You can say what you like, but I haven’t seen any air quality problems coming from anything other than human actions in technology and industry. Its easy to do your part and not adding to the problem by doing things that emit gases that pollute the air around us hint hint. The Northeast has just had its hottest summer on record and I believe there is something to say about it. Also, people are freaking out and coming up with solutions in not the greatest way. But also I see some truth behind it. But lets set all of these opinions aside and put it up to you. Do you think your opinions and actions count? I do. Well, since its my day off, I’m getting back to work on some personal projects and I’ll leave you with this first but really this. Enjoy!

Where we live.

So… _______ Square. I really like picture contests, so thats all I’m giving you. Thanks to some artists, we now have a prettier home base.

Just a reminder

I took this photo in our parking lot, which is above our shop and office. This said, Nature still rules and we are experiencing it’s wrath. The rain has come just a few times this summer and it has come in torrential downpours; flooding homes, offices and bringing parts of the city to a stand still. All I can ask is to drive less and pave less. Although Somerville Ave is quite smooth for cyclists now. Oh, and plant some trees and gardens to soak up all the water.

Saturday Morning

And this is what the city looks like before it wakes up. Awesome bicycles gracing the city streets without polluting, idling gridlock traffic. My suggestions for you… ride bicycles more often. Start enjoying your day. You only have one life to live as far as I know. You might as well enjoy it.

Grocery Pick Up

My next suggestion… Buy food you enjoy and have a good experience while doing it. The reason why good, local food may cost more is because its good and you’re supporting people you know. Its not only great tasting but much better for you. Just like cycling is good for you. Why not mix the two? You could get rid of your car and use the Insurance $, Gas $,  Loan $, Maintenance $ to buy great food to make your life better. Or maybe afford that much needed vacation. Or what I like to do… Stay locally and visit those spots you’ve never gotten around to trying. Plenty of great options even the Bostonian can find in his/her own city. Did you know Don Otto’s sells fresh produce grown in the Suburbs of Boston? How about it is even delivered by bicycle? Looking to have some delivered right to your door? Support three great businesses all in one. Buy from the Local Farm from the Local Market delivered to your door by your own Local Bicycle delivery driver. No need to get in your car EVER AGAIN!!!! Just do it. If you’re wondering why this post is so awesomely long, its because I’m drinking my evening coffee from Equal Exchange, bought in the 5lb bean bag from Harvest Market in Central Square. Thats right, Bean Bag. I said it. Myself and my two roommates will be enjoying locally roasted coffee, fairly traded with cooperatives around the world without having to go to the store for the next month. Looking for other great bulk items, head over to Harvest Co-op and Whole foods, do some shopping and let us pick it up and deliver it right to your door! What can’t we do???

Dueling Bikes

Well… there’s more. Here I got the chance to load up with Fresh Mozzarella from Fiore di Nonno next to the Taza Chocolate bike and bikepool down to Davis Square Farmer’s market to drop off everything they needed while picking up a fresh picked order of farm fresh vegetables from Blue Heron Organic Farm in Lincoln, MA to take back to Sherman Market in Union Square. The leeks are delicious. Trust me. I helped weed them out on the farm too!!! What can’t we do? Go out to some of the better restaurants around and ask them where they source their food. The better the food, the more locally it is produced. Change with the seasons and with the food. It never gets old!!!

Taking the top off!

Here’s my ride of choice. The Flat Bed. One utility trike so simple yet efficient you don’t even know.You have to ride it to believe it. This is my go to transport for the long haul and all Pedal Powered!!! You may ask… well what do you power??? And I say… your imagination. If you are smart, you put pedal and power together and then figure out that its not gas powered. I hate those two words together (gas & power)  because if you look at it, you (the human) don’t have any of the power in a vehicle. You are controlled by oil and the companies that tear it out of the earth. Wow. Please look at this link and notice the child labor cleaning up oil stains on the pavement with gas nozzles looking more like guns and all the “green” sorry but all I can say is what a joke. I like how they are trying to hide the facts of oil behind all of their response pages and what they do outside of the oil industry… close to nothing. And when they fail at gutting the earth… this happens. Back to the greatest ride… The picture is of my ride loaded up from the South Station Farmers Market and Red Fire Farm. I am about to head over to an office building and deliver 12 farm shares to the same office!!! You see that? shopping done at work! No need to even go to the store. Now thats efficient. Let the farm come to you via pedal power!!! Hows that for lunch?

And what to do on your day off.

So, When you’re all burnt out on cycling around the city for the week delivering the best of the best, you head to the Berkshires and ride 180 km in one day in some of the most scenic parts of the lovely state of Massachusetts.

So, enough said. Hopefully this gives you some ideas of what we do, what you can do and some good vibes to dream about for a better tomorrow. Happy riding!

Anyway, this morning, I went to the Cambridge City Hall Annex building to pick up this weeks batch of City Smart packets for delivery. If you are a resident of the North Cambridge neighborhood (they started in the Cambridgeport neighborhood in 2009), you can sign up on their website to receive a bag full of goodies about how to get around the city by walking, biking and public transportation. There are bike maps, water bottles, stickers, information booklets, etc. Resources to help people figure out how to get around with out a car. Neat-o, right?

On my way out, I noticed a table with some cards on it advertising for an art installation upstairs. The public is invited to transcribe excuses from the City’s archive of parking ticket disputes onto the gallery walls. It sounded like fun, but I was on the clock so I just took one of the cards with me.

Interestingly enough, this is an ongoing exhibit (runs through Sept 2.) and part of a larger work by Daniel Peltz the Artist-in-Residence of the Cambridge Department of Traffic and Parking. (wait, the Dept. of Parking has an Artist-in-Residence? apparently so).

Other parts of his work include creating new poetic “non-regulatory” street signage and installing parking boots made of soft stuffed fabric. “The regulations surrounding “soft booting” embrace the ambiguous and sometimes seemingly arbitrary nature of our encounters with parking authority, while aiming to shift their energetic quality.”

I guess getting so excited about an art exhibit sponsored by the Dept of Traffic and Parking is further evidence that I have become a transportation geek (Thanks in part to these guys).  Here’s the link to the exhibition site: http://www.cambridgema.gov/CAC/Exhibitions/Daniel_Peltz.cfm

But truly, I believe that parking is by far the most costly and stressful aspect of owning or operating a motor vehicle in the city. (not to mention how ugly parked cars are). I have talked with other fleet owners who are budgeting $1500/month just for parking tickets (!) and that seems to be the accepted inevitability. Add that to the cost of gas, registration, insurance and maintenance, I’ll bet for the cost of operating a car or a van in the city, you could just buy one of our pedal-trucks every month. :)

The produce this season has been gorgeous and I hope everyone is taking advantage of all the affordable food grown right here in Massachusetts. Chefs are coming up with some really great recipes out there that are  solely made up of Local foods and guess what? We deliver! Some places to check out if you live in the area… Pulse Cafe in Davis, Beacon Hill Bistro downtown, Tremont 647, South End, Diesel Cafe in Davis, Ten Tables (Harvard and JP) and of course there’s always your local Farmer’s market!!! They even have a helpful email reminder if you are one that enjoys reminders. Best of luck staying dry and if you choose to stay in; cook, draw, listen to good music, read a book and call us up for delivery of these items to your door!!!

Recycle Cycle!!!

So if any of you are reading about this, please make sure to not be lazy and throw your junk in the recycling. Drink your drinks, stop throwing garbage down any hole you can find and consume responsibly. Its pretty easy to save a lot of money by buying a refillable and reusable container for your coffees, teas, waters, sodas, etc. If you don’t appreciate how much a business is wasting, its easy, don’t support them. We are not garbage workers and I don’t think anyone truly enjoys picking up other people’s waste, including them. Ok, with that said, ride safe and stay cool out there. Summer is not over yet. If you’re looking for some inspiration, here’s an article about some good things happening lately.

Here's Erik and me installing and bleeding the disc brake system for the coffee trike.

It still took us all night to wrap up the project to be able to present it at the first annual Food truck Festival in Boston. I think we were all pleased with the outcome and Erik was able to ride it out of the shop downtown to the event and also get it back, so my assembly of the drivetrain proved successful.

Here's Erik doing some preliminary tests on the coffee brewer.

Working in the shop until about 5 in the morning, we had to call it a night and get a quick snooze before the ride to the first ever  truck festival at 9AM. Overall, I have to say it was a success and we had coffee to share at the event. Now, we will be finishing up with the trike and starting work on another identical one. We still have some bugs to work out and some final design and fabrication, but its really starting to look like one hell of a coffee trike.

Erik has been really busy in the back of the shop working on some larger projects involving building two pedal powered tricycles for coffee making and distribution at the farmer’s markets. I hope Equal Exchange has some powerful legs amongst their crew. Also, we are teaming up with the city of Cambridge to collect recycling at certain drop points so Erik is building a a new cargo option to replace one of our covered cargo beds we have now.

Soon I will be posting some more photos of our bicycles out on the job. I have been forgetting the camera because first and foremost all I can think about is fresh baked goods, veggies and the smell of tea. That Red Fire Farm lemon basil has a pretty good scent too.

The Metroped office is in the bottom floor of our building, which,  is nice in the summer because we stay cooler, but unfortunately, large amounts of rain over a short period equals disaster. We were semi prepared with preventative measures taken from previous experiences ie. machinery off the floor, pumps on hand etc, but we still suffered extensive damage. A week later, we are still in the process of cleaning floors, demo-ing walls and repairing damage. It’s terrifically exhausting work in the midst of our busiest season.

To turn this story around, I will enlighten you with an experience I had shortly after leaving the office in the middle of the downpour. Seeing that there was no break in sight and I was tired from my 30 miles of riding around the city that day, I chose to take in the long needed rain and pedal home. I pedalled out into the streets and I realised we had a lot of rain coming down. I turned into Union Square and there was already 16 inches of standing water with every street looking more like a river. The storm drains couldn’t keep up and what were once streets, now became waterways. I knew instantly that this was dangerous with the water backing up by the second, so I chose to ride towards higher ground. Against the current, I took a new course towards Highland Ave. on Spring Hill. I was drenched, but thoroughly enjoying the moment.

As I reached the top of the hill and turned towards Ball Square I came across another commuting cyclist enjoying the ride. She was prepared for the rain with a nice pair of open sandals unlike me in my soggy sneakers. We acknowledged each other with a smile and continued to ride, taking it all in. The rain kept pounding down and we took our time talking to each other about our day, our direction and how nice it was to be out on a bicycle. No one else could have shared this moment, no one sitting in a car anyways. We weaved with the streaming water, humming to recent radio hits and took in the cold, wet air. For the next five  minutes we rode as if we had been friends for years until we approached Powderhouse Square and I made my turn.

For those of you interested in the bicycle and what it can do, take the plunge. You will enjoy every minute of it.