August Bike Event & Dumpling Party

Posted on August 19, 2017November 13, 2017 by PN2K Team

August bike event! Summer's not over so naturally we decided to hold another bike event. During one of our last MIT PN2K officer meetings, we decided that we should offer more options than the annual membership, particularly when sometimes we have 6-month visiting students at our event (and it doesn't make sense for them to purchase the 1-year membership). So now our membership include a 6-month option for a $5 discount from the normal prices:

One Year Membership Prices:
student $15/MIT Affiliate $20/Non-MIT Affiliate $25
Half Year Membership Prices:
student $10/MIT Affiliate $15/Non-MIT Affiliate $20

Our August event included: Bicycle Safety Check, Minor Repairs***, Bicycle Pressure Washing***, Bicycle Registrations, Clean U-lock Station***, $20 Bike Helmets, $15 Bike Lights, $2 Batteries(CR2032), Free Food & Music
(***PN2K membership purchase required. You can always buy your membership with us online or on-site. Our online store is now updated with the 6-month membership options: https://www.pn2k.org/product/buy-membership/)

As always, great event with lots of friendly faces, laughter, and free food/music and fun! But we couldn't stop there. We took the party indoors and had some festivities making more than 100 dumplings (about 20 from scratch!). Look out for more fun gatherings to come.

Summer Island

Posted on June 15, 2017November 13, 2017 by PN2K Team

Join us for our June summer bike event, Summer Island. We'll transform the Student Center Plaza and Front Steps into our own little island as we perform free bike safety checks (a quick diagnosis to tell you what's wrong with your bikes). Be sure to grab one of our annual memberships for service on your bike-- for those who asked at previous events, we will have our pressure washer set up. As always, our event includes free snacks, food, and drinks as always. Stop by to say Hi and introduce yourself to the PN2K community!

“I feel great!”

Posted on May 28, 2017November 13, 2017 by PN2K Team

It’s always great to see familiar faces from our growing PN2K community.

We’ve been steadily growing since we started our first bike event a few years ago (see previous blogs). Expanding operations means needing a more sustainable funding model so we can provide a greater range of services to the biking and PN2K community (for instance, we’ve been wanting to sell customized water bottles, winter accessories, high visibility and useful PN2K biking gear, etc. forever!). This event was one of the first in which we tested out our new membership option ($15 for 1-year student membership up to $25 for non-affiliates). Three volunteer bike mechanics (Rudy, John, Felix) helped with minor tune-ups, while Dingfang, Yaoming, and Tian welcomed people to our event and answered questions of passersby. With MIT Finboard funding (thanks MIT Undergraduate Association!), we were able to offer free food (subway), snacks (bananas, chips, cookies, apples), drinks, and more. (Sadly, MIT Finboard does not fund projects like customized PN2K accessories and gear — and thus our look towards alternative, self-sustainable sources of funding).

We sold nine new memberships today and a couple of helmets. Fantastic! Remember that you can always purchase your helmets with us online too and pick them up at the MIT COOP.

Last, but certainly not least, a shout out to the Boston Bike Party guys and Peter Cheung especially for his continued support to our team — if you see him and his crew, be sure to give him lots of love from us! And remember: every second Friday of the month — Bike Party! Learn more about Boston Bike Party here.

Thank you to Landry’s Bicycles also (and Galen Mook) for donating a $25 gift certificate to Landry’s for our bike event! Winner of our raffle prize is Felix Arroyo.

“I feel great!” (– coined by Yaoming D.)

Keep Calm & Pedal On~
See other photos from our May 28th bike event on facebook.

May is Bike Trivia time!

Posted on May 24, 2017May 31, 2017 by PN2K Team

Join MIT PN2K for our May bike event: Bike Trivia! Join the greater MIT and Boston biking community, including food and music -- free. We believe that riding your bike shouldn't be a safety hazard, and we also (like you) don't see the point of paying for bike repairs that cost more than what you paid for your bike! However, we do know that a number of you routinely ride around on bikes with faulty brakes or rusted chains; bring in your bikes and biking friends and one of our friendly mechanics/volunteers will give it a safety check to let you know what needs to be changed and how we would fix up your bike. Repairs in-store might cost $40, $80, or more than $100. At our event, your repair and workshop time will just be the cost of an annual membership ($15 students, $20 MIT affiliates, $25 everyone else). Memberships are sold each year and last till the end of the school year (membership for 2016-2017 ends on August 31, 2017). Your membership entitles you to join bike events and workshops we hold, as well as bike store discounts with local partners. Visit our Facebook Event page to learn more about our bike event and RSVP.

Welcome to 2017!

Posted on March 5, 2017April 23, 2018 by PN2K Team

Welcome to 2017 PN2Kers!

In 2016 after the summer happened, our team and MIT PN2K officers received so many inquiries from you all, wondering when our next bike event will occur (OK, there was about 5-7 inquiries--which we consider a lot!) It made me realize the importance of MIT PN2K's mission of serving the biking community at MIT and the Greater Boston community (as our events are open to the public). So like any team, we had a different round of officers operating the club after last summer, and sadly, due to lack of communication, performance was low. However, we are rounding out another year and we shall learn from past experience in recruiting excited, dedicated, and high-performing individuals to our team. (I was actually just reading a post earlier today from Steli, a really charismatic fella I met at the Business of Software Conference in 2015, about hiring A+ players).

Last December 2016, PN2K was contacted by Dustin Weigl, the brother of Christopher Weigl, who was also struck in a bicycle-truck collision the year after Phyo's accident--same type of collision, also in December, also fatal. I can't help feeling inspired by Dustin's story. From his brother's accident, he started pursuing ways of making cycling safer in the city. Dustin is now a first-year master's student in the Technology and Policy program at MIT. It's a heart-wrenching story, and it took me back to painful memories of Phyo and when I had buried my head in my work with the PN2K Foundation, just to churn past that pain. Anyway, it's been fun reuniting the most committed members of the MIT PN2K Club, and we are all looking forward to hosting our next bike safety event on March 27, 2017. (You heard it here first!)

To keep up the work of the club, we are changing a few things up:

First, starting on March 2017, bike safety events will be open to members only. The services offered at the bike event require you to be a member with us, but the membership is affordable, allows you entrance to future bike events, and comes with benefits and discounts to select bike shops around town (see our Member Benefits page). Costs are $15 for students, $20 for MIT affiliates, and $25 for everyone else. (Purchase membership now)

Not long ago in January, we held our IAP social bike ride. It was great fun, and we even witnessed a car crash right in front of us! We were very lucky. Luckily, Tian and Frank (the two in the front) were alright. Luckily, Peter Cheung casually dropped in to ride with us that afternoon. Luckily, when a driver/witness next to us had said, "It was those cyclists!" Peter called that BS out immediately ("That guy [driver] ran the red light! He ran the red light!") Luckily, another witness at the intersection was part of Boston Police. Luckily, the guy who ran the red crashed into the car next to us, instead of Tian and Frank who were on the other side of the collision. The group of us talked it out and then decided to laugh it out at Bertucci's in Kendall. We had discussion from bike safety and infrastructure to politics and hiking. A great time with great friends over great food.

Join us for future bike rides and events! We're short-staffed so don't have the means to post all the exciting things we're doing on our blog immediately -- the best way to stay current is to join our mailing list (pn2k-bikesafety@mit.edu) and to join us as a member ($15-25). We're also currently building our MIT PN2K team for the upcoming 2017-18 school year. So if you feel you got what it takes to be part of an A-team, let us know what you want to bring to the table and nominate yourself (and friends) here (https://www.pn2k.org/mit-pn2k-nominate/). We need everyone to help, not just cyclists. G'luck and bike safe!

~ Keep Calm & Pedal On
Chief Jedi

Har Har, Mateys! Pirates, Babies, Bikes

Posted on October 16, 2015February 28, 2016 by PN2K Team

We're just kidding. No babies were kidnapped or harmed in the making of this event. However, at our event last Friday, "Pirates on Wheels!" from 2-5 PM at the MIT Student Center, there were more kids than usual - it's like we told the stork we were developing our youth kids bike safety education program and all of a sudden they arranged this huge delivery. Mommies and daddies of the world: if you need a bedtime story for your two-year old, swing by and grab one of our Bike Safety & Me kids books, absolutely free. Take a picture and place it on the inside of the back cover, just like so (see Yaoming's iPhone photo to the right. We give him major creative points for thinking of this).

Our excellent organizing team with Dingfang, Yaoming, Will, and Tian also helped to run the show -- Dingfang helped checked in everyone who came on our registration iPad. PN2K had Planet Bike lights that were sold for a subsidized $15/set. This time, our helmet orders were purchased through our online system (PN2K helmets click here), as well as our high-viz T-shirts, which were half off with a purchase of PN2K membership. (Learn more by visiting the links under "Keep Calm & Shop On" in the footer section of PN2K.org). We were also glad to welcome back some familiar faces (Mr. Goldmann from our SidPac culture coffee hour video), and meet new ones.

Upcoming dates - check our calendar under "Events" but here's a preview:

Meeting: Fri, 10/16 @ 6-7 PM in 1-132
Come for a study break, enjoy snacks, and meet the MIT PN2K community. Learn about our next events and join as a prospective officer, join a committee, volunteer, come on a bike ride.
Bike Ride Social: Fri, 10/23: Details TBA (determined at our Fri 10/16 meeting. Check back later). *Update: We will be meeting and leaving the MIT Student Center at 5:00 PM to go Goodwill hunting for Halloween costumes and local shops (REI? etc.) for winter cycling gear like ski gloves, beanies, etc. to keep warm. See you there!

Bike Ride: Sat, 10/31 @ 6:30 PM at the MIT Student Center front steps -- MIT convoy to Copley Square for the annual Boston Halloween Bike Ride!

Next bike event: Sun, 11/8 @ 2-5 PM in the MIT Johnson Lobby (Z Center Building W35) *Please note the venue change.

Keep Calm & Pedal On!

(Back: Nick, John, Kwinsi, Ye, Roy, Ari. Front: Dingfang, Tian, Yaoming, Will)

Thank you, Bike Boom, for being awesome and making some really messed-up bikes safer. These guys are great - they're also in Davis Square (check them out here). If you need more serious repairs, we'd recommend purchasing one of our PN2K memberships ($25 online, $10 for students offline) and then you'll have the 50% of $70 complete tune-ups anytime in the year when you visit Bike Boom as well as other benefits.

And now, for your viewing pleasure (and to satiate your recommended dose of daily cuteness):

Check out the full event album on Facebook. All photo creds to Dingfang Zhou and Yaoming Duan

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

Bike Fest 2015! Sun, Sep 6 (prep)

Posted on August 22, 2015September 25, 2015 by PN2K Team

MIT PN2K presents: BIKE FEST 2015 (with a Bicycle Treasure Hunt*)

Our event was a blast. The post below is preparatory stuff. Read about the actual event here: https://www.pn2k.org/keep-calm-pedal-on-2015/

Get ready for Bike Fest 2015!

On Sunday, September 6 (2-5pm), MIT PN2K will be throwing a festival for all bike riders, new, potential, and experienced!

Check out some of the awesome things we have planned:

Basic bike repairs & tune-ups
Bicycle pressure-washing
"How to Change a Flat Tire" station
Clean your U-lock (D-lock) station
Bike safety resources
Bike registration
Raffle prizes
DJ/Music
Food

Interested in participating in the Treasure Hunt?*

*The Treasure Hunt is a free guided bike tour on Urban AdvenTour bikes with limited spots! Must Pre-register here!

Interested in volunteering at the Bike Fest?

All volunteers and participants of the Treasure Hunt will receive a free PN2K T-shirt during Bike Fest.

Thanks to our amazing sponsors for the 2015 Bike Fest!

Island in the sun–Chapter 1: Setting up

Posted on August 7, 2015August 28, 2015 by Dingfang

At two p.m., one hour before our bike event began, our team was busy setting everything up at the MIT student center. In order to create shade under the sun (and make the place more “island-like” to match our theme), this event featured a canopy for the very first time. It took our team a while to figure out how to unfold it and put it up. Some early birds who arrived before the event started gave us a helping hand. Special thanks to them!

The one-minute time-lapse video below might tell you more:

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!

Bike Lights Dance Party

Posted on November 27, 2014August 28, 2015 by PN2K Team

Some of the funner parts included "ticketing" people (PN2K mock tickets for those cycling without lights, and inviting them to our event at the Student Center). It was extremely satisfying to see people coming to us as silhouettes and then cycling away distinctly more visible. We know there are still more of you out there. If you need lights, our next event is Friday, Dec 5: Winter Bike Fest! Come out, mingle in the Student Center, bring your bike & your cycling companions.

A huge THANK YOU to PLANET BKE for your partnership and popular Spok lights!

Link to full "Bike Lights, Camera, Action!" photo album

MIT PN2K presents: Spooks & Spokes!

Posted on October 31, 2014April 26, 2018 by PN2K Team

The most awesome aspect of our bike events? The people. PN2K strives to work with partners that truly care about bike safety and getting you in and out without spending more than needed. As a result, our events are free (admission ticket: $0 for you and your friends), including the food, music, education, and entertainment. Instead of helmets for $40-60 bucks, we have "Kyaw helmets" that go for $20.

This October 30, MIT PN2K hosted Spooks & Spokes in which Armando and Rob from Bike Boom came out to help with free minor bike tune-ups and repairs again. If you don't know of this bike shop in Davis Square (off the Red Line), you should definitely check them out.

Furthermore, we had Robynn and David from the MIT Parking & Transportation Office helping students to register their bikes with MIT (free -- just in case their bikes are stolen or random bike racks are removed, these owners can be contacted). Surprise volunteers popped up and helped with overall event execution plus fixing of bikes and making the flat tire repair stations possible! WMBR kept the energy high with the eclectic range of music and high energy in their participants. And Star Market, we thank you guys for making so many Halloween sweet treats available.

The next day, Oct 31, a smaller group of MIT PN2K cyclists gathered to join 700+ other cyclists in the 2014 Boston Halloween Bike Ride, as part of a monthly bike ride organized by Boston Bike Party. Immense crowds, cycling in solidarity, wearing eclectic costumes, blasting loud music. What could be better? It was amazing to see the ginormous numbers of cyclists (they definitely surprised critical mass) who all banned together to ring their bells, shout out in support of cyclists' rights, and defend each other in the face of motorists who honk in annoyance rather than the friendly ones encountered along the way who honk repeatedly in support! Here, here! These Friday evening bike rides might just become a thing. Let us know if you want to help lead one!

MIT Bike Fest 2014 (the launch)

Posted on September 7, 2014April 23, 2018 by PN2K Team

It was the first time we ordered helmets and dispersed them widely to the MIT community (and at Cambridge/Boston at large) for a subsidized $5 price (priority for those on our bike ride as helmets were mandatory). It was the first time we designed our own neon-green bike t-shirts, worn proudly by our three-member organizing team (GSC Sustainability co-presidents Becky and Cherry, plus myself), ~29-30+ volunteers, and ~40 bike riders. It was the first time PN2K co-hosted a large-scale event at MIT and managed so many logistics and people all at once -- all to great fanfare on Sep 7, 2014.

Ok, we're just kidding, although a parade celebrating bike safety wouldn't be a bad idea. Our event actually coincided with the 22nd Cambridge Annual Festival, which boasted huge 18-wheelers coming down Main and Vassar Street (part of where our bike tour ran). To this end, we want to thank the Cambridge Police Department and the transportation and event planning departments of Cambridge City Council for working with us to support and approve our bike route tour and ensure its safety for cyclists participating in our guided bike tour. Thanks also to the MIT Student Activities Office and MIT Police Department for your time in meeting with us!

WINNER OF BIKE FEST TREASURE HUNT TOUR RAFFLE
$100 Zipcar Gift Certificate: Halide Bey

WINNERS OF BIKE FEST GENERAL RAFFLE
$25 gift certificate to Landry’s Bicycles: Wesley Cox
$25 gift certificates to Broadway Bicycle School: Erica Santana
$25 gift certificates to Broadway Bicycle School: Jennifer Apell
$25 gift certificates to Broadway Bicycle School: Jun Yong Khoo
$25 gift certificates to Broadway Bicycle School: Harun Sugito
Bike lock from Bike Boom ($42 value): German Parada
Starbucks gift basket ($45 value): Nevin Daniel
Hubway Annual Membership ($85 value): Nadia Elkordy
Urban Adventours gift certificate (valued up to $100): Jennie Zheng
$100 Zipcar Gift Certificate: Victoria Dean

Please check your email for details on raffle prize pick-up. Thanks to all who participated in the raffle - we're thrilled everyone had a great time at #MITBikeFest. And of course, thank you donors for making these prizes possible: Zipcar, Landry's Bicycles, Broadway Bicycle School, Bike Boom, Starbucks, Hubway, Urban Adventours

Photos of our prize winners here.

Category Archives: bike events

August Bike Event & Dumpling Party

Summer Island

“I feel great!”

May is Bike Trivia time!

Welcome to 2017!

Har Har, Mateys! Pirates, Babies, Bikes

Keep Calm & Pedal On 2015

Friday, September 11th

Friday, September 18

RAFFLE PRIZE WINNERS

Bike Fest 2015! Sun, Sep 6 (prep)

MIT PN2K presents: BIKE FEST 2015 (with a Bicycle Treasure Hunt*)

Get ready for Bike Fest 2015!

Interested in participating in the Treasure Hunt?*

Interested in volunteering at the Bike Fest?

Thanks to our amazing sponsors for the 2015 Bike Fest!

Island in the sun–Chapter 1: Setting up

Mass Ave Monopoly

RECESS!

CPW Bike Fest

When the sun comes out, so do we.

MIT PN2K presents: Love to Velo

2015! Revolutions Resolutions

Winter Bike Fest (12/05)

Bike Lights Dance Party

MIT PN2K presents: Spooks & Spokes!

MIT Bike Fest 2014 (the launch)

Congratulations to all our MIT Bike Fest raffle prize winners!!

Friday, September 11th

Friday, September 18

**RAFFLE PRIZE WINNERS**

MIT PN2K presents: BIKE FEST 2015 (with a Bicycle Treasure Hunt*)

Get ready for Bike Fest 2015!

Interested in participating in the Treasure Hunt?*

Interested in volunteering at the Bike Fest?

Thanks to our amazing sponsors for the 2015 Bike Fest!

Congratulations to all our MIT Bike Fest raffle prize winners!!

RAFFLE PRIZE WINNERS