MassBike joined Holyoke’s Bike and Pedestrian Committee, ValleyBike, and RAD Springfield on Wednesday to celebrate National Bike Month and encourage Holyoke residents to get biking. The event teamed up with Neighbor to Neighbor and Neuva Esperanza’s food distribution to reach Holyoke residents who rely on bicycles for transportation. 

ValleyBike was sharing information about their free Access Passes for qualified community members and offering free test rides of their electric pedal-assist bikes. The ValleyBike Access Pass program is supported by the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts with the goal of providing reliable transportation to those who need it the most. Holyoke is slated to get three new stations thanks to a recent grant from MassDOT’s Shared Streets and Spaces program which will make their bike share system an even more convenient transportation option.

Rad Springfield, the community bike shop at Mike-It Springfield, provided free bike tune-ups to event attendees. Rad Springfield is deeply invested in supporting access to bicycles for underserved community members and has been working with Springfield community groups to outfit refugees with bikes to help them with crucial transportation needs. Their DIY bike shop space will be re-opening to the public soon after being appointment-only during the pandemic. 

MassBike distributed free bike lights with our Connecticut River Valley Chapter as part of our #LightsBridage by Bkin program. The free bike lights will help Holyoke riders be legal and seen when they ride at night. We were excited to support Holyoke's event and are always looking for volunteers to help host more #LightsBrigade events through the state. If you want to host an event in your area, reach out to [email protected] for more info. 

Holyoke was the first community in Western Mass to adopt a Complete Streets ordinance back in 2015 and they continue to work towards a more bicycle and pedestrian-friendly community.

A huge thank you to everyone who participated in our April Bike Challenge. We hope that the challenge encouraged you to get biking and served at a kickstart to the riding season. We had a hardy group of riders who took a trip every single day last month and we loved seeing everyone's updates on the MassBike Love to Ride group.

Another huge thank you to Cleverhood for graciously donating three rover rain capes for our challenge. The winners of the capes are:

• Adam Shutes
• Brian Pearson
• Jane Wang

We hope all of our April challengers join for our May Challenge and chose a day each week to commute by bike. All of these challenges are leading up to Bay State Bike Month in September during which we hope to be able to ride with you in person to celebrate.