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: