Whelp. We did it. 

Where to even begin? How about photos; I heard they're worth a couple thousand words. 

Full photo album here 
Credit to Yaoming Duan & Dingfang Zhou, PN2K Historians 

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. 

In September, we cater especially to people who know how to ride a bicycle but have never done so here before either because they are new arrivals or because they have never felt safe. This year we did this in partnership with Urban AdvenTours; we rented their bikes at a nonprofit discount and provided that guided tour in a semi-controlled environment. 

Why, you ask? 

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:

Friday, September 11th

@ 7:15 PM (meet at Student Center) 
Leave @ 7:20 PM
Boston Bike Party: BOSTON
For all cyclists
RSVP: here (or just show up) 
See the info post on our PN2K-Community Facebook page. 

Friday, September 18

@ 6:00 - 7:00 PM 
MIT PN2K's 1st General Info Session/Meeting of the Year
MIT Building 1-132 (where is this?)

• Learn about the different committees
• Plan socials/bike rides (next group bike ride: Fri, Sep 25th)
• Join in the fun

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