Cyclin' For Life

12th Annual Cycle for Life to benefit the Tufts Medical Center Floating Children's Cancer Center

by Rob Zuraski, Director of Engineering and NPD

Woke up at 4am Sat. morning to heavy downpours on the South Shore of Boston , along with news on the web site that the 50 mile ride was cancelled and everyone would do the 25 mile for safety reasons. I was drenched to the bone just loading up the bike and getting in my truck. Luckily by the time I was driving through Boston to the North Shore where the ride was scheduled, the rain let up and held off for the whole event. It was great to see past Kryptonite crew members and all the other riders and volunteers inspired to raise funds for this event. Thanks also to all the volunteers and police that helped man the route and the donors that supported us.

The ride started out at Devereaux Beach in Marblehead and wound up a beautiful coastal route to Singing Beach and back. Even more inspiring than the scenic route were the people I met along the way...
One woman I met had a daughter who lost her battle with cancer several years ago. This woman was back riding to support the hospital. Another guy I met passing each other a few times along the way told me at the end of the ride that he was a cancer survivor and had a huge section removed from his abdomen. Can't forget to mention he was riding a mountain bike and I was on my road bike! Even had a couple of kids along the way collecting for another cause in front of a store cheering me on and informed me that I was in 10th place (even thought it wasn't really a race!)...

Most of the riders and volunteers that I met seemed to be directly affected by the work done by the Floating hospital (hospital workers, cancer survivors, friends and families of children touched by the wonderful program) and have inspired me to make this an annual event..
Our team: Fast Foodies raised $7,911. So far, the web site says $127,579 total was raised for the event, but they mentioned $150k tally at the end of the event - its still not to late to donate!
www.cycleforlife.com
www.floatinghospital.org
http://www.tuftsmedicalcenter.org/

Special thanks to Peter and Ellen Zane, founding family members of Kryptonite who helped organize our team and the event.

Our Fast Foodies team consisted of previous/existing Kryptonite crew:
Peter Zane
Roby Holland
Rob Zuraski
Neil McDaid
Rosalie Garver
Eric Lightbody
Nadine Fallon
and a few other friends Peter recruited...

Massachusetts Comprehensive Statewide Bicycle Facilities Map

It has taken Massbike and other cycling advocates years to get to the point that they are at now. This is a big step in the right direction for better bicycling in Massachusetts and I am very proud of the hard work put in by Massbike and it's board of directors. I just received this email from the Commonwealth and it made my Monday a little brighter!

Text from the email:

"In recognition of Bike Week, the Massachusetts Bicycle Plan Update Project Team has completed development of an inventory and map of known existing and proposed bicycle facilities in the state.

The map identifies off-road shared use paths as well as on-road bicycle lanes and bicycle routes.

Off-road facilities include paved paths as well as unpaved paths. Unpaved paths are categorized as either existing (improved with a stabilized surface), or unimproved (with a surface currently useable only by mountain bikes or hikers).

On-road facilities include striped bicycle lanes as well as local and long distance bicycle routes. Most of the local routes shown on the map have been designated by the municipality in which they are located. Some represent short links that connect trail sections. Long distance routes include the Claire Saltonstall Bikeway from Boston to Provincetown and Falmouth, Adventure Cycling’s Atlantic Coast Route, and the East Coast Greenway.

Map Features
The facilities map was created in GIS and formatted for download in PDF format. The map is formatted with selectable layers, which enables you to turn the layers on and off. For example, you can display only existing facilities, or only off-road facilities. When you print the map, it shows only the layers that you have selected. Note that the map is formatted at 50" x 36", so it is best viewed by using the zoom feature in Acrobat. To view and select layers, click on the layer tab or icon on the left side of the screen.

You can download the map from our project website [...] directly under "What’s New" at MassBikePlan.

Note that the map size is 11MB and will take a few minutes to download.

In about a week, we plan to provide the first draft map of the proposed routes and links that comprise a planned network. The bicycle network will eventually connect and serve major population centers, transit stations, activity centers, and tourist locations."

Cheers!
-Nadine