Last weekend, my son, partner, and I were 3 of 4,000 riders who rode through Boston as part of "Hub on Wheels." I knew it'd be fun to ride through Boston on streets closed to traffic. And I thought my 10 year old could make it 10 miles. But who knew how incredibly fun it would be!!
I'm new to Hub on Wheels, so I don't know if it's always a fundraiser for Technology Goes Home. I'm not big on having to do a lot of fundraising just so I can go on a bike ride with lots of other people. But Hub on Wheels didn't set a high bar--you didn't have to raise funds at all if you didn't want to. As it turns out, Technology Goes Home is right up my alley, so I did manage to raise some. It's a City of Boston program that helps school children and their families with basic technology literacy.
Last spring, a few of us were keen to have a Simmons team for the ride, but all of us got swamped with memory loss and summer activities, so we weren't able to pull it together. I'm hoping we can next year. I'm sure there are plenty of you Simmons faculty, staff, and students who would love this ride!
We had to be there early. Too early. On a very cold morning. The kid reported, "it is too early. It is too cold. I am not going on a bike ride. You can't make me." We stuffed him in the car, bikes on the back to drive to Government Center. I wish we didn't have to drive, but adding on another 12 miles will have to wait until he's older. On the way, I realized I should make the sacrifice, and rolled my leg warmers onto him. Happily, there were very few complaints after that!
The ride "started" at 8. It didn't start so much as crawl. The ride started in front of Government Center, with bikes completely filling two lanes of traffic. The line turned down past that place with the steaming kettle to Faneuil Hall, and down that street. On top of that, there were hundreds of people hanging out on the plaza. We eventually got underway. The first couple of miles were a little hairy as the faster riders past by, the slower riders wobbled along and eventually moved to the right, and the middle began to flow.
After that, it was GREAT! We rode along Storrow Drive. The kid kept a good pace. Kevin actually found us on his way by and slowed to chat before picking up the pace on the start of his 30 mile route. At one point, I noticed some fast riders coming back on the opposite side of Storrow Drive. There was a group in a pace line with matching jerseys: beautiful! The only thing better would have been to be in there with them (as though I could keep up!). After the turn where the 30/50 mile routes split from the 10 miler, near the MFA, we were nearly the only ones on the road traveling on Comm Ave. past the SOM building, in between the Public Garden and the Boston Common, all the way up Beacon Hill, and screaming down (briefly) the other side.
Our son did a fabulous job the entire time of keeping a straight line and being predictable. Better than many of the adults we passed. We got to soak in a bit of Boston the way you can only on a bike--faster than walking, in the middle of the street, without a car around you blocking the view and going too fast.
Kevin wants me to join him on the 50 next year, which I'd gladly do if it didn't mean ditching the rest of the family. If only I could do both! The pictures showing that part of the ride make it clear that part was gorgeous too.
It's not too early to start planning for Hub on Wheels 2009. It's tentatively scheduled for September 27, and registration opens January 1st!
I highly recommend joining in!
Posted: September 26, 2008 11:21 am by Kimberly Brookes | 1 comment
Tags: bicycling, Boston, Hub on Wheels, Technology Goes Home
I am taking some days away from Simmons, but I couldn't miss Bike to Work week, so I rode in yesterday for the MASCO-sponsored breakfast. There were a couple of REI "wrenches" (mechanics) doing free tune-ups, coffee, bagels, and, of course, The T-Shirt.
I'd seen the design for the t-shirt in advance, and couldn't be without my 3rd bike to work week t-shirt. Nevermind that I've been to more bike to work breakfasts than that (usually after they'd run out of t-shirts) and that I have more t-shirts than I know what to do with. I mean, look at this!
There are some good things happening with biking around the Boston area. Check out a new bike coach on one of the commuter rail lines (below the gross crime story). The number of people and amount of energy at the MASCO breakfast was much greater than it's been in the past. As I pull into Fenway area, I see more and more bikers than I used to.
As the price of gas soars, let's hope that people really do try to Kick Gas, by biking and using public transportation.
Posted: May 16, 2008 10:24 am by Kimberly Brookes | 0 comments
Tags: bicycling, bike to work week, MASCO
I can't help myself. The spring weather brings on my desire for change. I want to ride to work. And I don't have a death wish.
I'm posting this in case there are others in the community interested in commuting safely to Simmons. If your commute is anywhere near mine: let's talk!
Dear Mass Highway Dept. Rep. Leavenworth, Dept. of Conservation & Recreation, City of Medford Dept. of Public Works, City of Somerville Dept. of Public Works, Orange Line MTBA officer, Bier Brier Development, Assembly Square Mall folk, City Councillor DiPietro, and City of Malden,
I'm writing to you all because I do not know where to turn. It doesn't look as though there is one clear entity that could take responsibility for making improvements for cyclists and pedestrians in the Wellington Circle area, and thus some good will and cooperative interest is required.
I am about to start commuting to Simmons College from Malden again soon. The safest route I've come up with, upon which Mass Bike has not been able to improve, goes through Wellington Circle. In the morning, I travel south on Middlesex Ave., and turn left on Riverside, and then left on the Fellsway so that I can go straight through Wellington Circle with the light.
I am very happy to report that traveling on the Fellsway (Rt. 28) south over the river in the street (which is where, as a cyclist, I belong and have the right to be) is pretty safe. There is a wide shoulder, and whatever entity is responsible for street sweeping often does a fantastic job sweeping the shoulder on the bridge. Thank you so very much!!
I'm able to get all the way to Broadway, where I turn left so that I can turn right on the relatively safer Cross Street and get to Union Square.
The way home, however, is just about impossible. I commute to work 3-4 times a week in good weather, and every ride home I spend time thinking about who might be able to improve this dismal situation, for both bicyclists and pedestrians. And so, I am writing to all of you in hopes of some advice and assistance.
I have one of two choices for navigating Rt. 93 on the way home, since as a cyclist I absolutely will not go under the underpass on Rt. 28.
1. I can go behind the Stop and Shop, cross under the overpass (very sketchy in terms of personal safety), and pick my bike up over the biggest-curb-you-ever-wanted-to-see-after-you've-narrowly-escaped-speeding-cars on Mystic Ave. I often meet pedestrians carrying shopping bags negotiating this same terrible "intersection" and curb. Heaven forbid there be a fiscally challenged person in a wheelchair down there. There may even be a bus stop--I'm not sure. Bleck.
2. Or, what I usually do is go west on Broadway, turn right on Grant, left on Sydney, right on Temple, cross under 93, and ride on Bailey Road.
Once I'm past 93, I have three more choices, none of which are good:
A. I can ride on Fellsway West/28 North over the bridge (which for some reason is not as well swept as the other side), and risk life and limb as cars go about 45-50 mph, from 3 lanes, to 4 lanes, to 5 lanes. Right after the bridge, the shoulder disappears as it is taken over by one of these lanes.
B. I can ride on the pedestrian walk way on the east side of the bridge, negotiate the terrible sidewalk turns and crumbling bumps right after the bridge, and then make my way through the ridiculous curb cuts that new development has put in, which requires quick cuts and turns, and going from sidewalk into parking lot and back out, making it all that much easier for cars not to see me. This puts me in the way of pedestrians, slows me down, and makes it difficult for me to get back into traffic. I need to end up going north on Middlesex Ave.
C. Or, what I usually do, is take option #2 above, get on the sidewalk across from Putnam Road, get onto that Shore Drive island, cross Shore Drive against oncoming traffic, go across the bridge on the pedestrian walk way (apologizing to walkers and joggers all-the-while), stay on the sidewalk until the State Highway Police building (where there aren't any curb cuts, which strikes me as apropo: it's the highway police: you shouldn't be walking or riding, you should be driving!), cross over to the little island where Rt. 16 comes in, wait for the light to cross Rt. 28 south (still on the sidewalk), sprint across the Rt. 28 north traffic so that I can turn my bike north with the traffic and head across by the Kappy's onto Middlesex Ave.
D. There is a 4th choice, which is heading through the new development's parking lot (e.g. by the Starbucks), and then on the (crumbling sidewalk) up and over Rt. 16, down by the T, under Rt. 16, and north on Corporation Way. While I'm at it, by the way, exactly once I tried to ride my bike from Corporation Way along the sidewalk (knowing better than to take my life in my own hands on Rt. 16 where the bridge surface is variegated), to the Target. That sidewalk is crumbling to the point where a wrong turn could take you diving down the side of the road, has huge holes, and places where there are 6" changes in elevation.
I applaud recent efforts to increase population density in the Wellington Circle area near the T. The formerly-known-as-Telecomm-City Corporation Road bike lane is great. Wouldn't it be great to make it so that once a cyclist has gotten to the Wellington Circle area, whether on Middlesex Ave., or Corporation Road, s/he can get home again? Wouldn't it be great for people living near the Somerville Stop & Shop to be able to safely get back and forth to the Assembly Square Mall? Wouldn't it be great to dissuade more drivers along those already busy roadways by making it possible for bicyclists and pedestrians to pass through?
Thank you for your assistance, and I look forward to hearing from you,
Kim
cc: Mass Bike, Bike to the Sea
Posted: April 3, 2008 5:11 pm by Kimberly Brookes | 0 comments
Tags: bicycle safety, bicycling, Malden, massachusetts, Medford, pedestrians, roads, safe routes, sidewalks, Somerville
Not so much in the dismal weather, but generally from April through October, I ride to Simmons 2-4 times a week, from Malden. It's not a pretty commute, but it allows me kill two birds with one stone: exercising, and getting to work.
There are some commuter support programs for Simmons through MASCO (bikes count as part of the Commuter Choice program) and the Simmons parking office.
For a wealth of information, check out Harvard's Commuter Choice Bicycling page. They have routes to "LMA," which is the Longwood Medical Area, meaning over here on this side of the river.
Harvard has covered parking in at least one of their garages that is for faculty and staff parking (the Broadway). Behind one of their library-related buildings, they have bike racks that only authorized people can swipe to get to, that include cable locks so you can lock in with your U lock and be really locked in. Inside a parking garage largely used by graduate students, there is an entire cage full of bike parking for over 100 bikes, that you can only get to if your Harvard ID is authorized.
Posted: November 26, 2007 3:36 pm by Kimberly Brookes | 0 comments
Tags: bicycling, commuting
