Oh hi there.
Welcome to Cycle Tracks, RIBike’s now bi-weekly newsletter.
It was Labor Day, and we took that opportunity to skip a week and make this email officially every other week. Your overloaded email inbox can thank us by getting even more involved in RIBike.
Today is your LAST CHANCE to participate in our September membership campaign! Our goal was to get 50 new members between September 1 and September 14 (today!). For all membership contributions in that time, two generous donors have agreed to match everything that comes in. You give $40, we get $80; easy math. We’re wrapping it up at 5:00pm EST today, and at time of writing we’ve gotten 28 new members this month. There’s still time! Share this link with your friends and tell them how important better bicycling in Rhode Island is to you!
The second Get Your Bike On! was a success! The rain held off, and we biked around the loop of Roger Williams Park. We also realized that there’s a great synchrony possible: go to Recycle-a-Bike’s open shop hours on Saturday (or of course, a local bike shop) to get yourself a bike, then on Sunday go to Get Your Bike On! and get comfortable riding it. Next event is 9/27 at India Point Park, 9-10am.
Tonight is the monthly RIBike meeting at Flatbread Company! If you don’t feel like reading this whole thing, you can just come to that and hear about what’s up in Rhode Island bike advocacy while eating delicious pizza!
#BicyclistsOfRI is happening. Do you know the humungously popular “Humans of New York” series? Yeah, we’re doing that. Except for people on bikes. In Rhode Island. If you want to participate, sign up here.
The Woony River Ride is this Saturday, 9/19! You should check it out, then swing by the Ocean State Oyster Festival. We’re going to be doing bike valet at the Oyster Festival, by South Water Street where the Flea is. You should go, and you should go by bike!
Bike to Beer is back! We had a good one at Hot Club on a hot night last Tuesday, and the next one is Tuesday, September 29 at The Salon right in the heart of downtown Providence.
This Wednesday 9/16, you can come to the Providence BPAC meeting at 4:45pm (note: change of location to 30 Exchange Terrace) and then join a bike train from there to the EcoRI.org Zero Trash Bash at Machines With Magnets in Pawtucket!
The Healthy Places By Design group and the Peace Dale Neighborhood Revitalization group in South Kingstown put on an amazing cyclovia/block party in Peace Dale this past Saturday! There were kids on BMX doing tricks. And bikes everywhere. And free Whaler’s Brewery samples. And a chicken named Mrs. Pip.
RIBike program director Alex Krogh-Grabbe wrote a gently scathing response in the Providence Journal to a ridiculous anti-bike commentary piece.
Richard Fries of the CycloCross Festival & MassBike graced Rhode Island with his presence on September 2nd for the first installment of RIBike’s monthly speaker series at AS220. The next one is October 7th, and will feature Steve Miller of the Boston area’s Liveable Streets Alliance.
160 Brown University students now know about statewide bike advocacy who may not have known about it before! If you want to help us reach out to other student populations in Rhode Island, get in touch; we’d love to talk about that!
You should come to the New England Bike Walk Summit! It’s next Thursday 9/24 in Worcester, and organized by our friends at the East Coast Greenway Alliance! If spending a day geeking out about biking and walking advocacy sounds like your cup of tea, put on the kettle and buy your ticket!
We had our first annual picnic this past Saturday at Riverside Park in Olneyville, right by the Red Shed. It was sunny, there was food, and many good folks. If you weren’t there, maybe you can make it next year.
The George Redman Linear Park is going to be officially open next week! It’s been done and open for a while, but this time you know it’s real because the Governor is going to be there. You should come to the dedication ceremony! It’s next Monday at 10:00am. More details here.
Along with BikeNewport and the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council, we held a conversation with bike advocates from across the state to discuss how we can ensure necessary funding is implemented to complete the bike paths Rhode Island has in the hopper. We’ll keep you in the loop as this continues to move forward.