!!

It is a totally crappy week here in Massachusetts for bike week but we are forging ahead in spite of the 7 day rain forecast!  There are a TON of events this week!  Check here for events closest to where you live and ride.  http://massbike.org/bsbw/.  Don’t forget to register for the commuter challenge!  http://masscommuterchallenge.org/

At my work site we are holding a fix a flat workshop, brake repair workshop, and showing off our new bike maintenance tools and racks available for commuters.  Do something to support bikers at your work site!

May is National Bike Month.  Within bike month, there is the Bay State Bike Week and the Mass Commuter Challenge from the 14th-20th.  Sign up this year to pledge your biking miles and check out all of the great events at the Bay State Bike Week website.  Bike commuting is good for your physical health, mental health, financial health and the environmental health, so you just can’t go wrong!

Although I’m a bit behind on posts due to life, I’ve been doing a ton of commuting to work on the bike and was very happy to read this:

By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent

With bicycling becoming an increasingly popular form of transportation in Cambridge, the city has installed three new maintenance stations where cyclists can make minor repairs and inflate tires free of charge.

Cambridge Transportation Program Manager Cara Seiderman said the city has installed the bicycle repair stations in Harvard Square and outside the main library in the past two weeks. Another center was installed at Fresh Pond late last year.

“It’s a way of supporting and making it easier for people to bike,” Seiderman said.

The stands provide tire gauges and pumps, Allen wrenches and a few other tools that enable cyclists to make minor repairs, such as adjusting seats or handlebars.

Each station cost the city about $1,000 and Seiderman said the city got the idea from MIT which has already installed repair stations around its campus.

The installation of the repair stations comes as the city has seen a growing number of people riding bikes through Cambridge. A study conducted by the city estimates that the number of people bicycling in Cambridge more than doubled between 2002 and 2008, based on a study of the number of cyclists counted traveling through 17 different intersections. Seiderman said the number has continued to rise since 2008.

The city will be monitoring the repair centers, and if they are well-used more could be installed at other locations, Seiderman said.

In Harvard Square, the bicycle repair station can be found at the corner of Elliot and Brattle streets in the parking garage under the Harvard Square Hotel. The stand outside the main library is along the path to the right of the building when facing the building from Broadway. At Fresh Pond, the repair stand is found at the public entrance by the clock tower.

Bike sharing in Boston