In case you’ve missed the news, Bike To Work Day is this Friday, May 15th!  Here is a portion of the official press release from the Providence Bicycle Coalition (PBC) website:

Rain or shine, Providence will be joining cities across the country in hosting Bike to Work Day on Friday, May 15! Taking place at Market Square, 20 North Main Street, in downtown Providence, bicyclists will convene at 7:00am for refreshments and kick-off press conference at 7:30am. Providence Mayor David Cicilline, will lead the way as he bicycles to the event. Joining the Mayor at the podium will be Richard Godfrey, Director of Rhode Island Housing and Chair of The Providence Foundation Bike to Work and College Committee, Mike Lewis, Director of the RI Department of Transportation, Providence City Council member John Lombardi, Chris Wilhite of the RI Chapter of the Sierra Club, and Mark Dieterich of the Providence Bicycle Coalition.

Breakfast and refreshments will be served to cyclists from 7:00am until 10:00am. At 3:00pm Market Square comes alive with cool bike demonstrations and free styling, refreshments, live music, bicycle-related vendors providing safety tips and demonstrations, local environmental organizations, and information about upcoming bicycle signage and lane striping.

If you are considering bicycle commuting for the first time, I’d strongly encourage you to try and join up with one of the five bike trains being organized by the PBC this year.  Hope to see you at the festivities!

We are working with some people from the Brown Publication Services to write a piece about bike commuting at Brown.  To go along with the article, we’d like to get a group photo of as many bicycle commuters as we can.  Come join us on Tuesday, May 12th, at 2:30pm on the Main Green by the flagpole near George Street with your bike and helmet.

Hope to see you there.

The bike path on the bridge is in its original configuration, and cyclists and pedestrians should exercise caution on the path as it is very narrow. There are numerous alcoves along the path where cyclists can pull over and let an oncoming rider pass.

One of our very own, Mike McKeown reports riding over the bridge at 5:15pm this evening, was he the first?

During the months of May, June, and July we have experienced bicycle commuters who have kindly volunteered to lead bicycle trains into providence. What’s a bicycle train? It’s a ride that starts at a predetermined location, follows a predetermined route, and passes, to the best of our ability, certain locations at specified times. If you’ve been thinking about trying bicycle commuting, but don’t want to try it alone, hop on one of the PBC Monday Bike Trains!

Please spread the word!  It would be great to see this project grow and increase the number of people who bike commute.

The BrownMed AMA, Brown Cycling, and Bikes@Brown are throwing a short cycling event Friday, April 17 on the BioMed porch on Meeting Street at noon. There will be snacks courtesy of BrownMed AMA.

BrownMed AMA is celebrating its 55-mile leg of the Boston-Providence-Long Island-NYC-Albany-Buffalo “Tour to Insure” bike relay.

Bikes@Brown is showing off its fleet and offering signups.

Brown Cycling is building goodwill.

Brown’s first bike-share program is starting this week!  For a $5
membership for the year, you can rent bikes any time you want for free!
Come by Faunce 032 (old UFB office) M-F, 12-1 or 4-5 to get a
membership, rent a bike, or check out our office.

Email BikesAtBrown@gmail.com for more information.
Sponsored by the Brown Outing Club

I’d encourage everyone to take a stroll by their office, check out what’s going on.

The League of American Bicyclists has named the University of Wisconsin-Madison a silver award winner in its Bicycle Friendly Business program.

I wonder what it takes to have a university become a recipient of this award.  Can Brown match this feat?  Is anyone out there willing to take this project on and see what UW-Madison did and write a letter to Brown on behalf of B2B?

Now the next trick will be to convince them to keep the section open while linear park construction is happening.

Just thought folks might like to know that a nice guy named “Bob” from RI Avenue in Prov was out yesterday (for hours, using broom and snow shovel) clearing off all the grit and sand from the Prov half of the Red Bridge sidewalk. I was out running and talked with him briefly, thanked him on behalf of the bikers who use that bridge, and talked about PBC as he was not aware. He’s one of the “unknown helpers” out there making it safer and better for all of us.

I contacted RIDOT towards the end of last week listing this as one of the issues currently facing us on the Henderson Bridge.  It is embarrising that RIDOT let things deteriorate to a point where a good semaritan is responsible for maintaining the conditions on a public sidewalk.  Cheers to “Bob”!