Nicole on a VBike!

Posted on August 23, 2017November 13, 2017 by Ye

I biked all the way from MIT to Newton on a VBike (it only cost $2) and met Nicole Freedman! When I started working with PN2K is when I first became involved with the bike safety. When you’re at MIT and in the field of bike safety, you’re bound to hear some names, one of them being Nicole’s. Nicole was formerly known as the “bike czar” of Boston, one of the main instigators of the stationed bike share system Hubway. She’s also really cool in person, and I was thrilled to have the chance to meet her. Nicole is now the Transportation Director of Newton, and she met with me to discuss a mode of station-less bike share and possibly introducing this into the City of Newton. I will thrilled to just meet her, and the prospect of working with her to make the surrounding cities more bike friendly is mind-blowing. Thanks for your time Nicole, and for all you’ve done with transportation in Boston and the Greater Boston area!

P.S. Just in case you’re wondering, VBikes is a new station-less bike share system being introduced to many cities in Massachusetts. They’re super snazzy designs — I couldn’t help noticing all the looks that random people gave me (heads turning) when they saw my bike. This one in particular had no gears, but it’s also our prototype bike and is by no means the final version (final version will include adjustable seats, dynamo hub powering front light, solar panel powering bike lock, Shimano gears and Shimano brakes, lighter bike, etc.) Why this beats out stationed bikes? The entire ride from MIT to Newton cost me $2! (and I did not have to worry about kiosks). Now hey, no technology is perfect, but these new no-kiosk VBikes are definitely worth considering, especially when they don’t cost $100K+ in taxpayer’s money and are pretty high quality, sturdy bikes! More info on their website: www.vbikes.com (download the app to use a VBike)

“The British are coming!”

Posted on October 4, 2015January 19, 2017 by Ye

This Sunday morning, we went along the Minuteman Bikeway. Historically, this route is a close approximation of the route that Paul Revere took on his famous ride on April 18, 1775 to warn John Hancock and Sam Adams that the British were coming (marching from Boston to Lexington).

Sometimes I forget that we're in New England and surrounded by places of historical significance. Then I see historic markings and trace them back in memory to all those history textbooks I poured over in high school. So if you want to explore, jump on a bike and get out there-- especially as we enjoy the last few weeks/months of nice weather in Boston before the winter storms!

Cycling along the path and back, I saw so many families and kids biking - It was fair to say that the number of kids I saw today was more than the combined total number of kids I've seen from all my years of living near central Cambridge/Boston. Wouldn't it be nice if this sort of path stretched all along Mass Ave and had drop offs at each location (like a Subway station express, but for bikes!) -- long, smooth, and contiguous.

So where did we go for food? We biked to Izzy's where they had the most aromatic facility, with mozzarella and tomato basil sandwiches. Amazing. I biked home and for the first time ever tried Life Alive's Swami bowl. Another fascinating treat.

Keep Calm & Pedal On!

Directing Samurai visits Boston

Posted on September 28, 2015January 19, 2017 by Ye

Meet Directing Samurai. She is one of the spunkiest people I know, and I'm very fortunate to call her co-director at the PN2K foundation. She brings the enthusiasm and creativity to so many of our ideas, as well as the impetus to take chances and move our foundation forward. This weekend, she visited Boston/Cambridge and met our entire MIT PN2K team in person. I was so excited to finally present Directing Samurai's PN2K shirt to her (you can see that the photos radiate the same excitement). She also geared up with the elbow, knee, wrist guards that we will be selling for $20 on our website and at our events, and after she realized she was overdosed on hype and no longer jet-lagged, we decided to go shopping for some surprise appreciation gifts for the team. How did we get to our destination point? We biked.

So here you see Carmel on a Hubway bike, sporting our black PN2K multisport helmet, looking super chill. (Like this helmet? We're selling a limited number here)

After meeting with everyone, we did some video shooting for our kids bike safety event - Before Carmel arrived, we were online and video chatting about ideas for a kids bike safety video. What we came up with is a hoot... Neither of us are cut out to "sing" the lyrics to our song on camera, so if you or someone you know wants to be a PN2K video star, shoot us an email. However, we did get some nice footage to show basic safety instructions for kids, like looking both ways before crossing the street, how to lock up a bike (safely! and with a U-lock), signaling, wearing your helmet, bike lights, safety gear, etc.

Finally we went out for food with the team. What you see above is a little something we encountered after crossing the Harvard Bridge along Mass Ave (which, by the way, was ridden with congested traffic and vehicles in bike lanes by motorists who were clearly not following the letter or spirit of the law). While locking up our bikes, I noticed two things: (1) cars were cutting across the bike lane in the intersection, even as greenly painted as it was (2) there was a huge cone lying unused, neglected, and clearly abandoned beside me. I took up the cone, placed it at the intersection (the cyclist there at the time looked really confused; I guess cyclists aren't used to being cared or looked out for!), and stood back and admired the spectacle. It was amazing. Dingfang noticed first the immediate effect that one single cone placed at the intersection created - all of a sudden, cars and buses steered clear of that bike lane (or rather, that cone!) It makes sense right? During driving tests and all during practice, you're trained to not knock over a cone -- but never to avoid driving in a bike lane. Well, no one ever said the DMV was perfect and fair to all road users.

All in all, a grand time was had by all. We did a mini-photo shoot before Carmel left, and Dingfang and Yaoming even took time off Sunday afternoon to interview Carmel before she left. That will go down in my books as one of the most fun, effective, and productive weekends to date.

Keep Calm & Pedal On!

Accidental Sunday morning Hub on Wheels

Posted on September 20, 2015January 19, 2017 by Ye

Weekend morning bike rides are purportedly the best - You've been working hard all week in the office or in school, and you wanted to ooze every single minute out of this weekend and reclaim the time that is yours. Perhaps Saturday went in a flourish and now you're left in a mild state of panic, wondering if Sunday will be stolen from beneath you as well. Long bike rides take care of that, I'll tell you. At least, this Sunday morning Jane and I decided to meet at 8:30 AM and trek out to bike along the Emerald Necklace. It was almost difficult because I'd been going to bed around 2 or 3 AM repeatedly each night before, but I resolved to kick my circadian rhythm back into gear. The sun glowed brightly that morning and as we got to the start of the Emerald Necklace trail, we saw large herds of cyclists pass by. Anyone who knows me knows I have the attention span of a mouse --- and that fun, cool things will hold my attention captive. So I couldn't take my eyes off the endless swarms of cyclists.

Jane: Alright, let's go!
Ye: Wait, more cyclists... more cyclists! Where are all these cyclists coming from?
Jane: Hm.. not sure. (Let's go?)
Ye: Maybe it's a race. <still looking at the cyclists> Wow... there's so many of them.

It was as if I thought the longer I stared, the closer I'd get to the answer of where they were all coming from, and what they were all doing. But alas, my duty towards my friend beckoned and we started pedaling along. Not long after, the trail we followed became super rocky, and as we looked on google maps and saw the cyclists were following the same path we were...

Long story short, we ended up cycling with them. We got to Jamaica Pond, where I remembered cyclists weren't welcome, so decided to jump in with the patrolled crowd. Technically, we weren't supposed to be there, but technically we were going in the same direction as well. It wasn't like our presence was causing harm (*initiate defensive thinking-mode*), and the greater the numbers, the safer we, as cyclists are, right?

It was great fun. We ended up skipping off later and finding a place to eat (salmon, fried plantains, and empanadas). Whatever other work that could be done, whatever other concerns, everything was washed away during my this bike adventure. It's almost like a mini-traveling addiction - similar feelings must arise from the same source: feelings of curiosity, independence, exploration, discovery of new places, surprise, delight, and an animation of senses in a short period of time. Jane and I finally parted knowing that we will be back for more on another weekend morning -- and we hope that more people who want to join will not fear coming with us on our leisurely bike rides. The best time to start is always now.

Keep Calm & Pedal On 2015

Posted on September 8, 2015October 3, 2015 by Ye

We're pretty serious when it comes to finding awesome people to work with us - why? Because we take your safety seriously. We're working to transform the way that people think and feel about bicycling, and we want you to be part of it. We want you getting out there, cycling safely, getting fit, building friendships, and owning the roads when you're totally in your rights to do so. But we don't want to see one of you in the news connected with an accident or fatality, and that's why we run Bike Fest. Specifically, that's why we run our Bicycle Treasure Hunt at the start of the year.

According to the City of Boston's Cycling Report (2013), bike accidents peak during the start of the school season (around September), due to the herd of students arriving on campus. If you think about it, this also includes freshman, transfer students, international students, etc. all cycling around for the first time in unfamiliar territory with different traffic signals, cycling infrastructure, and different road behaviours to which they might not be accustomed (e.g., "What?! Why are there no bicycle traffic lights?? Where are the segregated bike lanes? Did that bike lane really just disappear??!!")

Yeah, we've seen it all.

During Bike Fest, the long line was for Bike Boom, who was running the free minor repairs and tune-ups. For those of you in line, we just want to say: next time, leave your bike, roam around and mingle. There's no reason to stand in one place for an hour or so when you've got so many cool people around you. On our end, we'll be working on adding stations for people to play bike safety games and more easily socialize. We also had our usual air/oil station (which there was an expedited line for), our pressure washer working its magic (between W20 and MIT Z-Center), and 200+ half Chipotle burritos and six platters of Subway sandwiches. That doesn't include the case of bananas, apples, and bottles of water donated by Whole Foods, or the granola bars and chips from Star Market (thank you Sponsors!). Rejjee also contacted us a few days before the event - so we thank Ken and our volunteers for helping to register the bikes for Rejjee and for MIT Parking & Transportation Office! (All bicycle registration forms were turned in on Tuesday morning so your tickets should have been issued.)

For those of you wondering, we were supposed to end our event officially at 5 PM; but it ran past 6:30 PM. Let's just give a huge round of applause to the volunteers and team (Will, Dingfang, Yaoming, Tian) who woke up early and stayed until 8 PM (because that's when we all actually left the venue), not to mention the loads of preparation, printing, and transporting of goods/bikes to and from the event; and then the actual handling of the event. I later asked Tian if she could come up with her best analogy for what it felt like at the registration desk. Her response: "Tornado? Nah, it wasn't that bad. More like a tsunami? Came in waves, then calm, then waves of chaos, then calm, then after-wave of people who came after 5 PM."

Thanks to the impromptu volunteers on the day of, and to those who stayed until past close for take-down/clean up. A shout-out to DJ Quentin and WMBR for the upbeat music (we liked your "Bicycle" by Queen, too ;)) Thank you tour guides for keeping all cyclists safe and accepting slightly larger groups than last year! Admittedly, we ended up with a waitlist, had more registrations on the day of than last year, and still accommodated everyone.

If the idea of cycling with a group to discover the hidden treasures of Boston (without tour guides) entices you, then you should join MIT PN2K. We'll be holding regular bike rides and socials. That is the perfect time to not only ride around without limitations but also to build confidence riding with others and becoming familiar with the territory and bike rules. Not to mention, you'll discover a lot of places on your biking adventures that will take the load off of daily academic pressures.

Here are some dates to remember:

Till next time! 🙂 And remember,

KEEP CALM & PEDAL ON.

RAFFLE PRIZE WINNERS

Congrats to the following winners of our raffle prize from Bike Fest! All winners have been contacted. If you haven't received an email and your name is listed below, please contact bikefest2015@mit.edu so we can email you with details on where to pick up your prize.

$110 Urban AdvenTours gift card - Przemyslow Krol
$50 Ferris Wheel tune-up gift card - Solene Dewey
$47 bike lock from Bike Boom: Yaoming Duan
$40 Starbucks gift basket - Jisoo Min
$25 Star Market/Shaw's gift card - Jack Reid
$25 Broadway Bike School gift card - Jay Morgan (winner of Bike Treasure Hunt raffle prize)
MIT Facilities thermos #1 - Eeshan Bhatt
MIT Facilities thermos #2 - Warren Brodrick
MIT Facilities water bottle #1 - Catherine Gillespie
Water bottle from Ferris Wheels Bike Shop: Emmanuel Felina

Digital Production & Ghost Bike Dedication to Anita Kurmann

Posted on August 20, 2015January 19, 2017 by Ye

All the magic happens behind the scenes sometimes. Dingfang and Yaoming have been editing the video from SidPac's coffee hour with PN2K, and they said our three characters had such diverse personalities that the process of editing was "very funny and so entertaining." I was curious so they invited me along to Northeastern's Snell library where I saw the first version of the finished video. All I can say is that we need more cyclists and folks who are willing to impart their knowledge to the world. (It's more fun watching a video of cool cyclists and learning from your cycling friends than reading a bike safety book, though we definitely do not condemn the latter).

We then grabbed some food at a restaurant nearby and left to the first dock near Harvard Bridge on the esplanade to dine. On the way, we could already see a small crowd gathering for Anita Kurmann's memorial at Mass Ave & Beacon, the intersection where her fatality happened. Shortly thereafter, we joined them.

Phyo's death occurred nearly four years ago. I can remember how painful the experience was but recalling the death of a friend or loved one is not something you can simply relive or re-feel. Either way, I do distinctly know the anxiety and stress of hearing news about a cycling fatality and not knowing who that cyclist is. With every news report, I can only pray and wish really hard that the cyclist is not someone close to me -- that life would not be so cruel as to take away another friend or someone I know and care about in such an unjust way. The way to make cycling safer is to get out there, educate cyclists, and ride more - but I also pray that the current imperfections in the transportation system will make no more martyrs of our cycling community.

Mass Ave Monopoly

Posted on June 23, 2015August 28, 2015 by Ye

Mass Ave Monopoly full photo album here.

"All good things to those who wait..."

But there are some things that one should never wait upon - like making sure you have bike lights and a properly fitting helmet when riding a bike, or that the bike itself is safe to ride on (no, you should NOT wait until the back wheel is wobbly and the bike looks ready to spontaneously combust before having the bike checked). We hold bike events pretty regularly now (once per month), open to the public, so that you can bring in your bikes and have them regularly maintained (aka small tweaks!), of course, with the help of Bike Boom and our bike guru volunteers. So this past Friday, after postponing our event on Monday due to the rain, we ran our bike event.

[below] We welcome a new member of Bike Boom to our event, Ari! They are here to conduct bike safety checks - Bike Boom will fix what they can (in 5-7 minutes) to make your bikes safe and let you know if more extensive repairs need to be taken to a bike store. Visit Bike Boom in Davis Square! For those who are asking about where to get nice bikes, Bike Boom sells pretty nice refurbished bikes.

We were pretty thankful to have a bike-savvy volunteer show up, Rudy. Near the beginning and towards the end of our event, we started seeing cyclists coming in all at once, until we realized around 5:20 PM that we had to close the bike repair line. (*note: even when the repair line is closed, the bike pressure washer station remains open, as well as the bike-pump and oiling/lubing of the chain self-services). Thanks to Rudy for showing up and helping out, as well as contributing the idea of us getting a bike pressure washer to begin with. According to our survey results, next to free bike repairs, cyclists come in for the free bike pressure washing.

RECESS!

Posted on June 1, 2015August 28, 2015 by Ye

In thermodynamics, there's a law that states that the universe tends toward a state of disorder (or chaos). On Thursday, we tried our best to manage this chaos.

For those of you new to PN2K--Welcome! Each month since September 2014, we've held a bike safety event. Each event is characterized by a queue of cyclists waiting to have their bikes repaired/tuned-up for free. In celebration of national Bike Month (and school ending), we called this one "RECESS!"

Cyclists signed-in with us, registered their bikes with MIT Parking, pressure-washed their bikes, enjoyed the food, music, and presence of other cyclists. Some new things we tested out: (1) new (mobile iPad) sign-in/registration system; when you first arrive, we greet you, thus eliminating the need for you to move around and worry about losing your place in line (2) walkie-talkies that help our team communicate with each other - so if you need anything, just find one of us wearing a neon green shirt.

Thanks to our partners Robynn (MIT PTO), Armando & Dan (Bike Boom), and our volunteer John! A special shout-out to Oscar for his impromptu volunteering and overseeing cyclists through the power-washing process, as well as our first cyclist in line, Weixun, who helped set up our bike stand! Please join us at our next bike event on the last Friday of June (26th) - same time (3-7 PM), same place (MIT Student Center).

(left to right) Yaoming, Dingfang, Alpha, Tian, Will, Ye, Becky

Link to full RECESS photo album

CPW Bike Fest

Posted on April 24, 2015October 21, 2015 by Ye

What happens when you ask cyclists to arrive early to an MIT PN2K bike event? They deliver! This was our queue at 3:00 PM (for a 3:30PM start):

[left] Dingfang, Yaoming, and Will setting up for the bike event. [right] A queue of cyclists.

Each year, MIT’s newly admitted students (“prefrosh”) are welcomed to campus by four days of free food, music, and festivities in what is called MIT’s Campus Preview Weekend (CPW), sponsored by the Office of Admissions. This is a time for prefrosh to meet and greet, attend MIT classes, explore the diverse culture, and learn about MIT’s nearly 500 student groups dedicated to causes ranging from community service to performance arts, cultural awareness, and much more…

MIT PN2K jumped in at the start — On the first day of CPW, we started welcoming students in and showing them how we were making improvements to bicycle culture and safety in the community. As an undergraduate, you can walk or take the MIT shuttle easily. However, there’s a whole world out there to discover beyond MIT! A bike frees you from the clutches of MIT and allows you to cycle with friends, crack open a textbook on the esplanade, and quickly commute from one place to another on weekends when public transit is not so frequent. As a freshman, we know you’re on sensory overload, so trust us when we say you won’t want to stress over bike lights, helmets, or failing brakes — and you won’t have to — because MIT PN2K now exists! We take the hassle out of biking and repairs and leave you with fewer excuses not to get a bike when the benefits outweigh the costs.

Now, our partners!

We are only able to pull this off with the help of Bike Boom and our initial collaborations with Roy, the store owner. We were thrilled as ever to have Armando, our pro bike expert, back with us! Along with Dan, they diligently led our bike repairs. They had to escape before we were able to catch a proper group photo with them – Next time!

For the first time ever, we also had the exciting opportunity to welcome into the scene the Boston Cyclists Union!

(front) Pete Stidman, Boston Cyclists Union (BCU) with a fellow cyclist.

Pete, from BCU, was noticeably impressed by our pressure washer:

Our team is working on the day of our May bike event, so keep an eye on this space for news and updates! We will be taking all the feedback from previous events into account and making some changes to provide a better experience for everyone.

Keep Calm & Pedal On,

MIT PN2K team

[left to right] Yaoming, Dingfang, Ye, Alpha, Will

Link to full CPW Bike Fest photo album

When the sun comes out, so do we.

Posted on April 5, 2015October 21, 2015 by Ye

Spring Bike Fest totally happened — and it happened with MIT PN2K, a record number of cyclists and repairs, bicycle power-washing, music, food, lights, helmets, volunteers, and a fantastic organizing team.

I arrived at the start of the event and found myself immersed in a fanfare of cyclists and their bikes! Luckily, our Bike Safety Officer, Will, had arrived early for set up, and things looked great. Dingfang and Yaoming were on guard and ready to check people in while Will went to set up our power washer.

Here’s what the scene looked like 30 minutes into the game:

After we passed out tickets to people in line, we realized we were already on ticket #30! Giving 7-10 minutes per person for repairs meant 210-300 minutes total (3 to 4+ hours!). Our event was only from 2-5 pm! Admittedly, this was the first time we had encountered 30 cyclists in the first half hour. For a moment, we considered shutting down the bike repair line … but what about all those coming after 2:30PM, expecting the event to continue until the advertised closing time of 5:00PM? Was this the beginning of the end?

Of course not! Within another 30 minutes, it became apparent that some cyclists needed simple repairs (pumping up flat tires, oiling chains). So we experimented with forming two lines: one line for simple repairs and one with more involved repairs/tune-ups (5-10 minutes per person by our Bike Boom professionals, Roy and Dan). The simple repairs went to Izzy. Who is Izzy?

Meet Izzy.

Izzy here is one of our bike repair volunteers – the “Bike Genius” of MIT PN2K, if you will. On Tuesday during Spring Bike Fest, he was your PN2K instructor – he is here to help you build self-sufficiency as a cyclist, so you leave feeling more confident out there on the vast, wild road. Greet him with a “Hello Izzy!” the next time you see him!

So, things worked out and we did not have to close our bike repair line until 4:30 PM*. Our pressure washing line remained open throughout the whole event – no one denied this free self-service of having their bikes sparkling with cleanliness and looking brand spanking new.

*Now, for those of you who arrived before 5:00PM and didn’t make it into our longer bike repair queue, first we apologize. We apologize if there was a misunderstanding and set an expectation that we would be able to keep our lines open until 5:00PM. Next time, we will remember to advertise the event itself as ending at X O’clock, with an annotation that our line might close up to an hour early, if the number of cyclists in line exceeds our capability to handle everyone. In a perfect world, if 100 of you arrived right before closing time, we would be able to help everyone. As it turns out, it’s not a perfect world: our Bike Boom professionals, volunteers, and lovely team have families, friends, schedules of their own, and dinner to look forward to. BUT, we do have a golden tip for those of you worried about our long lines in the future– and it is this:

* Get here EARLY
(and follow our organizers’ instructions for MIT PN2K registration/sign-in)

As the sunshine and beautiful warmth kicks in to compensate for our snowpocalypse, we expect more rowdiness and good cheer all around. Get here early, grab food, mingle, enjoy the music, dance, do yoga, whatever. Just get here EARLY.

If this option isn’t good enough for you:

* Become an MIT PN2K officer! Free bike repairs/tune-ups during all our events, whatever the line. There are more perks and benefits, but we’ll leave that for another time. Our officers have a lot of room to grow and make an impact in our immediate cycling community – whether you ride a bike once a year or every day, if you can show us how you would make a great addition to our team and culture, we will have an opportunity for you!

But before you commit to joining, you should know a little bit about us:

(left to right) Izzy, Ye, Will, Alpha, Gabriel, Dingfang, Yaoming

Our next bike event is Thursday, April 16 from 3:30 – 7:30 PM — yes, that would be during MIT’s Campus Preview Weekend! Join us on the Student Center Plaza once again.

Keep Calm & Pedal On,

MIT PN2K Organizing Team

Link to full MIT Spring Bike Fest photo album

MIT PN2K presents: Love to Velo

Posted on February 27, 2015August 28, 2015 by Ye

Do you LOVE to VELO?

After postponing our February 13 bike event due to the huge pile of snow stashed on the MIT Student Center Steps, we decided to move our event indoors and push back the date to Feb 27.

If you've been to any of our previous events, you'll know that we don't just talk about bike safety or awareness - we want every person leaving our event to be tangibly safer than when they arrived. So what does this mean? This past Friday, it meant ~60 cyclists receiving free bicycle repairs and tune-ups from Bike Boom and free bike valve lights (for added side visibility) from our MIT PN2K chapter.

This was the first time we took our event to the MIT Z-Center (Johnson) Lobby -- A shout-out of appreciation to Amy Heinl for supporting us in reserving this space! At first, we weren't sure if you guys would be able to find us, but after the first hour or so, while we had 27 cyclists in line, it became apparent that no matter where we take our event, there will be followers.

We take your feedback seriously, and we're always looking for ways to improve our events. We've noticed a jumble of cyclists waiting in line most of the time, so on Friday, we handed out "tickets" to free up attendees, so you guys could co-mingle, play cards, converse, sit on the benches, grab food, and simply relax. We hope you enjoyed the free food and hot chocolate!

Of course, what's a bike event without the proper gear? We had helmets and bike lights available for $20 and $15 donations. Keep an eye out as we explore a bike-safety collaboration with the MIT COOP in W20; pretty soon, you might be picking up helmets from the same place you pick up your E/C2 Sqrt(-1) PV/NR shirts!*

For those who came by to register their bikes with MIT Parking & Transportation - we apologize! Last minute changes out of our control and they were unable to make it. In the future, we can direct you to the MIT PTO office in the basement of W20, or go to this PTO bike registration website and fill out the form -- we can help you do this at our future bike events.

Many cyclists came by and asked if we had the pressure-washer (we didn’t due to the freezing temperatures) but lots of bikes were covered in salt and snow residue and needed serious cleaning, so we will be busting out the pressure-washer in our March/April events.

2015! Revolutions Resolutions

Posted on January 30, 2015August 28, 2015 by Ye

"We were walking around Mass Ave, looking for a story, when we saw a bunch of cyclists going in one direction. We thought, 'Huh, that's strange - it's snowing; why are there so many cyclists?' So we followed them here"

- Yaoming, Northeastern University

What's so cool is that the more we run our bike safety events, the bigger our PN2K community becomes -- even when it's snowing outside. On Friday, January 30, our organizers walked into the Student Center to set up the tables. We were expecting maybe 2-3 cyclists (perhaps 5 at best) given the cold, wintry state of affairs and the fact that most bikes abandoned outside are now doused in snow. Well, around 1:50 pm, there were already 3-4 cyclists in line, awaiting the start. Hm... I thought. Perhaps this event will be more successful than I thought.*

Indeed.

Cyclists showed up, they waited, they got free bike valve lights, they made new friends and greeted old, and they ate Bertucci's while jamming to music and chowing down snacks. Even the little ones.

Susan, our product designer volunteer, put together two pages of random accessories (anything from water bottles, scarves, gloves, etc. - even umbrellas!), and we asked cyclists to vote for which ones they'd purchase.

We also had David from MIT Parking & Transportation Office Commuter Connections for free bicycle registrations. The benefit to this? Track your bike if it's lost, stolen, or abandoned -- and you get your registration ticket immediately! You can also register your bike online (the ticket to be placed on your bike will be mailed to you after completing the online form).

Bike Boom did a fantastic job whizzing through the line. For those just learning about us, Bike Boom is PN2K's main bike pro partners - they come out to each of our events, completely dedicated to the cause of bike safety and getting cyclists in and out with working brakes, non-flat tires, and oiled chains. Cyclists come in with a whoooooole range of problems and a whooooole range of bikes! Road bikes, mountain bikes, broken bikes, non-oiled bikes, squeaky bikes, neglected bikes, abandoned bikes, put-it-together-myself bikes, fat-tire bikes, definitely-not-new bikes! And our volunteers do an awesome job speeding up the process (shout outs to Izzy and John this time for helping out!)

If we've learned anything, it's that even during the winter, while the snowflakes pour down, the cyclists will still come pouring in! We won't go into our tangent about how the prominence in the numbers of winter cyclists is a high indicator of cyclists' reliance on biking as their main mode of transportation (Biking is not an "alternative," it is a necessary mode of transport for some! Biking can be the most sensible, reliable, efficient, and cost-effective form of transport from getting to point A to point B for many), and therefore why cyclists deserve improved cycling infrastructure just as much as the next pedestrian or motorist. They have their sidewalks and car lanes - cyclists want their bike lanes! Nope we'll save that tangent for another time.

We ride, organize, and have fun.

(above) Julie and Alpha from PN2K

Till next time, cyclists! And Happy Riding in 2015!

- PN2K

Full album can be found here.

*We thank Mike F. from MIT CAC for letting us hold this event indoors and giving us the space needed on short notice!

Winter Bike Fest (12/05)

Posted on December 5, 2014August 28, 2015 by Ye

If there's one thing we learned this time, it's that cyclists persist year-round, in all sorts of temperatures. The thing about cycling is that for some, it's not just a choice, hobby, or form of exercise; it's a lifestyle -- it's a method of reliable transportation from home to work, school, the store, gym, parks, movies, bus station -- anywhere.

So, what is all this, and who are we? Welcome to our monthly bike fests, where we have free minor tune-ups and repairs from Bike Boom, awesome volunteers who help us keep the line moving, helmets for $20, bike lights for $15, and lots of food, fun, and music (free). Our events are free and always open to the public.

One of the cooler things we did this time around was introduce our bike power washer to the MIT community -- This is possibly the first time that anyone has ever done this in MIT history, perhaps even in Cambridge & Boston. And we recognize that not all great ideas come from just the internal team, but from bike safety and cycling enthusiasts like yourselves! This particular idea came from one of our volunteers, Rudy, who suggested a power washer to help clean the dirt, residue, salt, etc. off bikes. It made sense, so we tried it out - turns out, you guys loved this idea, too! Thanks Rudy for your contribution to the cycling community!

STEAM #2: It’s Rocket Science.

Posted on May 2, 2014December 14, 2017 by Ye

These past few weeks leading up to Friday, May 2, PN2K worked with Dipul Patel, CEO of EcoVent to conduct some master-mind brainstorming. That afternoon, things fell into place (literally) as we all ended up having a blast launching rockets outside Killian Court on a sunny Friday evening.

I met with our partners, MIT Amphibious Achievement, who had rounded up their group of curious and excited "Achievers" (high school mentees) and mentors. In total, there was about 12 of us meeting with Dip at the MIT Entrepreneurship Center. If there is any association you should have in your mind with PN2K, it's that we are all about "hands-on" learning and tangible take-aways. It should be natural then that Dip had an amazing surprise waiting for Achievers - each person would be building (and taking back home) their own rocket-ships!

Yes, we did have way too much fun, and yes - we totally went over our planned time. We attracted spectators, experimented with ideas, and finally wound down with coffee while debriefing (led by Dip) back at the E-Center.

Well, I certainly learned a lot! First, I learned that kids are naturally curious and very action-oriented. Engaging projects will ignite that spark that leads to enthusiastic learning and creative experimentation.

Achievers, you were awesome today. A HUGE thanks to Dip and EcoVent for such a brilliant time. Thank you to ALL of our wonderful sponsoring partners for helping to make this event possible, and most importantly, HUGE thanks to Amphibious Achievers for coming and making this experience GREAT for everyone.

Erg-A-Thon!

Posted on April 17, 2014August 28, 2015 by Ye

As I came out of the MIT Z-Center this afternoon, I caught sight of a huge tent with a multitude of ergs all lying parallel along the length of Kresge lawn. Of course, this would be the much anticipated MIT Erg-A-Thon from our partners, MIT Amphibious Achievement!

This Erg-A-Thon runs from 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM and is AA's annual fundraiser, except that this year, we managed to work with co-founder Noam Angrist in 2013 as well as current co-president Alice Huang to make something additionally special happen: Noam mentioned they had toyed with the idea of creating a scholarship to be awarded to one of their high school mentees (called "Achievers") on an annual basis. The idea of attributing a scholarship in memory of Phyo (who was a mentor for Amphibious Achievement) was perfect - The scholarship would embody Phyo's spirit of teaching, growth, and scholarship for youth.

So, this year, when you contribute to the MIT Erg-A-Thon, 10% of up to $5000 raised will go towards a PN2K $500 Achievement Award. This $500 fund will be granted to a graduating Achiever to support her/his aspirations through higher education.

Author Archives: Ye

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