Elizabeth Beesley on riding in DC

Beltsville. U.S. Rte1, built not for people. There are many people in Beltsville, though.

Ode To Aaron Benko

What wisp, thine blonde stache graces the grit of wit hardened rocky top mountain oak
of such able root.

Swelling hearts who impress before the capacity of such a southern chestnut.

Lofted high up, so high one laughs to look! Too, Benko does a Benko laugh then with you!

The Benko jolly, gut quaking chuggle, alerts nervous game what's becoming
of the shaking mountain chestnut oak -their rich and rare fruit, now enchantingly littered about..

Eating of Benko chuggles, birds think less of winter's bite, and squirrels think as the deer are thinking, that they might too be birds!

When you find a queer huddle in the wilderness, of birds moving together with the deer and the squirrel, all of them forgetting their roles and all of them flying like slow birds, as fat happy chicks with a vulture gait, moving west through cold mountains but spellcast in amusement, they may have been eating of Benko chuggles.

Thank you, Aaron, for your giving presence!
Thank you for nourishing Mt Rainier Bike CoOp for 4 years!
Enjoy that air of the Rockies!

Third Thursday Volunteer Night last night was another blasting success! We cleaned the spaces, refitted the sign, organized the parts, ate the pizza. It's looking good! Thank you Scott, Joseph, Dave, Josh, Elizabeth and Mike!

Third Thursday Volunteer nights are the time for getting together and doing whatever has to be done inside the space. It's a good time to show interested volunteers who we are and how to volunteer here. Volunteer here!

State Highway Administration, Laurel Maintenance Facility Program Manager, Charlie Griffin at 301-513-7304. He's the one to call about potholes, shoulder painting, shrub and tree trimming along Rte1 or any other numbered road in our SHA district 3.

There's some work to do on U.S. Route 1.

Open shop Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8:30 last night. We met hard working new dad, Edwin. We got pretty far on his Bmx, getting him rolling and able to brake. He left happy. We also met proficient tooler, Colin, from Takoma Park. His rear dérailleur is a tad out of line, and we couldn't move it much. It left him telling us about a hanger adjusting tool that he'd been acquainted with in New Orleans. We're very happy to see Edwin and Colin again, and any of you readers who are interested in volunteering, Thursday October 20th at 7pm. Every third Thursday, we gather any interested to volunteer at the coop and acquaint them with the operation, then we work on cleaning the space and fixing donated bikes.

We didn't see a moon, but it didn't rain on us as we rode to the river and ran with the deer before sitting down to our nighttime picnic. FullMoon!PicnicCruise! without the moon.

Theresa, Sophie, Elizabeth, with (Eye)ST and 5th NW's bike shop & social space BicycleSPACE headpedaler and route leader, Phil Koopman. 

Here, we are outside MD Parks new MD Park Bicycles, Crown/MD Park St at Central Ave..near Capitol Hieghts. A space having long-stayed in the operations of the family of local owner, John Epps. Epps is an influential cycling advocate for the immediate area. 

Natasha Pettigrew Memorial 2011 -Largo, MD
We are somebody, and this is the place to be.
 
Or spaces are going to be sane, if we stick to it. A way to get the sane place: We'll use our strengths to help the more vulnerable get to where they want to be. Build space for the presence of vulnerability. Solidarity. Bikes are vulnerable ones in the space of mobility. Peds are more vulnerable. Imagine traveling to your grocery store in a wheelchair. 

Look after your neighbors. See where they want to go.

Natasha Pettigrew Memorial 2011
Largo, MD.

America's oldest interstate, U.S. Route One. We can do better than this! State Highway Administration, this road is highly populated with people and their destinations. It needs to accommodate all travelers, not just motorists! Build space for children to walk to school, people in wheelchairs to get to the bus, neighbors to walk to their 7-11, and commuters to ride bikes on our practical choice road. Our avenues need to lend priority to the most vulnerable, not the other way around. Then maybe there will be less than 35,000 motor-vehicle-related deaths per year in this country.

We're all pedestrians. Many of us are motorists as well as cyclists. A reminder arrived today from the discussion between two cycling, motoring pedestrians and another motoring pedestrian: It works best when, at every stage of mobility or status, we all keep our eyes out for the most vulnerable. Vulnerability is appreciated, in this intimate/engaged and lively world we're working to create. We can just continue to pass each other, and race to the next red light..or we can ask the next one if we can help them get to their point B. They might say, "Build me a bike lane on Re1!"

Apex (apexbus.com) will charge you just five extra dollars to stow your bike on an inexpensive bus ride to NY, Philly, even ATL. They need to put that info on their website, though.

FullMoonBikeyPicnic

Hey, Riders! Let's do it again. 

Meet at the M.R. Bike Coop at 7pm on the next full moon. Bring some dinner with the bikes. We'll ride somewhere into the dark and hopefully catch a glimpse of the moon! We'll depart by 8pm, and we'll be back by 11pm.

Tuesday September 13
7pm
3601 Bunkerhill Road

Brian Willson writes and rides for metamorphis

Video of soldier turned anti-empire activist, Brian Willson, telling his story and riding to do it.

The mount rainier bike coop will be the cooling station tonight. Wear swimming gear, stand in our sprinkler while listening to the records play, eat the grilled goods, listen to the band strike the notes, you can dance if you want to, in the sprinkler, fall in love, we'll chill to a movie screening of Triplets of Bellville by like 10, then the person you've kept an eye on is going to want to make out with you.
Tonight starting at 6. 3601 Bunkerhill RD, Mt Rainier MD.

Wimmin and girls night!

Ladies, wimmin, girls -come out, fix up your bike and help others and have fun! This Thursday, July 14th from 7-9.

Great article in the Washington post today. Black Women Bike DC, we're going to be friends!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/black-women-take-their-place-in-dcs-bike-lanes/2011/07/08/gIQA9cPm7H_story.html

"It's good for the laws to change according to the movements of people" -a thought inspired by the bike exceptions to one-ways popping up throughout dc.

New coop member, Baton Rouge Brian of DC's Urban Forestry Administration. Welcome!! It was good adjusting brakes with you today. I hope you find some fun on your route through the city. See you again, soon!

Summer Party

We Coop volunteers generally have three things on our collective mind: bikes, community, and fun. Help us cash in big on all three July 22nd!


Rustle up your favorite barbecue/potluck comestibles and pedal down for an all-ages evening of grilling and chilling at 3601 Bunker Hill. Throw some brats on the carnivore barby or a couple portabello caps at the veggie station (or a few beanbags in the games area out front). Enjoy the eclectic spinnery of DJ Mike Turner, and live music from local accordion/brass ensemble milkmachine. Oh, you want to hear a little about our work at the Coop? We'll have an information table set up and staffed.


Come one, come all! Bring your family, your mechanic, your pet ferret, your local representative!


Find us here:
http://maps.google.com/map​s?q=Mount+Rainier+Bike+Co-​op%2C+3601+Bunker+Hill+Roa​d%2C+Mount+Rainier%2C+MD+2​0712&hl=en&ll=38.939434%2C​-76.957705&spn=0.010081%2C​0.016544&sll=38.941119%2C-​76.957684&sspn=0.080644%2C​0.132351&z=16

We hang this red "open", when we're open. Like now!

Digging the pavement improvement behind the bike coop. Now, riders, you can roll from the St James parking lot, to the rear of the space without having to hop a curb!

Young rider, father and coop volunteer Gregoire, and rider friend 6/18

DC Kidical Mass visits the coop. Riders came from Shaw, through Brookland and tougher the divide of South Dakota and Eastern Avenue. Riders and their babies in a cross generational bike gathering that ends at a pool. Great ride! Great gathering! Healthy happenings!

FullMoonBikesNpicnick assemble 7pm at MtRainierBike Coop -3601 Bunkerhill RD- tomorrow, wednsday night. The light of the day will carry well past eight, and the faint dark of a solstice full moon will be admirable. Bring your bikes in any condition, and your dinner. We'll ride to a picnic spot, eat, and be back by 11.

We've got lights and fenders and helmets!

Forage Ride, Saturday May 7th

 

Gather at 3601 Bunkerhill RD, Mt Rainier Bike CoOp this Saturday the 7th at 3:30pm.

 We'll ride north along the eastern branch anacostia trib trial to Greenbelt Park. Bring your foraging guides along and together we'll share in the age-old art of learning what there is to eat (and what not to eat) right around us in the abundant spring....foraging!

We'll bring our bounty back south to Rhode Island Red's roadside picnic table at about 6:30 and enjoy our partially foraged dinner with a little vinegar and oil....and probably some not-foraged goodies..

FullMoonRide SundayApril17th

Join us at the bike coop at 7pm with your bike this Sunday the 17th. Bike not up to speed? Definitely bring it! We'll get it better before we leave.

This Sunday there appears to be a window of clear sky and, under the full moon, we like to ride together in the park after dark. It could be as cold as 45 degrees! So act like its February and you'll probably be alright. Bring food and drink, so we can enjoy a full on night time picnic. Not that we'll necessarily need it, but bring your U-locks too, so we can put on a game of horseshoes...a game of (bike-lock) horseshooooees!

  

 

Report back! 

We gathered at 7 at the bike coop. Dave, Scott, Mario, Amy, Sonya, Matt, Mike, Elizabeth and the moon! We left a little after 8, making our way down 38th towards the Cottage Terrace entrance of the trail. There, especially when passing teh drainage pond amphian chorus near the railroad and cottage terrace, one feels how close rural avenues can actually be in our urban arena.

We made our way to Lewisdale on the Northwest Branch Trail and had our little dinner picnic of pasta, bread and cheese, popcorn and pear. Then we hammered straight handle bars on loan from the coop into the mud and tossed our u-locks for a game of bikelock horshoes. Dave Cahill tossed the only ringer, and we produced a silly title for him before packing it up and riding south to our familiar hills. The moon cast a pale yellow light that the clouds could play with.

Mario got praised from an enthused motorist as we crossed Queens Chapel, and we were all home at about 10:30pm.

We meet at the bike coop at 7 on teh night of the full moon every month. Join us!

Criminal Law-Vehicular Manslaughter HB363

Greetings,
First, while I did not have the opportunity to ride with you all I was able to stop at John's Grand Opening - you guys have done a smashing job and I am proud to know you. Further, thanks for the birthday wishes and cake.

I am writing because as you know, we will have our hearing for the Vehicular Manslaughter Bill on Wednesday, April 6, 2011. I know that many are the commitments of life and I would like to offer the following:

For those who cannot get there on Wednesday, if you send me your testimony of support for the bill (Criminal Law-Vehicular Manslaughter HB363) with the name of your group or your name and contact information, I am offering to print the required 20 copies and submit them on your behalf.

We have encountered resistance to passage of this bill by at least one or perhaps two Senators (Ramirez of PG County and Senator Frosh of Montgomery County). 

Wouldn't it be so cool if i was able to take five or ten sets of testimony with me? 

Maybe that will help the Senate side to see the light - how can we want an improved quality of life but our elected officials who determine our financial fate also determine whether we can safely ride, walk or use the same resources as cars, trucks, suvs and mini-vans?

I need your testimony by 7:00 PM Tuesday evening so that I can print and staple copies. If you need to call me - 240-271-2915.

Kenniss Henry

Marvin Gaye Day Ride, Saturday April 2nd

Hey riders! Saturday, April 2nd.. Gather at the coop 11am, departing at noon -riding to remember and honor Marvin Gaye.

We'll tour through DC and MD, visiting neighborhoods and institutions that played major parts in Marvin's young DC life such as Freedman's Hospital, Cardozo High School, and Benning Terrace.

We'll visit a bike shop opening at 101 Maryland Park Drive, a short distance from Marvin's old address of 12 60th ST NE. Maryland Park Bicycles is enthused to receive us, providing pizza and a little party for their arrival, Marvin's birthday, and the birthday of friend and neighbor Kennis Henry, who's been busy trying to make you aware that MD Senate will soon consider passing motorist accountability measure: HB 363.

This ride must be magical with the music of Marvin Gaye, so we will be accompanied by a boombox rider to provide the sounds of our absolute gem of local crooners. Ever had motown stuck in your head while cruising FL Ave?

This approximately 26 mile ride will feature a few major hills, in beautiful parts and harder to reach parts of the city on a so-far pretty nice spring day! There are several stops through out to tell a bit of Marvin's story and the Gay family story. The ride will end at approximately 7:30 pm, back at the Mount Rainier Bike CoOp.

** This weather update is brought to you by mrBikeCoOp... Saturday 4/2: high of 57 with a passing shower between noon and 4.

If it's raining at noon, the ride will alter becoming a straight shot to MD Park Bicycles' opening day at 101 MD Park Drive.

All updates will be mentioned here**

                            Hello DC!

Look at those defined lines of water ways melting into a darkened triangle of warm and busy geography. It says to me, "Get up! Get up! Get up1 Get up!, Let's make love, tonight!" It's Marvin Gaye's Birthday and I want to caress its curves on a bike. Let's make love to the city on Gaye Day!

It rained at noon thirty as we three departed the bike coop for the rain-deflecting awning of near by Kaywood Theater on Arundel Road. It rained hard on us and it was decided to ditch the boombox. Though well tethered to handle bars, it is an instrument of rocking parties, and this ride of three would be a more intimate affair.

After leaving the boombox at a near by home, we took towards WHUR on Bryant St at 5th NW. This is the building where Marvin Pentz Gay jr was born on April 2 1939. The building hosted Freedman's Hospital then.

Then we darted west to Cardozo High School at 13th and FL Ave. We considered our time and saw we 3 were traveling smartly through the land. We were mostly dry from the earlier rain and enjoying the sun and all the flower's greetings. We knew we could pace it easy to hit all the advertised stops. We aimed our ease towards Eastern Market, where colleagues of the bike coop were presenting operations like another fresh flower.

We hovered east on Q, south on 1st and swung around Union Station contrasting it's brilliant white stone against the clarity of the blue sky you see before and after summer, but smudges towards whites and greys in warmer summer months. A great day to explore the space, besides the two rushes of summer-style storms. But this next one hit while we were in Eastern Market, going for the crab soup and rolls. Mmmm, spiced nice.

We swung through Lincoln Park too meet any riders who'd decide to join us there. Nobody thought such, so we darted east on East Capitol Street, following the trail eastwardly on the west-bound side of the road. After bridging over teh Anacostia river, one can link to the grid north to Benning and cross there. Or one can be direct and continue on East Cap. That way, the sidewalk descends under the bridging over of 295/Kenilworth. Then the concrete wall separating you from the fast traffic of East Cap closes in on you! Among the deserted dust and debris of seldom visited grimey roadside, there is the trekker who attempts to cross 295, the railroad tracks and the Anacostia river. This is the infrastructural no wonder that helps to keep neighborhoods apart from knowing eachother, affecting eachother, from becoming together. We hop our bikes over when head-on traffic is nil. We cross the exit ramp, step up the curb on the other side and get on our bikes to cruise the next tight highway-hugging sidewalk, passing a cop doing the work of tracking motorists speed. He nods hello to us. We live to tell the story of riding the tight sidewalk of East Capitol tunnel. Emerge to a cloverleaf of an exit ramp and step through it's dark boggy mud and awakening bright grass. Hello Anacostia-side!

We head for Benning Terrace -south on Benning right on F. At F and 46th, we are alone again.

Here at the place of Marvin's childhood upbringing, we look through many fences and see peaks of proud hills.

Well on our way to the end spot, the grand opening of Maryland Park Bicycles, who'd ordered pizzas to share for many visitors. We drift east on F and into Marshall Heights. We see a few families and small groups of men hanging near their cars, saying "Hi" to riders visiting their streets. Marvin Gaye Day, a good day for social intimacy. Hello! Hello! Hello! What's going on? Lot's of fences..

We stop by Blaine and 60th, where Marvin lived as a teenager, and very close to Maryland Park Bicycles at 101 Maryland Park Drive. The fences have grown much over since I last visited in January of 2006. We can't even get next to where his house once stood, before whatever blind force allowed it to be razed.

                                           No intimacy here today.

We head north towards Clay and right on the eastern tip of of the Watts Branch trail, experiencing the super practical location of this new bike shop, Maryland Park Bicycles at 101 Maryland Park DR. Once a rider exits the eastern tip of Watts Branch, you join a small road that turns into Maryland Park DR and voila! Your're there when you reach the end, right before it meets the woah! of Central Avenue.

Here, we finally meet friends and family!

 Mother of, and shop owner and operator John Epps:

Not only were there two towers of Pizza, but there was a great big delicious cake. Birthday cake, not at all for Marvin Gaye, actually, but for Kenniss Henry! Our courageous neighbor has been working really hard lately to have House Bill 363, the Vehicular Manslaughter Law, pass in Annapolis. The struggle is in climax right now, and we need to make Senator Frosh of Montgomery County allow this law to go to committee.

Scott is ready to roll. Always ready to roll. Barbara and Scott are true navigators of the region. So roll we do with much ease westwardly up the Watt's Branch Trail first greeted by Marvin Gaye Park..

Look at the mosaic curb near this building that hosted the moving doo wop of the young Marvin 60-some years ago...

 

Sweet trail.

 The end of the trail features a great big Marvin mosaic.

                                            What's this?

Someone left Marvin Gaye a cookie! Marvin get's a cookie! "On your Birthday!", it said.

We crossed underneath the railroad tracks and 295 at this rare opportunity underpass, and went south on Kenilworth to Benning RD. After crossing, we meandered through Trinidad and then north on Bladensburg, to our homes in the valleys and hills of the Anacostia headwaters. Great ride. Ours is a beautiful region.

34 riders turn out for another full moon ride

Saturday, March 19th, 32 riders assembled at the coop with their bikes and picnic goods. Many stickers were distributed and acquaintances made as we waited for the dark towards 8, a red hot perigee moon emerging from the horizon past the fire station. We started north on 36th street, then cut over to 38th street to take the trail there. The moon above water is a very rewarding scene to ride in. Magic is had in Brentwood. 2 more riders joined on the trail, making us 34 rider blinky light parade seem like a clicking swarm of giant fireflies. 34! 34 people chose to gather with neighbors and strangers to picnic in the dark and ride under the moon, for free! We passed the amphibian amphitheater, a spot where you can hear several kinds of frogs and toads croaking free near the trail. After passing over the bridge of Bladensburg Waterfront park, we enjoyed a picnic under the moon with the caboose and we were visited by a passing train. We rode back to the coop and ended our short gathering by 10.
See you at the next Full Moon gathering...on bikes! Sunday April 17th, 7pm.

Open Shop report - Mon 21st MArch 2011

Our first springtime shop of the year brought in mild temps and mild-mannered riders.
Laurie brought in a bike for tuning and turned out he knew a Co-Op member who vols on Wimmen's nites and said his house had another 3-4 bikes that are in need- he helped sweep up the shop in our spirit of "you give you get".

Carl, Will and Deana showed up as well as Dave M to work on his rear gears, and we had a regular visitor who scored a Gary Fisher off Craig's list for FREE - lucky bugger!

Shop got cleaned but the Bike room is looking a mess ... again, we need to really decide on how much work is needed before throwing them in the back room.

Also it looks like Timmy left his bike on the rack-hope it stays there !

that's about it.
-DAVE

We got stickers to go 'round!