Dot Bike

Any pro cycling fans out there?  Join us at Tavolo on Thursday night July 22nd from 8 – 11 p.m. to watch the exciting and decisive 17th stage of this years Tour de France.

This is the final stage in the Pyrenees, with a mountain top finish on the famed Col du Tourmalet.  It’ll make you want to ride right out and find a big hill!  There’s been quite a bit of excitement in the tour so far, with some American riders doing well and Lance Armstrong plugging away at his 13th tour.

So come on down to Tavolo located at 1918 Dorchester Ave. at the Carruth building at Ashmont Station for an entertaining evening of good food and drink and watch a little bike racing while you’re at it.

There are reports in today’s Globe and Metro news papers that Boston in partnership with the MBTA has got a chunk of federal money for the previously stalled bike share program.

With a start up cost of about 5 million for 500 bikes and 50 stations it’s looking like the program will start off on a smaller scale than what we were initially hearing and while the program was touted as paying for itself when we first heard about it, it seems that what was really meant was that annual operating costs would be covered by user fees and that there are indeed significant costs to get the program rolling.

It is interesting to see that the MBTA is now a partner in this program and the Globe article talks about how the grant was made with the goal of enhancing a green interconnected public transit network.  If the T gets a say and listens to community input as to where the bike share is most needed this could be a good development especially for under served neighborhoods but that remains to be seen.  If the overall plan hasn’t changed from what we’ve seen and with the relatively high in my opinion user fee that is quoted in the article then I for one remain a skeptic.

The  start date for the program is now said to be spring 2011.   Let’s see how that goes.

DotBike and the Franklin Park Coalition  teamed up on Saturday to take some of our Grove Hall neighbors on a ride around Franklin Park.  Despite the rain that came down right a nice crowd of folks showed up to ride or lend support to those who rode.   And there were nearly 20 riders, youth and adult alike who braved the rain and took part in the ride.

Thanks very much to the Boston Bikes Program for lending bikes for folks to ride as well as with help loading up and re-stowing the bikes after we were done.

You may not even have known but there has been a rule on the city books for a long time that says that cycling is not allowed in city parks.  But thanks to the cooperative effort of the Franklin Park Coalition and DotBike with significant help and support by JP Bikes and Rozzie Bikes and others change has come.  Bicycling is now officially allowed in Franklin Park – two separate circuit routes have been green lighted for cycling in the park.   While the rule was not enforced having bicycling authorized in the park removes possible barriers to continuing to have bike events in the park, and to improvements related to bicycling such as bike racks or path stewardship that addresses biking concerns.  And also paves the way for change in other appropriate city green space in the future.

The Franklin Park Coalition presented a proposal at the Boston Parks Commission on Monday to make bicycling legal in Franklin Park.  While there were several questions, both the Parks Department and the Commissioners expressed their support and appreciated the efforts and enthusiasm of Dot Bike and other volunteer bike groups involved.   DotBike had an integral role in developing the proposal.

The cooperation of the Parks Dept. on this is very much appreciated, and we can’t thank the Franklin Park Coalition enough for their incredible efforts on behalf of bicyclists and everyone who enjoys and appreciates the park.

Just a quick update on our first Bike Friday of the Season ride to work on Ride to Work Day during Bike Week!  I’ll post some pictures when I can get some.

Dorchester had a great convoy of between 29 and 31 riders (a couple joined in and a couple peeled off along the way) this morning on the trip up Dorchester Ave. and to the Bike Festival on City Hall Plaza.  We had folks from Dorchester, Quincy, Braintree, South Boston, Milton and even one rider who came down from Salem to join us as she had always wanted to participate and had family in Dorchester as a base to start from.  Way to go!   The weather couldn’t have been nicer.

At City Hall Plaza riders enjoyed breakfast burritos from Boloco and Pastries from Iggy’s.  And lot’s of bike shop and bike friendly business displays and giveaways.

And to top it off city and state transportation officials announced that they will be installing bike lanes on Mass Ave. from Symphony Hall to the Boston Medical Center with a future goal of adding lanes from Symphony to the Mass Ave. bridge for a continuous  lane on this major route through the city.

A nice morning all around.

Bike week started off with great weather this morning!  I hit my first free breakfast of the week in Cambridge on my ride in.   Depending on how far out of your way you are willing to ride there are commuter breakfast opportunities every morning this week.

Unfortunately I am going to miss the Boston Kickoff with the Mayor that is starting at noon today.  Hope the mayor and everyone else has a nice ride to the new Commonwealth Ave. bike lanes.

And don’t forget to sign up to ride with DotBike and the Dorchester convoy to the Friday Bike Festival and Breakfast on City Hall Plaza. Help make Dorchester’s convoy the largest!

Oh and when I was riding through central square Cambridge motorcycle police were sitting waiting to nab both law breaking motorists and cyclists.  Perhaps the BPD will be out and doing the same and it would be great if they would actually ticket every car parked in a bike lane.

Happy and Safe Riding!

Bike Week is just one week away!

Kick-off the cycling season at Boston Bike Week, May 17-21.  Sign up today!

Help to make Dorchester the largest convoy on Friday May 21st as we ride up the avenue to “Mayor Menino’s Bike Festival” at City Hall Plaza, where you’ll be met with a free breakfast from Boloco, a bike festival and expo with music and tons of free giveaways.

Meet us for a 7:00 a.m. departure from Peabody Square near the Ashmont T station or join up with us at Fields Corner as we ride by around 7:10 a.m.

Other events happening during bike week include:

Bike Week Kickoff, May 17 City Hall Plaza, Boston, 11:45 AM
Join Mayor Menino and hundreds of cyclists to kickoff Bike Week in Beantown. Ride with Mayor Menino, participate in the ribbon cutting of new Commonwealth Ave bike lanes, and hear what’s new in Boston.

Cities for Cycling – Best Cycling Cities, May 20 Boston University’s Jacob Sleeper Auditorium, 871 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, 5-7:30 PM.
Learn what what Roger Geller from Portland OR, Jon Orcutt from New York City and Timothy Papandreou from San Francisco are doing to make their cities world-class bicycling cities. All are invited to a reception after the summit at Landry’s Bicycles, courtesy of Boloco and Harpoon Brewery

And keep on checking back and in our events listing for more upcoming Bike Week activities.

Saturday was perfect weather for a nice ride round the neighborhood.  There was a nice group with several riders on their first DotBike ride and a few familiar faces.   A shout out to Nicole and Jessica of Boston Bikes Program for letting us use some of the city’s bike fleet for folks to borrow a bike.  The bikes were well received by those who used them and they worked great.

We started in Pope John Paul park and highlighted the missing link – the gap in the off road paths between Tenean beach and UMass Boston – as well as Victory Park.  Then we headed for a little bit of up and hit Ronan Park and then back down to Savin Hill.  People were asked if they wanted to do some more climbing and all were game so we headed up to the top of the hill and Savin Hill Park.  Then by the beach and back to PJP.  It ended up being a real nice route with not too much traffic.  Here’s the map.

View 2010 Shiny Green Dot Ride in a larger map

Mayor’s Bike Safety Summit

This past Wednesday the Mayor convened a ‘Bike Safety Summit’.  Several DotBikers attended.  There were representatives from several relevant city and state agencies on a panel and about 200 people in the audience.  There were many good suggestions and some encouraging responses but no earth shaking policy statements.  Others have written up very nice summaries so I’ll just link to some here if you want to read all about.  Hopefully something more that just talk will come out of this and promised future events like this but we’ll need to wait and see.

From the Green Options for Sustainability Blog

From the BU student newspaper

From the Boston Cyclists Union

The Shiny Green Dot Ride – Saturday April 24th 1 p.m.

NEW ROUTES AND BIKES TO BORROW!

In celebration of Earth Week and Boston Shines we’re going for a ride around the neighborhood to check out some of Dorchester’s many parks and green spaces.

This year we’ve got some new exciting changes on tap!

BORROW A BIKE -  this year we have the opportunity to borrow bikes from Boston Bikes!

The fleet has adult, youth and child bikes.  Reservations for bikes are required.

To reserve bikes click here! Reserve soon.  There’s not much time left.

Ride Start: Pope John Paul II Park – Hallet St. parking area

We’re developing a new route with short and long options to visit some of the neighborhood’s great green space.   We’ll plan to use mostly bike paths for the shorter ride to avoid traffic.  The longer ride may  include some on road riding.

We’ll ride at a relaxed pace and leave no one behind with stops along the way.
Helmets are required and riders under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Email dotbike AT bostonbiker DOT org or call Andy at 781-367-9200 to RSVP or with questions.