Yes, the heat wave. It has been extremely hot the past few days throughout the Northeast. Unfortunately, I don’t see these events happening less over the course of my lifetime. I am in kind of a funk right now with the state of the world and the ignorance I see day to day throughout the city streets. The conversations I hear, the “business as usual” attitude, and just people waiting for someone else to come up with a fix. The Somerville Scout recently highlighted some great things happening in the community so I don’t want to be too much of a negative nancy or a debbie downer. But we’re all seeing more and more effects of our climate changing before our eyes and I have a feeling we are mostly responsible. So what do we do about it? Here are some of my recent ideas. Crank up the taxes on gas. Use that money to invest in renewable and clean energies. I know it will have a huge effect throughout the country because we are too reliant on it to begin with. But… overall it will help us lessen our reliance on oil. We will save by investing locally in foods and goods produced bringing the money back to our communities. We will seek other forms of transportation including walking, cycling and public transit to get places. The money made from this new gas tax could be used to jump onto cleaner and more reliable transportation networks. If you really want to drive and don’t really need to, you will be paying extra for it. If we were to charge say an extra quarter a gallon, we would indefinitely be able to show a huge economic turn for our local economies, get more people focused on their communities and slow down the pace of the world. If we demanded so many things locally, we would eliminate our signature “made in china”  and without our dependence on their factories, we might be able to stop them from demanding another new dirty coal power plant every week. If we don’t jump on this the world is gonna go down quick and turning on that AC isn’t going to help. Alright, happy riding and plant a tree. Lets give those people some jobs already and pay for them with gas taxes. Plants are the number one carbon catcher, so cutting down the forests and building parking lots isn’t helping.

Today I had a lot on my mind or nothing on my mind, however one looks at it. I focused on listening to my surroundings while doing my morning deliveries and I kept thinking about my adventures in the woods. On the main roads when traffic picked up, there was a constant idling and rushing of cars back and forth that reminded me of walking through the forest and getting close to a river. Except, I was rudely awakened when I just pulled up to another intersection confronted with just more cars. When riding downtown from Equal Exchange back towards Cambridge, I watched hundreds of cars cross from Charlestown into Boston over the Zakim bridge and then dip beneath into the tunnels on highway 93. This sound reminded me of the constant crashing of waves on a beach and wind in the pines. The ANT was fast this morning. I kept up with traffic and showed the cars I was comfortable and still carrying a full load. It takes some skill to get freshly baked cupcakes with icing from Porter Square to North Station without a dent. It took me about twenty two minutes. Not bad. I got back, adjusted the brakes, lubed the drivetrain and made some coffee. Next stop, Fiore Di Nonno cheese pickup for the Friday Copley Square Farmer’s Market.

When I walked into work I was welcomed by two extremely excited chiwahwahs. I know I misspelled that entirely but at least I can pronounce it. Well, in case you’re wondering, very small dogs get a little scared/weary/defensive when it comes to humans exceeding the 6 foot tall range. Mearns was on the top of their list for things to bark at. They were definitely a change up to the normal office routine speeding everything up throughout the day. They weren’t particularly used to fully loaded bicycles either. Here’s a picture of them looking their finest. They did not accompany us on our routes, but they sure enjoyed the freedom from home.

Today was an early start. I awoke to the birds chirping nonstop and to empty streets. By empty streets I mean all the cars were just clogging the sides of the roadways, they weren’t idling at red lights or speeding to the next intersection at 50 miles per hour. I thoroughly enjoy the early morning work schedule because the pace of life is just slower. I get to enjoy my time exploring the city neighborhoods and I get to have great conversations with bakers, baristas, cyclists, and whoever else is a morning person. This morning reminded me of a Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson which depicted a dog barking non-stop and someone trying to figure out what the dog would be saying if it were able to speak. The bubble from the dog was of course just: hey! hey! hey! hey! hey! Thats what the birds do every morning because this is the only time they have the space for themselves. I prefer these times when I don’t have to compete with the roar and exhaust of vehicles. How about you?

Well, If  you have been anticipating blog posts and you haven’t been regularly seeing them, you may have guessed it… We are now BUSY!!! Working with all of our farms providing home delivery of CSA shares, we’re also delivering daily doses of fresh baked pastries, tea, chocolate and groceries. Just to name a few. I’ve been at it since 4:45 AM and I’m already 7 1/2 hours in. Looks like a ride to to the beach this afternoon! Supposed to be a hot one. That’s the glorious side of riding a bicycle in the wee hours of the morning. Getting done with my daily exercise before the sun comes out in full force. So, my suggestions for  you this week are to check out your local farmer’s markets throughout Boston, eat that Taza chocolate before the sun gets to it and when your tasks get a little too crunched, give us a call to make some deliveries for you! Finally, enjoy your weekend!!!

Hello fair city of Boston! I am taking my break since I’ve been up since 4:30 AM and writing you this update on my day with Metro Ped. This morning I was pleased to find cooler temperatures, desolate streets and some dense fog to keep me cool while on my ride into work. Thankfully,  I’ve ridden the route plenty of times so I didn’t get lost. When I arrived at the shop I was startled to find one of our cargo tricycles with a crippled rear wheel. I had a schedule to attend to, like all working cyclists do, so  I started my day with some pastry deliveries in Cambridge, Somerville and Boston. Just to get this straight, I consider a working cyclist one who uses a bicycle for work, not one who does handless track stands.  When I returned, I started the coffee like all working cyclists do and I got busy on the rebuild.

Abstract close up

The Damage

The Guts

For those of you interested in what happened to the trike in the first place, the bicycle lane ran out/merged with the car lane and the tour bus approaching didn’t want to give up some space or stop, so pinched the carriage and wheels of the trike between the curb and voila! (No one was hurt, but the bus that drove off was kind enough to leave our driver with its information in form of the rear panel and its identification numbers. Full story yet to evolve. Unlike most bicycles, ours have a much more complicated measure in replacing the wheel. Since our trikes carry loads of up to 500 lbs, we have heavy duty axles, disc brakes and like vehicles, rear differentials. In order to get the wheel off, I have an hour of work of just disassembling parts and such. Note the photos and you’ll get a better idea (coming soon). I have a mechanical background thanks to my father and his fix it yourself motto in life so this stuff excites me and is kind of like yoga? Well, thats it for now because my break is over and I’m back to work. Oh, and to the two of you who honked at me and flipped me off. I’m going to keep smiling and waving because if you didn’t notice on the road right in front of your car, that’s a symbol for a bicycle and it kind of looks like this. So keep honking for your support of all types of cyclists!!!

Today, I got out on the good ol’ trike for an early Saturday morning bakery delivery, switched to the ANT and headed out to Jamaica Plain to deliver some groceries and books. My route took me on a pleasant tour of Boston and so much more. What did I do when I finished my 13.6 mile route? I switched bicycles once again and took off on another tour around north metro Boston. I guess thats what you do when you love to ride. So now with tired legs I sip my evening coffee and I write about some of the happenings of my day while out on the job. I just decided to map out my entire ride and I found out I rode 44.6 miles. Take that, gas! So now that I’ve found out how many miles I just rode today, I think about the amount of cars on the roads and how we as Americans have come to rely entirely on them for our everyday routines. So, If you are a consistent driver for those everyday tasks, I urge you to look here and when those gas prices start to skyrocket, go collect your oil here. It seems like there is plenty to go around. I apologize, but I am just frustrated with the current environmental disaster, the root of all of its evil and the lack of attention it is getting from us. I know I rely on oil in some shape and form and the energy it supplies, but I am proud to say when I find a better alternative, I take it. I am going to finish my ramblings with some great things I saw today: road sign names that reminded me of enjoyable moments from my past; The Arboretum; Middlesex Fells Reservation; fresh baked creations from good people; and finally, the coffee to bring it all together and one that reminds me there are great things happening out there in the world.  Now go ride a bicycle!

Sometimes I do.

Sometimes I hold my breath when a particularly exhausty van or truck rumbles past me … I have this instinct to avoid inhaling the fumes.

However, this can be problematic on a bike, cuz you sometimes need every breath, so missing a few breaths can really put you behind.

I noticed this today when I found myself inadvertently keeping pace with both a delivery truck and a big ass tour bus, along with the rest of the motor vehicle traffic all heading down Mass Ave from Cambridge to Boston. …Man, waiting at red lights, staring down the tailpipe of a bus….. do you wonder why cyclists don’t like to stop at red lights? I kept wishing that I practiced more pranayama.  But the thing is I couldn’t [Read the rest of this entry...]

Today MetroPed teamed up with the Charles River Transportation Management Association and Petsi Pies to bring bicycle commuters a free breakfast along the Minuteman Bike Path at the Alewife T station. With scones, coffee, and bicycle schwag in hand, we thanked our fellow commuters for choosing the bicycle as their mode of transportation.

I got to see all types of cyclists including the everyday commuter, [Read the rest of this entry...]

Title brought to you by our very own, Daniel. OK, so we are starting to pick up a lot which of course leads into delivering a lot more. This not only fills four to five full routes a day on our red cargo trikes, but sends us out on even more tasks by ANT. Thanks to Mike Flanagan of A.N.T. and our shop lead engineer, mechanic, fabricator, head honcho Erik Petterson, we now have two more ANT’s in our fleet fully decked out to get any task done.

Our newly assembled carrier.

[Read the rest of this entry...]