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

We need office space.

Posted on September 5, 2015January 19, 2017 by PN2K Team

Prepping for the big Sunday

Posted on September 4, 2015January 19, 2017 by PN2K Team

Preparation for MIT Bike Fest 2015 has been insane. For the first time ever, it's been forcing me to learn how to delegate tasks to the team, and it's wonderful - because the core team is very committed and I feel like we are all working diligently together to make sure this big event coming up is a success. Thanks to Tian for helping to schedule my day for me (this morning: Tian - "Did you just wake up?" Me - "No, I've been awake" Tian - "You're supposed to be printing now!"). Yaoming and I went around picking up all the goods ordered for Bike Fest: T-shirts, food donation from Star Market, raffle basket from Starbucks (to throw in with donations from MIT Facilities and gift certificates from local bike shops). We headed to MIT Activities Midway to check in (huuuuuge line) where we eventually met with Dingfang and Will.

MIT Activities Midway consists of the entire population of students coming to one area where all the student organizations congregate and entertain (with info and food). We did our bit, Yaoming helped package all the bike helmets that Will wheeled all the way over from Next House, and our historians then went to drop off these helmets at the MIT COOP for our big day Sunday. [left: photo of very useful MIT bike maps that show the cycling cages - both indoor and outdoor - at MIT, as well as fix-it stations, and cycle routes.]

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!

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.

Gone Wild with BBP

Posted on August 15, 2015September 9, 2015 by PN2K Team

What is BBP, one might ask. BBP stands for the best group of bicyclists in town- Boston Bike Party, and this Friday, MIT PN2K organized a convoy to cycle out from MIT and meet up with BBP. We were greeted by unfamiliar-familiar faces; seriously, you try recognizing your friends when they're decked out in wild animal costumes and face paint. You see, Peter Cheung, who organizes these proceedings each month with a host of friendly volunteers, for about, oh, nothing more than 300-800 cyclists (it was about 600 this time)-- they come up with a theme each month and BBP meets each theme with great fanfare. "Gone Wild" (animal-jungle style) was the victor this month. I saw a red flying squirrel (or maybe it was a raccoon), tails on the rear ends of cyclists, a hunter in camouflage riddled in darts, Safari explorers, and so much leopard print; it made me question the spontaneity of my own wardrobe. What did I wear? Because the destination point was the beach, I donned on a rainbow colored leopard print bathing suit, then threw on my November Project neon green shorts and my PN2K jersey on top of that. Perfect. I would have passed for normal if I hadn't found balloons in a drawer and decided I could also be Mickey Mouse if I attached two spheres to the top of my helmet. Then I threw on some shades, just for anonymity purposes. The hour or so riding around Boston before BBP in this get-up was definitely an experience. I was visible, that's for sure.

Shortly thereafter I met with Yaoming, Dingfang, Becky, Oscar, and Will. Safety in numbers! We decided to take up one full lane as we biked down Mass Ave to Copley Square.

The rest of the night was pretty awesome. I'm purposefully not describing it all in detail here because it's something you don't read about- it's something you experience. There's something rewarding, fulfilling, empowering, and a whole new level of safe when you cycle as a community.

Between the bear cages, chasing two feet diameter bubbles, green power spray, freezing-cold beach water, spontaneous singing, shadow bike dances, and quality time spent with cool people, it was a pretty grand way to spend a Friday evening.

Till meet time! Thank you BBP for organizing!!

Photo credits to Yaoming Duan. You can find the rest of his album here: https://goo.gl/j5APkF

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:

(pre-event post) MIT PN2K presents: Island in the Sun!

Posted on July 19, 2015August 28, 2015 by PN2K Team

Get ready for our next July bike event!

Here’s what you can expect to find with us:

free minor bike repairs, courtesy of Bike Boom
a couple of new faces who will be volunteering with our crew and making the background magic happen
bike repair clinics and bike-mechanic-savvy individuals with the know-how to teach you some bike safety basics
bike registration with MIT Parking & Transportation Office (from 3-5 PM)
bike pressure washer (we know you guys love this – Newbies, read any of our blogs from the past few months to learn more)
bike lock (U-lock) cleaning & maintenance station (we know the locking mechanism can be annoying when it’s stuck!)
free food & music

We’re working on getting in bike helmets, bike lights, and high visibility PN2K bike t-shirts. Our helmets are $20, bike lights are $15, and T-shirts will be $20. All the money goes towards PN2K and helping to continue supporting the foundation’s activities so we can continue to run these bike repair events and expand!

ON THE DAY, when you come in…

Please check in with us (find the person holding the green iPad) Complete and submit the registration form.
Take your bicycle to the pressure washer (focus on the drive chain). Don’t know how to use the bike pressure washer? If another cyclist is around, ask him/her to show you!
Come back and place your bike in line (where the cones are) Make sure we know whether you are here for a quick-fix (pumping tires, lubing chains, buying something and leaving) or something more extensive (adjusting brake pads, wires, “don’t know what’s wrong…”)
Head towards the stations we have set up for ice-breakers and bike safety games (leave your bike — it won’t go anywhere!)
If you have your U-lock (also called “D-lock”), please bring that to the cleaning station as we’ll have equipment that you can use to help maintain its non-rusty condition!
Get your bike fixed!

The team will be wearing high-viz green neon shirts. If in doubt, find one of us as we are here to help you.

Please be aware that the number of cyclists in our line usually exceeds capacity before 7:00 PM. The number of repairs we can take depends upon how many volunteers we have available that day as well as the number of cyclists in line. Please note that we may have to close only the bike repair line early (other services/stations will remain open until 7 PM).

And lastly, enjoy, have fun, and pedal safely!

—

Yes! I am free to volunteer for July 31 (we need your help starting from 2pm-8pm)
Yes! I want to donate to PN2K to help support your efforts!

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

In Memoriam (Ghost Bike)

Posted on May 20, 2015October 21, 2015 by PN2K Team

Some of you might have seen the ghost bike set up in memory of Phyo on the corner of Mass Ave & Vassar St about 3 years ago right after the collision on Dec 27, 2011. The ghost bike was originally set up by Andrea, Phyo's co-worker and, in preparation for the winter, was taken inside and stored by MIT Facilities with Norman's help.

Today, we set this bike back up again, in memory of our friend Phyo -- and all the other cyclists out there who have fallen victim to traffic/truck collisions. In fact, thanks to Directing Samurai's prompting, we realized that we wanted to get a bike up in time for the Ride of Silence Boston event this evening (Boston City Hall Plaza, meeting at 6:45 PM).

We hugely thank Chief DiFava for helping us to propel this effort forward and reclaim the bike. I was contacted shortly afterwards by Mr. Ron Nestor who then proceeded to show me his creative engineering genius (and generosity with time!)

Ron tells me the great news about having found the bike and we're ready to go set it up now!

So I ride in their little licensed golf-cart-like vehicle that can go up to 20 mph on the driveway or even up sidewalks (always wanted one of these).

We lock it up (Ron got a chain with a padlock and everything!) -- buuuut we notice the sign is a bit dilapidated. JUUUUUST a bit.

So we decided to make a new one from scratch. In this case, scratch = vanilla folder + laminating sheets + scissors + ruler + pen + pencil + your imagination (of course).

While I was cutting and measuring things to scale and stenciling, Ron made sure I had all the tools I needed! I had a sharpie, pen, pencil, ruler ("Do you need a ruler?" "I think I'm good" "Here's one -- just in case"), vanilla folder, laminating sheets, scissors... He even brought in zip ties later. I was honestly touched by how invested these people were in a project that was not theirs -- I mean, I knew that the MIT community is one, and that Phyo was part of all of us, but the entire experience felt like we were all one big tag team.

STEAM #4: Fire & Glass

Posted on May 3, 2015January 25, 2017 by PN2K Team

What happens when you combine fire, glass, a bunch of curious high school students, Amphibious Achievement, and PN2K? You get an awesome STEAM field trip (#4). For those of you new to the scene, we invite you to read about the history of PN2K's collaboration with Amphibious Achievement to better understand the "youth educational/academia" component to PN2K's mission in our PN2K for Youth page.

May 3rd wrapped up our fourth and final collaborative field trip with Amphibious Achievement for these past two years. Phyo N. Kyaw, for whom this foundation is set up, believed in the importance of education and empowering children. Our field trips are designed to have a large hands-on focus, with the overall message geared towards inspiring students to pursue their dreams and career goals through higher education.

But why take our word for it? See for yourself! Watch the video produced by our historians, Dingfang & Yaoming, and learn more through Dingfang's personal account below.

See full album for STEAM 4: Fire & Glass (Glassblowing) field trip here.

Visiting MIT Glass lab

By Dingfang Zhou

A group of high school students and their MIT student mentors attended the workshop in MIT glass lab. The workshop is initiated by Amphibious Achrivement, a MIT student-run service organization and is aimed at introducing the high school students in Amphibious Achievement to new applications of science and math.

States, one of the mentors led the group walking across the “Inifite Corridor” in MIt Building #4. When arriving the glass lab, Patrick Barragan, instructor of the day has already waited outside the lab. He handed each visitors protective goggles and gave a brief introduction of the glass lab.

“I made this one,” said Barragan, pointing at a transparent glass vase with white stripes on the body, which was placed on top of the shelf in the display case outside the studio. He has been working in the glass lab for 7 years since his first year in graduate school in MIT.

“I went to the lottery and got really lucky. The first time I went I got in and I have been doing it ever since,” said Barragan. Glass blowing has been one of the most popular extra curricular activities on campus. Getting into the glass lab is almost as hard as getting into MIT itself.

Before entering the lab, he told the students: “If you don’t know specifically if something is hot. Assume it is. The floor is basically safe to walk.”

His colleagues in the lab were busy making a glass pumpkin together which will be sold at a fund-raise later. One of the crew dipped a metal pole with a molten blob on top into the furnace, and then pull the pole out and dipped the blob into a cement mode in order to give the glass pumpkin shape. Next, he gave a gentle blow at the other end of the pipe to puff the blob. After coloring, adjusting the shape and adding a vine, the glass pumpkin was put into a cooling cabinet for a night.

Peter Houk, director of glass lab dips the metal pole into the furnace and get some molten blob on top of the pole. The blob is dripping into a tube with cold water underneath for the annealing process. (photo by: Yaoming Duan)

After the glass pumpkin demo of making glass pumpkin, one of the students volunteered to join with Barragan and Peter Houk, director of glass lab, for the “annealing” process-- a process of slowly cooling hot glass to relieve internal stresses after it was formed. Houk made two glass columns, one annealed and the other not. The student could easily break the latter with bare hands, however, he could not break the annealed glass even with a hammer.

Workshop participant broke the glass column with bare hands under the instruction of Houk. (photo by: Yaoming Duan)

“It’s because of the stress,” said Houk. Annealing glass will increase its durability since the glass retains many of the stresses inside and becomes durable.

Then, each students got a chance to involve in glass production process such as glass blowing and shaping. The glass lab workshop is “once-in-a-life-time opportunity, even for MIT student,” said Michael Lu, a sophomore student who is also the mentor of Amphibious Achievement.

A high school girl blows air into a glass blob at the other end of the metal pole. (photo by: Yaoming Duan)

“They(students) seem really interested and they seem engaged. I’m glad that all of them got to interact with glass physically so that they can see the importance of that physical interaction. MIT ‘Mens et Manus’ (‘Mind and Hand’) type of model is always important. Not only you are learning things but you can also working with them and trying do it yourself so you can really get a solidified understanding,” said Barragan after the workshop.

“They(students) seem really interested and they seem engaged,” said Patrick Barragan, the instructor of the MIT glass lab. (photo by: Yaoming Duan)

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

Meet Popo the Tanuki!

Posted on March 10, 2015March 16, 2018 by PN2K Team

So you might be wondering, “What IS that squirrely looking creature on the PN2K logo?” If you were wondering that, you would not be alone. We’ve had a couple people ask us in passing about the mysterious creature on our logo. Meet Popo and he is a tanuki (Japanese name for “raccoon dog”). In folklore, tanukis are considered jolly and mischievous creatures. Some would describe them as friendly and playful social animals. Others consider tanuki as mysterious animals with shape-shifting abilities. Who knows? Our Popo the Tanuki was designed to be an animal caricature of Phyo, after whom our foundation was named. During Phyo’s freshman year at MIT, he and a couple friends decided to draw themselves as their brethren animal spirits for fun. Phyo ended up with the raccoon dog because of his outer appearance and his habits. When Phyo first arrived at MIT, many of his close friends considered him like a big teddy bear. He also seemed to never sleep, and so it was fitting that a cute bear-like creature with dark rings around the eyes be his brethren animal. Finally, Phyo was mysterious in how he managed to appear everywhere (at social events, parties, TA office hours) then suddenly disappear when he did not want to be found. Thus, the tanuki became Phyo’s choice brethren spirit and the original Popo the Tanuki was born. Popo is not the first famous tanuki out there. You may have seen Nintendo’s Mario sporting a raccoon-looking suit (that was actually a tanuki suit) or Studio Ghibli’s animated film “Pom Poko”, a film all about tanuki using their magical powers to fight urbanization!

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

STEAM #3: We fly high like planes

Posted on November 22, 2014October 21, 2015 by PN2K Team

Saturday, Nov 22nd found us, PN2K, partnering again with EcoVent's Dipul Patel and his stealthy side-kick, Nick Lancaster, while they worked their magic and awed the Amphibious Achievement crowd with planes. This PN2K-organized Amphibz adventure is the third in a series of field trips PN2K has collaborated with Amphibious Achievement to organize in the past calendar year.

Achievers:
1) Learned why and how college can be an asset to their future careers
2) Spent a majority of time in application (building, flying, racing planes)
3) Debriefed and took away some sweet souvenirs, courtesy of EcoVent

It was incredible to see the amount of effort and thought that Dip and Nick put into making this event truly hands-on. For our new readers, Dip from EcoVent helped host our second STEAM field trip with rockets in MIT Killian Court (it was a blast, in every sense of the word!) Being familiar with our obsession on the experiential learning component, it was no surprise that when we met with Dip and Nick before the Achievers arrived, who had a box full of rubber-band-plane kits ready to go! And the way they guided these high school students through step-by-step instructions towards building successful plane kits gave them a glimpse into being engineers.

Here is a glimpse of moments caught on camera.

Keep Calm & Pedal On 2015

Friday, September 11th

Friday, September 18

RAFFLE PRIZE WINNERS

We need office space.

Prepping for the big Sunday

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!

Digital Production & Ghost Bike Dedication to Anita Kurmann

Gone Wild with BBP

Island in the sun–Chapter 1: Setting up

(pre-event post) MIT PN2K presents: Island in the Sun!

Mass Ave Monopoly

RECESS!

In Memoriam (Ghost Bike)

STEAM #4: Fire & Glass

CPW Bike Fest

When the sun comes out, so do we.

Meet Popo the Tanuki!

MIT PN2K presents: Love to Velo

2015! Revolutions Resolutions

Winter Bike Fest (12/05)

Bike Lights Dance Party

STEAM #3: We fly high like planes

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!

RAFFLE PRIZE WINNERS