MassBike Cape Cod Chapter

MassBike Cape and Islands (C&I) June update

MassBike Cape and Islands (C&I) has enjoyed an active and productive bike month here on beautiful Cape Cod. On May 1st, the chapter sponsored the first annual Cape Cod Bicycle Forum at the Hyannis Transportation Center in Barnstable. A near capacity audience of local town engineers, advocates, police, legislators and bicycle users packed the conference room to listen to a stellar line-up of presenters. Craig Della Pena led the forum with his usual eloquent presentation on the state of rail trails in Massachusetts and how we can do more to increase the number on Cape Cod. Next, Nick Jackson of the Toole Design Group presented on the state of bicycle facility design including signage. After lunch, MassBike Executive Director David Watson briefed the audience on the highlights of the state’s new bicycle bill passed in January. Finally, we were swepted up by Nicole Freedman, City of Boston’s Bicycle Coordinator, with her presentation on making communities bicycle friendly. The audience raved about the quality of the presenters and their presentations and left wee-informed and motivated to enact some of the ideas that we discussed in open forum. We give our thanks to Craig, Nick, David and Nicole for their willingness to attend/present and to Pan D’Avignon and Café e Dolce of Hyannis for providing breakfast.

On May 19th, we celebrated Cape Cod Bike to Work Day. Four locations along the Shining Sea Bikeway and downtown Falmouth collected data and served breakfast compliments of Pie in The Sky Bakery in Woods Hole, Coffee Obsession, Cape Cod Bagel and Starbucks of Falmouth. Data was collected from close to 100 bicycle users/drivers. We extend a very sincere thank you to MassBike C&I members Ted Rowan, Vickie Lowell, Christine Wieseger, Kevin Lynch and Ed Gross for volunteering on short notice.

Planning is ongoing for the upcoming MassBike Spins series Tour of Cape Cod Towns and Villages. We hope to have a Falmouth tour organized and posted by late June. In other news, the MassBike Board of Directors will be meeting in Falmouth at the Falmouth Public Library on June 6th. Chapter board member and vice-president, Dr. Ed Gross, will host the meeting then lead a ride of the soon to be acclaimed Shining Sea Bikeway Extension. MassBike C&I will be assisting the Mashpee Kiawanas with a bicycle Rodeo and safety event on Sunday, May 31st at the Cape Cod Children’s Museum on Great Neck Road in Mashpee. The Kiawanas will be our newest member of MassBike and all rodeo participants and their parents will be invited to join MassBike.

Cycle The Common!

Finally, On Saturday, June 27th, MassBike Cape and Islands, in conjunction with the Cape Cod Commission and the Mashpee Commons will host Cycle the Commons; A Car-Free Bicycle event to celebrate Cape Cod Smart Transportation Week. There will be a parking area designated Bicycles-Only and valet parking for bicycle drivers. For directions to the Mashpee Commons car free day event, click here, or call 508-776-9290 for any questions or fine tuning of the directions.

Press Release Below

MassBike and Mashpee Commons present “Cycle the Commons” Cape Cod Smart Transportation Event June 27th 9 AM – 3 PM MassBike Cape and Islands chapter in conjunction with the Mashpee Commons is sponsoring “Cycle the Commons”, a car-free event, from 9 AM until 3 PM on Saturday, June 27, 2009.

The event, one of many celebrating Cape Cod Commission’s annual “Cape Cod Smart Transportation Week”, June 21 through June 27 is designed to promote the use of alternative transportation. Several bicycle routes from locations East, West, North and South of Mashpee Commons will be made available on the www.MassBike.org website, www.gocapecod.org and Mashpee Commons.

Bicycle users coming from East Falmouth or Marstons Mills have the option of taking their bikes on an RTA bus and then ride from locations nearer Mashpee Commons. The Regional Transit Authority has bicycle racks on busses and stop at Mashpee Commons from locations East and West. A Valet Parking service is available to all bicycle drivers in a car-free parking lot located in the Commons.

The bicycles will be secured there while their drivers spend time shopping or dining at one of the numerous shops and restaurants in Mashpee Commons. A validated bicycle parking receipt, when presented at participating shops and restaurants, will yield a discount of up to 20% to the holder. Bicycle drivers can also choose to ride from Mashpee Commons to the Cape Cod Childrens’ Museum on the Great Neck South bikeway or further South

The Cape Cod Chapter in 2009

It is so exciting to see the number of responses to the Google MassBike Cape and Islands postings. It is a very positive sign that the interest in the bicycle culture on Cape Cod is flourishing.

In 2009, The Cape and Islands chapter wishes to sponsor a Cape-wide Bicycle Forum this spring. We have several guest speakers in mind. The Cape and Islands chapter is also planning to publish a schedule of MassBike Spins rides and, hopefully the weather will be more cooperative! Our third goal for 2009 is to start planning for the MassBike Festival in the fall.

If it is feasible and we are truly confident that we can produce a successful event, the festival could become an annual event on Cape Cod. We were able to apply for and be granted a free, full page public service announcement that will appear in the Cape Cod Times in April, 2009.

This is a great opportunity to publicly launch the chapter and list our mission and goals for the upcoming year. Here on the Cape, we are still celebrating the passage of the Bicycle Safety Bill that was signed into law in January. The hard work of implementing the many provisions is still ahead of us and you can be confident your officers and members will be focused on this task. Thank you to all who have joined MassBike and thanks for your patience while the chapter evolves. Sincerely, Rob Miceli

For more information on MassBike's Cape Cod and Islands chapter, please contact chapter President Rob Miceli at 508-776-9290.

Click here for the MassBike-Cape Cod and Islands chapter mission statement.

One of Cape Cod's many lighthouses