BAY STATE BIKE WEEK! May 12-18, 2008

It's your chance to join thousands of other bikers across the country by doing something for the environment and having a great time while you're at it. Bay State Bike Week is FREE.

So sign up today! BayStateBikeWeek.org [2].

The 50,000 Mile Commuter Challenge: The heart of Bike Week is the 50,000 Mile Commuter Challenge. That's how far we know you and your fellow Bay Staters can pedal over the course of the week. Sign up [3] and tell us how many miles you will ride. We're even here to help and make it fun.

Look what's planned for Bike Day, Friday May 16th:

• Safe Guided Convoys: Join one of our Boston or Cambridge commuter convoys and meet new friends while you're at it. Join at any point, see the map for locations and times. [ more info... [4] ]
• Free Goodies & Breakfast: Pick up a free water bottle and goodies from one of our "Goodie Zones". Or, stop by Government Center Plaza for free goodies and breakfast on your way to work. There are also bike breakfasts/ breakfast pit stops in Cambridge Monday through Thursday. [ more info... [5] ]
• Bike Buddies: Can't find somebody to ride with? Email us to be paired up with a fellow commuter or to escort a new rider. [ more info... [6] ]
• Rentals: No bike? No problem! Contact Urban Adventours, 617.233.7595, info@urban adventours.com

What else? [ click here [7] for MassBike's list of statewide events ... ]

• Mon. May 12: 12th Annual Redbones Bike Party & Benefit, Somerville [ more info... [8] ]
• Sat. May 17: Cambridge Annual Spring Bike Tour:"Trails, Sails, Rails and Wheels - Cambridge Transportation History" [ more info... [9] ]
• Sun. May 18: Brookline Bikes Beacon Bicycle Parade [ more info... [10] ]
• Sun. May 18: Newton Bicycle Rally and Family Ride [ more info... [11] ]

Note from LivableStreets: Thanks to an infusion of energy from the City of Boston's new bicycle coordinator, Nicole Freedman, this year's bike week, now called the "Bay State Bike Week," has even more events open to the public. For the past decade, the local Transportation Management Association's (TMA's, formed by companies and institutions to help get employees out of their cars and into transit or on bikes) has been taking the lead, and therefore focused on their members and employees only. Though the City of Cambridge has been a local leader in a program to pass out "goodie bags" to bike commuters to say "thank you", bike week in the Boston area hasn't in the past been all that exciting for the public (except of course for the big Red Bones bike party!). This year hopefully marks a change. Though resources are still meager this year, there are many more exciting things happening, and there is a lot more energy! On Friday May 16th there are several "bike convoys" converging on Downtown Boston where there are a variety of "bike breakfasts".

Click here for more information [12].