BU Bikes

Here’s another installment of the weekly column “Spoken Wheel”.  Check out the link to the Daily Free Press site here .

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Bikes Not Bombs

As the spring rains wash away the last of the gritty city snowpack, signs of life that remind us of good weather but have been forgotten for months stick their way out from underneath winter’s white blanket. I’m talking, of course, about abandoned bicycles. You’ve seen them around campus, I’m sure — rusting, mangled carcasses, heaped at the ends of bike racks or U-locked to parking meters, left behind as the owner invariably bought a T pass and never looked back once the temperature dropped below freezing.

Well, as we gear up and grease up for bike-riding season, there’s a place those old weather-beaten bodies can go. Bikes Not Bombs, a charity organization/bike shop in Jamaica Plain, will take the old frames, strip them down, fix them back up and ship them over to war-torn countries like Guatemala, Ghana, Tanzania and South Africa, so that destitute people whose societies have been torn apart by violence can have free sources of transportation.

BNB also sends tools and technicians along with the bike shipments, so local organizers can establish bike shops and the communities can sustain the whole operation themselves. They even send cargo shipping containers that get converted into tin-walled shops with holes cut out for windows. And it’s not just bicycles that are built, but other related technologies, like bike-powered washing machines, bike-powered water pumps for wells, bike-powered grain mashers and even bike-powered blenders. Just take out the motor power and insert your pedal power. Voila, do-it-yourself life.

“Lasting peace and social justice require equitable and sustainable use of resources.” These are the opening words of the mission statement of Bikes Not Bombs. For 25 years, they’ve been creating concrete alternatives to war and environmental destruction by combating overconsumption and inequality. Each year, they rebuild about 6,000 bikes and ship about 4,800 overseas. Along with recycling and donating, they make their money by selling and fixing bikes to urban riders, but it’s all to support their foundation. They have a big shop right next to the Samuel Adams Brewery, just so you know.

BNB also provides classes on bike maintenance for youth programs in the lower-income neighborhoods of Boston. Volunteers work with local teenagers to build the bikes, and the kids in turn learn a valuable vocation. It’s nice to see a group working to make a difference globally while also providing a service for the local community.

In the end, this organization is working toward finding solutions to worldwide problems. The current models of transportation, sustainability and overconsumption are all obstacles to civilization and have to be surmounted. Bikes Not Bombs is a smart, effective alternative for all three issues. The key to its success though is not just that the technologies are donated and resources shared globally, but also that successive generations are being educated. This idea is transmissible and can spread through a single cargo boxcar being placed in the right location with the right minds behind it.

Did you know that the first American bicycle race was held in Allston on May 24, 1878, at what was then Beacon Park? Allston also used to be home to the Charles River Speedway, where such studs as A.J. Furbushat and H.B. Ralston furiously raced their horse-drawn carts at the turn of the century.

And did you know that Packard’s Corner is named after one of the largest car dealerships from the early 1900s? So is the Fuller Building on campus.  Both were part of Boston’s “automile,” which stretched down Commonwealth and Brighton avenues from the Boston University Bridge to Union Square. The industry brought such booming prosperity to the area that automile founder Alvan Tufts Fuller, who was a former championship bicycle racer and owned one of Boston’s first bike shops, had a successful run for governor under Former President Theodore Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party.

Neat history, right?

Fuller was convinced that the future of America belonged to the automobile, and he took steps to become a central figure in the industry, abandoning his bike shop and moving into cars and politics. By the mid-1920s, Boston’s automile was lined with no less than 117 automobile-related businesses, and Fuller had moved from the State House to the Governor’s Mansion. Fuller abruptly abandoned his political and business positions in 1929, right at the onset of the Depression, a short while after he refused to commute the death sentences of immigrant radicals Sacco and Vanzetti. But the automile survived until the 1970s when it went into rapid decline, and the dealerships moved to the suburbs — the Oste Chevrolet became a Shaw’s and BU got a new art gallery.

Stories like this mark the timeline of the transportation battle that raged for the past century, with cars overwhelmingly running down bikes — except during those brief bicycle booms in the 1890s, 1930s, 1970s and today — and urban planners responding by building larger and faster roads.

But I digress. Competitive cycling certainly has changed since Harvard University’s C.A. Parker raced across lower Allston’s riverfront in 1878, winning his place in history. Competitions these days include carbon fiber bikes on giant indoor tracks (like NASCAR for the spandex-clad) or crowded, dimly lit bars filled with kids on bike rollers seeing who can get to 666 meters first without puking in the trash can.

There are also marathon races – of Tour de France and “The Triplets of Belleville” fame – which bring sponsorships and prize money to organized teams. And cyclocross races, which are all-terrain obstacle courses over mud and rocks via bicycle.  The Alleycat races, though somewhat illegal, are part urban exploration, part bicycle-race scavenger hunt, for bike messengers to show their mettle and intuition. All this diversity of competition shows how tight-knit and spread out the cycling community is.  Knowing this, I’m reminded each time I pass the showroom at the International Bicycle Center on Brighton Avenue how we’re in a bicycle boom and how happy I am it’s not another Honda dealership.

 

 

 

 

 

*photos courtesy of Brighton-Allston Historical Society*

Check out this article on Newbury Street becoming a pedestrian way during the weekends of July and August.  Mayor Menino is behind this, as are the stores who would love to see the increase of foot traffic and happy shoppers.  Look for expanded storefronts, possible street vendors, music and fashion shows, and good vibes all around.

One Newbury Street shopper had the complaint of :”Where are they going to park? That’s a big problem.”

Please, spare us.  When the choice is between a street that can be used safely and comfortably for the general public all the while increasing revinue (and space) for the stores, or used for leaving one’s oversized SUV tank next to the curb, I personally choose the pedestrian way.  Even if it means I have to get off my bike and walk down Newbury because there’ll be so many people.

This is a great idea, and I hope the city adopts more changes like this.  Here’s one: how about Comm Ave, from BU Bridge to Kenmore, closed to through traffic – which can be diverted through the top part of Brookline, down Park Drive, and channelled out to Beacon Street.  Imagine, students crossing with peace, biking, skateboarding, four-squaring, and socializing in the middle of their own campus?  How could that ever possibly be?!  How radical a thought?!

Or we could just leave that public space for people to park their cars.   I suppose it’s a toss up.

The New York Times ran a great op-ed a few days ago that I’d like to share. In it, adventurist and author Robert Sullivan talks about his experiences biking in the city, how the attitudes expressed between drivers, bikers, and pedestrians have changed in New York City over the past twenty years, and what needs to be done to change the negative image of city bikers. The entire op-ed is well worth reading, so I encourage everyone to check it out: (LINK)

At the end of his op-ed Sullivan proposes four “sure-to-be-scoffed-at suggestions for better bike P.R.”

NO. 1: How about we stop at major intersections? Especially where there are school crossing guards, or disabled people crossing, or a lot of people during the morning or evening rush. (I have the law with me on this one.) At minor intersections, on far-from-traffic intersections, let’s at least stop and go.

NO. 2: How about we ride with traffic as opposed to the wrong way on a one-way street? I know the idea of being told which way to go drives many bikers bonkers. That stuff is for cars, they say. I consider one-way streets anathema — they make for faster car traffic and more difficult crossings. But whenever I see something bad happen to a biker, it’s when the biker is riding the wrong way on a one-way street.

There will be caveats. Perhaps your wife is about to go into labor and you take her to the hospital on your bike; then, yes, sure, go the wrong way in the one-way bike lane. We can handle caveats. We are bikers.

NO. 3: How about we stay off the sidewalks? Why are bikers so incensed when the police hand out tickets for this? I’m only guessing, but each sidewalk biker must believe that he or she, out of all New York bikers, is the exception, the one careful biker, which is a very car way of thinking.

NO. 4: How about we signal? Again, I hear the laughter, but the bike gods gave us hands to ring bells and to signal turns. Think of the possible complications: Many of the bikers behind you are wearing headphones, and the family in the minivan has a Disney DVD playing so loudly that it’s rattling your 30-pound Kryptonite chain. Let them know what you are thinking so that you can go on breathing as well as thinking.

Sullivan nails an important point: To change negative attitudes towards bicycles, bikers (not just drivers or pedestrians) need to keep a positive attitude and be courteous toward the drivers and pedestrians they share the road with. And since I feel this message needs to be spread throughout the BU community as well, I will reaffirm Sullivan’s message: To all you bikers here at BU in or around Boston,

1. Stop scaring pedestrians by blowing through red lights. When there’s a red light on Comm. ave there are sure to be packs of students rushing across to get to class, so stop and let them walk across. I always treat stop lights as stop signs and make a complete stop before going, so I say at the very least stop and make sure you won’t scare or hit anyone. Also, please do be sure to look out for last-minute jayrunners, as there are many of those here at BU.
2. Ride with traffic! Or as BSNYC likes to say, stop being “bike salmon“, which means two things: Quit riding the wrong way down Bay State Rd! It’s tempting, especially on warm sunny days, but it’s dangerous, especially when a double-parked delivery truck is between a you (biking the wrong way) and a car(driving down the right way). And two, stop riding down the wrong way down the Comm. Ave bike lanes. “I’m only riding from the GSU to CAS” or “I’m a junior!”(yes, someone actually said this to our VP, Sonya) is no excuse to put yourself and other cyclists in danger.
3. Stay off the sidewalks. I know, the road is a scary place, but it’s not that scary. We have a bike lane, so use it. Biking on the road is not much different from driving. It may seem safer to bike on the sidewalk, but you’re frightening pedestrians by zipping by them as if they were gates in a slalom ski race. HOWEVER, if you must or are going to ride on the sidewalk, my rule of thumb is this: either walk your bike (a must if class has just let out) or (when there’s less foot traffic) put one foot down and scooter your bike to the speed of or slower than a brisk walk.
4. Signal? Well, this is a tough one. I, for one, always signal when I turn or change lanes. This is so drivers are aware of my actions and can act accordingly. However, Massachusetts just passed a law that does not require cyclists to signal when turning. The reasoning behind it was that rather than taking one hand off the handlebars it is often times much safer to keep both hands in control of your bicycle and close to the brakes. My take? Use your best judgment, and if you’re experienced and comfortable enough to ride with one hand while signaling, then signal. If not, use extreme caution when you change lanes and/or turn. But whatever you do, avoid sporadic biking that puts other bikers/drivers/pedestrians in danger.

Biking has really taken off in the past year here in Boston as it has in many cities across the U.S, and if you ride your bike you’re already part of the great bicycle movement. Spring’s just around the corner, and many of you (if not already) will be back on your bikes, so let’s try a little harder to show everyone that biking is not some nuisance that endangers drivers and pedestrians alike, but that it’s a fun, safe, green, and viable form of transport.

A few weeks ago Galen spoke of dreams to become a nomadic bike tourist, biking from one place to the next, wherever the wind blows, even if that means across the country. Well, I decided to spend the first few days of my spring break doing just that, kind of.

Starting tomorrow (Saturday March 7th) morning, I’ll be setting off on my bike, alone, not to wander as a nomad does, but to return home in New York from school for a week. And if you’re reading this March 7th-March 9th you can track my progress live below via Twitter (an online service that lets you know what I’m doing whenever I update my twitter status. In this case, When I send a text message to twitter about where I am and what I’m doing, you will see it below.)

What? That’s insane!
It may sound impossible, but I’ll be biking at a speed the equivalent of a stealthy elephant, given i’ll be carrying a lot of weight on my bike with me (tent, sleeping bag, food, water, clothes). It’s a 200 mile trip, which will take about three days, biking almost 70 miles a day. That sounds like a lot, but at an elephant’s pace, I’m expecting it to be very managable.

How? Where will you ride?
After some online research, I got in touch with the fellow who mapped this ride from Boston to NYC, and he pointed me to his bike touring blog where he outlined his first trip on this route. I’m following it almost exactly. I will also have a GPS to keep me on track.

Where will I sleep?
I originally planned on “stealth” camping, or finding a quiet field out in rural anywhere and sleeping in a tent under the stars, but thanks to Galen who mentioned warmshowers.org in his third FreeP column I actually found a couple willing to accommodate me into their home for a night. I might even just camp out on their lawn since I will be bringing a tent and a sleeping bag. The second and final night I will be staying at a motel in New Haven, since New Haven isn’t a camp friendly place.

What will I eat? drink?
Food! Four identical ham sandwiches and a bunch of dining hall sugar cookies, to be exact. I’ve outfitted my bike with three water bottle holders, so I’ll have plenty of water. I’ll be in city/suburbia the 2nd half of the ride, so buying food will be easy. As will bathroom breaks.

What if something happens?
I’ve prepared for any number of bike related problems by packing the right tools in case of flats, loose bolts, etc. My bike is pretty bombproof, so I’m not worries about things falling apart. I’ve also installed as-flat-proof as possible Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires, so I probably won’t get flats. For riding at night (which there will be very little of), I have front and rear blinkies, reflective gear in the rear, and an obnoxiously bright flashlight-turned-headlamp to warn drivers of my presence. And just in case, I’ll be wearing a printout of my medical history/insurance info around my neck the entire ride.

Well that’s all I have time to write about for now. I’ll eventually write up what I packed with me and how the ride went, but now it’s time to finish packing and then off to bed rest. I will update this post with details of the ride. But for now, here are some photos of my bike all loaded up and some of the equipment I’ll be carrying (all I have is my cell phone camera, so I apologize for the terrible quality):