My friend Sharon is borrowing Jason’s bike this week, and in order to figure out the best route to take to work, I recommended Google maps. Their bike directions find you the nearest bike paths or bike lanes and give you the best ways around tough intersections. And they’re still in beta, so if you […]

Recently, I spent a couple hours collecting bicycle and pedestrian data for the city of Somerville. This is the second time they’ve done this study. The first was back in April, when 35 locations were observed during morning and evening rush hours. Read about the results in the Boston Globe. I tallied people passing through […]

I’ve officially experienced my first serious bike malfunction. On the way to class tonight my chain slipped off and got wedged in the hub. I feel like an idiot, because I knew the chain was loose. It had slipped a few times and even fallen off once, but I was able to get it back […]

As requested, here’s an update on my progress with the bike. Since I bought it a month ago… I added a front basket. It’s much easier (and less sweaty) than a bag over your shoulder. I even stopped at Whole Foods tonight and brought home groceries. Dave suggested that I get a cargo net for […]

Yup, that’s right—I finally bit the bullet and bought a bike. I was planning on renting a couple more times to get used to it before buying one to ride to work every day, but my friend Janelle convinced me that I could get one cheap enough that spending more money on renting didn’t make much sense. She had actually just bought the same model we rented (the KHS Manhattan Green), and told me that it had a reputation as a sturdy bike with good components that’s cheaper than you’d expect.