Mt Rainier Bike Co-op
MRBC aims to enable and encourage people to own, maintain, and ride bicycles safely. We reclaim, refurbish, and redistribute used bicycles that would otherwise be heading for the landfill. We teach mechanics to youth and adults, and we partner with local DC area organizations to promote an inclusive and responsible bicycling community. MRBC focuses its services locally but the shop and its programs are open to all members on a donation basis.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Where: Meet up at Melrose Park parking lot (red x on the map), corner of Rhode Island Ave and Charles Armontrout Dr.
Misc Info: No need to RSVP just come! In case of inclement weather (meaning lots of rain,snow, etc) the event will be cancelled!
Monday, November 5, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Anacostia Riverside Trail
This 4 mile extension of the Anacostia River Trail from Bladensburg (which has been open over a year) to the city will reportedly cost $15m & not open until Fall 2014!
Ridiculous !
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/housingcomplex/2012/10/15/meet-the-new-anacostia-riverwalk-trail-soon-to-be-gap-free/comment-page-1/#comment-98610
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Mount Rainier Bike Co-op Seeks Volunteers
MBRC will also hold it's first Volunteer-Only Closed shop this Sunday, September 16th from 1-4pm. This shop will occur every 3rd Sunday, is open to anyone willing to work on donated bikes, and is intended specifically for a) preparing donated bikes to go out at suggested donation and b) creating an informal educational environment for bike mechanics. Hope to see you there!
About MRBC
Since 2005, MRBC has aimed to enable and encourage people to own, maintain, and ride bicycles safely. We reclaim, refurbish, and redistribute used bicycles that would otherwise be heading for the landfill, teach mechanics to youth and adults, and partner with local DC area organizations to promote an inclusive and responsible bicycling community. MRBC focuses its services locally, but the shop and its programs are open to all members on a donation basis.
Volunteering at MRBC
MRBC offers volunteers an opportunity to assist a diverse clientele in a relaxed, well-supplied bike shop. The willingness to learn and to teach form the core of volunteerism, and as such MRBC accepts volunteers of all mechanical skill levels, from completely inexperienced to veteran wrench. Volunteers are also granted the right to use our wholesale bike parts catalogue, and the opportunity to work on personal bikes for free.
Regular Open Shops:
WEEKLY
Tues:7:00pm-9:00pm open to ADULTS only
Sundays: 1:00pm-4:00pm
-1st & 2nd Sundays are 18&UNDERS shops
-3rd Sundays are VOL-ONLY BUILD Shops
-4th Sundays are open to ALL
-5th Sundays are CLOSED
MONTHLY
Last SAT of each month - 10:30am- 1pm
To Volunteer
Just show up ready to help at one of our open shops! If possible, email ahead of time and let us know you are coming.
About MRBC
Volunteering at MRBC
Regular Open Shops:
Tues:7:00pm-9:00pm open to ADULTS only
Sundays: 1:00pm-4:00pm
-1st & 2nd Sundays are 18&UNDERS shops
-3rd Sundays are VOL-ONLY BUILD Shops
-4th Sundays are open to ALL
-5th Sundays are CLOSED
Monday, September 10, 2012
Sieze the Carp!... With Your Bike!
A special thanks to Josh for taking a major roll in volunteer duties, and for imparting upon the younger ones some pretty excellent nutritional information.
MT !!!!IER youth! You are making it happen!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Sunday Kids Shop: Full of Kids!
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Thursday Open Shop Recap
Friday, August 24, 2012
Thursday Open Shop Recap
Yerodin replaced the crank on his bike.
Rudy came in to buy a road bike, but couldn't find a small frame road bike. He's going to stop by next week after the next shipment from UMD.
Peter came in to do a spoke replacement, and is now planning on building some wheels of his own.
Dan came in to fix up a vintage Columbia road bike.
Matt came in to do some work on his road bike, and now has a functional front derailleur.
Jose came in to fix a flat.
Drokil came in to fix a flat.
Scott came in to work on his bike, trying to get rid of a gear skipping problem on the small cogs of his freewheel.
Ji Chen and his dad came in to buy a bike, and rode off with a nice purple Fuji.
In terms of volunteers, Dave Cahill was around for almost the whole night and was a great help, especially with getting the purple Fuji ready for sale. Dave MacMillan also came by and made progress in getting another bike ready for sale. Yerodin, Dan, and Peter all signed on to the Coop email list, so hopefully we'll see them around as volunteers!
Thursday, August 9, 2012
TONIGHT'S OPEN SHOP CANCELLED
Next shop will be this SUNDAY 1-4pm.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Monthly FULL MOON RIDE
Another Fullmoon, another FullMoon!PicnicCruise!
Tuesday, July 3, Mt Rainier Bike CoOp, 3601 Bunkerhill RD, Mt Rainier, MD
gather 7pm
departs 7:30
Keep our eyes on the skies, there may be thunderstorms, as yet.
BicycleSPACE, a great bike shop on 7th north of New York Ave, NW DC, is hosting another bike gathering themselves, brilliantly celebrating fireflies and heavy on the picnicking, if we so choose to join them again!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
6/23 12:30pm, Summer Solstice Ride To Ruin 2012!
Saturday June 23
12:30p Gather Mount Rainier Bike Coop, 3601 Bunkerhill RD
1:00p depart (2-3 hr ride will stop 2-3 times for water, food, any needed rests)
4:00p arrived at Savage Rocks
7:00p departed back
10:00p arrived at Mt Rainier Bike Coop
route:
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=212934556383620671801.0004891827597f7361778&msa=0&ll=39.043186,-76.834259&spn=0.298112,0.441513
Why a very strenuous ride in summer heat? You'd be surprised how far you can go on your bike if you haven't surprised yourself already. This ride has scant hills through a mostly shaded route! This ride happens 2 days from the Summer Solstice and there will be as much daylight (til almost 9) to use on the return trip.
Chinese Elm down on 38th at Utah Ave, Brentwood, MD. June 22 2012 Downburst/Microburst. We few still wanted to ride.
Caitlin, Roopa, Harold, Tim, Winnie. 38th at Bunkerhill RD. |
Rob. U.S.1 North at BunkerHill RD, Brentwood MD |
Rob, Winnie, Katie, Tim, Harold, train. Anacostia Trail Eastern Branch. Edmonston, MD. |
Caitlin, Katie, Winnie, Rob, Roopa, Tim, Harold. Anacostia Trail Eastern Branch. Riverdale, MD. |
Harold, Caitlin, Katie, TIm, Rob, Roopa, Winnie. Cherrywood Lane, turning left/north at Rte201. Greenbelt, MD. |
Rte 201 north, Beltsville, MD. We saw trees down from Mt Rainier to Riverdale, but all points north looked like they didn't get the tree-ripping storms the night before. |
Montpelier Swimming Pool, Cederbrook Lane, Laurel, MD. Water fountain! Friendly staff! |
Brock Bridge RD north. Laurel, MD. |
La Campechanita arrives before the explorer like an oasis of sweet ice on a hot day of riding in the sun of Brock Bridge RD in Maryland City/Laurel, MD. |
Gorman RD., east. Savage, MD. |
Gorman RD. Savage, MD. |
A path to the swim spot through mill ruins. |
Through the woods. Patuxent River at Savage, MD. |
north/west/upstream along the Patuxent River, Savage MD. Woods cleared and larger open path developed since 2010. |
Striking Azul Harold. Savage, MD. |
In the Patuxent River. Savage, MD. |
Patuxent Picnic. Winnie and Rob joined by Mick. |
Roopa, Caitlin, Winnie, Harold, Tim, and Rob heading homewards south on Brock Bridge RD by the Laurel Park stables. Katie got a ride to Baltimore from Savage. Smart planning! |
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Wednesday June 13 2012
Cory was first to show and again extremely helpful to arrivals.
Rosy and Job helped out through the night as well.
Many many projects. It was one of those nights.
Tyler freed a seized stem. Liberty!
Xing Xing brought some sweet sesame goodies. So nice! She then trued a wheel!
Me and Harold resolved to meet at the coop next Saturday, June 23, at 12:30pm for a long ride to a swimming spot in Savage MD. If it isn't called off by rain...the ride will be tough. But the reward at the end is worth it -A swim near Patuxent River rapids and the ruins of an old mill, happens at a place us ol' Laurelites called The Rocks.
There will be hydrating and food acquiring opportunities along the way, and at the destination.
This is a very social event. Surely, there will be many groups of families and friends enjoying the river by the time we get there, as many folks gather at this spot every weekend through the summer.
Gather 12:30pm at 3601 Bunkerhill, If it's raining, we'll decide if we'll continue, or call it off.
Depart 1pm
Ride in much shade on hot solstice day for 2.5 hours
Arrive (by) 4pm -Savage Rocks
Depart (by)7pm
Ride back exhausted and surprised that you'd even ride after all that
Arrive (by)10pm 3601 Bunkerhill Rd
Thursday, May 31, 2012
FUULL MOON RIDE! with BicycleSpace
Join us this month as we ride downtown. Meet at Co-Op or at Bicycle Space!
Changed: This month we are partnering with BicycleSpace in DC to join their Full Moon Ride - see
http://www.bicyclespacedc.com/
We plan to meet at co-op 7 - leave at 7:15pm to get downtown for 8pm or be at
1019 7th Street Northwest, Washington, DC.
Please note their ride is scheduled from 8-12pm but we can metro back earlier if people want to.
|
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Wednesday May 16 2012
Thankfully, Bo and Rosy came through because the crowd ebbed right up, flesh and steel in the warm sun all over the front yard again.
Augustus brought a donation cruiser, then stayed to the end to help some folks out in the yard. That help is very much appreciated, generous Augustus!
Marty came in and helped out a lot.
Xing Xing came with gifts again! Josh R's daughter has a BDay soon, and XingXing has something for it! She worked on her ride some, too.
The alarm downstairs decided to let us know it works. I entered the off code several times, but it kept singing. I just let it rip and waited for the police, talking to Mike Gumpert and getting into his tire.
Evan Wilder came in and dealt with MRPD, freeing me up to dance around to different projects like Brentwood Mike's difficult bottom bracket cup....we got it!
The Bunkerhill couple with a puegot and it's derailleur.
Fred and a donation for a bike.
Dave Mac fixing his tire.
It got to be a rocking night! It was a good night for me. Thanks to all who helped one another get mobile tonight!
NOW, SOME CHUCK BROWN!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Wednesday 5.2.12
I'm so thankful to all the hands tonight. Thank you so much, Dave, Carl for joining me tonight. As well as our staffer helpers Job, Laura, Corey, and big time, Rosy, for helping me with my neighbor, Jonathan's, bike. So good to see Jonathan and Les make it in.
Oh, and XingXing! Xingxing came through again with big cheer and a plate of homemade dumplings -vegan so Josh R could eat them! YYUMM!! Yall, she hooked it up tonight! She is excited to ride the fullmoon gathering this Friday (7pm), and she is excited that participants can share their food...so...get ready for XingXing, yall! She's coming to the FullMoon!PicnicCruise! and she likes to cook, evidently good food!
While squirting mushroom-tofu dumpling juice out of my mouth, I was turning a bolt on a recent donation that Trinity chose to be her bike. Trinity and her mom, Wakili, chose a couple bikes to cruise their hills of Mt Rainier. Wakili, Trinity and Jua had made it to the coop several times through the last year to try to complete the 10 tasks needed to "earn-a-bike". Word got around and a generous neighbor informed the coop that the time-strapped family could choose their bikes and it would be payed for by said donor. What mayberry generosity thrives in villages the world over, shines in Mt Rainier, MD.
Wakili is fun to talk to about colors and stones. I've been feeling a surprise favoring of browns, reds, beige, and orange -overall with gaudy blue to teal, since February.
FUULL MOON RIDE this Fri @ 7pm
Bring lights if you have them and helmets if you prefer. The weather should be balmy so pack a snack & drink preferably to share and we'll head on out to the trails !
Hope to see you there.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
wednesday april 18
Hyattsville Harold did come in to work on his wheel. He had a lot of help from Rosey -a newer volunteer who has been nothing but extremely helpful to the operation on Wednesday nights.
Xingxing dropped in to cheerfully announce she is riding her bike and is new to town, then ask if any of us don't eat eggs because she'd like to make some banana pancakes and share them with us. She did reappear with them 30 minutes later! So kind!
Dave came in and helped Josh R with a derailleur problem.
Job also was in place, attending to his wheel.
Elizabeth dropped off some volunteer hour log sheets, where we can write down who was in on what day and how many hrs they've put in. It helps us see who is helping out a lot. It takes three months of one helping in the operation of the space -not on their own bikes/projects- to be able to be considered as a volunteer -at least 2hrs/month.
Good night of kicking it. While not running back and forth this night, I actually got to write up a tag and tinker with a donated cannondale. It's good to have a nice bike to offer to the peops.
-Mike
Thursday, April 12, 2012
New Open Shops
As of this SUN 15th and for the first 4 Sunday of every month Will McK will be hosting.
Also, we will be restoring Wimmen's Night on the 3rd THUR of the month, for the spring and summer months, starting on the 19th April.
Don't forget we also do another monthly shop on the last SAT from 10:30am-1pm
As ever, please check the calendar as being 100% volunteers, we sometimes can't always make it.
Monday, April 9, 2012
April Full Moon Ride
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Open Shop Mon 2nd April
One recalcitrant seat post defeated the combined effort of Brian, & pals Mitch & Jonathon, who were visiting the co-op for the first time and enjoyed their night volunteering. Brian (et al) may look to help out once a month or so... welcome guys.
Laura spend time getting to know the joys or adjusting old-style brakes, cutting cable housing and replacing cables and did an outstanding job. Hopefully her first volunteering night will not scare her off ;-)
16 unanswered phone messages were also responded to, but need to follow up on some of them.
Don't forget Fri's FULL MOON RIDE - meet at 7pm and leave by 7:30pm - weather is looking good.
-Dave
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Wednesday 3.28.12
John Periwinkel stepped in and helped out through the night. Bill Root too. Scot Wilson tended to his ride. We had other folks patching, overhauling all over the place.
Another donation was made to the city. Gearing up for a Spring order from J&B.
A nice new sign on the door states our hours incorrectly, nothing a pencil can't solve.
Many many many bikes are cluttered through the stock room. Bikes stored behind the coop are taken, so it's understandable that bikes with potential would be stuffed in the stock room.
What if we created an incentive for volunteers to upgrade our immense stock of bikes w potential?
-Mike Turner
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Wednesday 3.21.12
Carl stepped in nicely to help out.
Job and John Periwinkel came in and worked on back bikes.
Roopa and Kwesh came in for a tube. Kwesh for a tire, as well.
Alia, Soloman, Jennifer, Trinity and Jua stopped in on their way down old Bunkerhill Road.
One Brookland neighbor, hearing about the coop by word of mouth, stopped in for the first time to strip a beat-up mountain bike..intending to scrap the aluminum frame, and made pretty quick work.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Mt. Rainier Bike Coop seeks new volunteers!
The Mount Rainier Bike Coop will host two events on March 29 and April 1 for the purposes of new volunteer recruitment. Enthusiastic people of all ages (under-18s: please bring your adult!) and skill levels are welcome - anyone interested in using bicycles for community enrichment and fun.
Here's what we offer:
-The joy of volunteerism in an endearingly strange, purposeful environment
-A fully operational bicycle station: tools, stands, grease, bikes, and used parts galore
-A community of novice and veteran volunteers willing to teach, support, and have a good time
-Eventually, opportunities to open your own shop and work at the Coop on your own time
Here's what we ask of you:
-Some base level of appreciation for bikes and the diverse group of people who use them.
-At least one hour a month dedicated to volunteerism at the Coop.
Where:
When:
March 29th from 6:30pm to 8:30pm
April 1st from 2:00pm to 4:00pm
Wear clothes you can get dirty! Snacks and beverages will be provided.
Best,
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Wednesday 3.14.12
Three operations quickly commenced outside. John Stith was figuring his rear derailleur. Ebrehem, and Josh were cranking out there, too.
Roopa came in to eliminate a squeak in her pedal cranking. We removed the cranks and the bottom bracket seemed smooth enough, so we put it back together and the squeaking was still there! The petals seem fine. Looking forward to figuring it out.
Grady came in to true his wheel.
Argentina George came in to replace brake cable, replace housing, and we trued his rear wheel a little bit which produced that jolt of liberation that happens when someone learns the incredibly accessible physics of wheel truing!
Job's coworker from the pet store came through to see what beach cruisers are available.
John Periwinkel came in with two German friends and was incredibly helpful to the shop for the 2 hours.
Dave Cahill dropped in and was incredibly helpful as Union Station Jenn came in to try out and offer a nice-sized donation for the sweet relaxed old orange road bike with cruiser bars.
Monday, March 12, 2012
FullMoon!PicnicCruise! March2012
Just before we departed, 2 riders left, for they had waited long enough -since 7. Later, it was learned that another rider missed the ride because they expected it to leave at 8. A lesson is being presented, perhaps to be more explicit about departure time and the ever-necessarily long gathering time.
Among us were new riders Heidi, Caitlin, Emmanuel, Olga and Zoe. Josh brought Zoe, his daughter, and Heidi, a neighbor he met at the grocery store. Job brought Emmanuel and Olga, but Job couldn't make it out. There were about 10 in all.
We swept over Rhode Island at 37th, left on Perry, right on 38th, that very charged left onto Cottage Terrace and we ran into another rider setting out for us who busted a U-ey and jumped right in!
We connected to our wonderful asset, the Anacostia trail -which Maryland has announced funding for connecting with DC's River Trail. Finally! Greenbelt to Navy Yard will soon be very well connected!
We headed towards Greenbelt, making that sharp left at the steep, gravely hill. Cruising through that first spot of woods, then that roller coaster drop of a swift decline, the chirps of the frog chorus beckon from the wooded pond on the left -just after the Mulberry tree Phil Koopman likes to favor. Those frogs are starting early!
We just sweep up through Riverdale comfortably, with the wind pushing from behind on that straight and high stretch of the levee.
We made it to the unlit park of Artemesia and commenced to snack. Zoe crashed in her Dad's lap as we talked so much about food, while sharing candy, grog, hard-boiled eggs, sesame snack. This area is good for others to break away and soak in the moon away from the horde, and the moon was shining it's yellow onto the rims of our earthly clouds.
We rode back, against some wind, after hanging and eating for an hour, and made it back around 9:30. Good fun! Plenty of cruising on this one, and neighbors encountering eachother, while making space on our streets for bikes and enjoying darkened trail space together. Not bad!
Looks like the next full moon will be Friday, April 6th...
Web Site
Please check out our Blog page here for current hours, posted on the right hand side.
Thxs
MRBC
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Wed 7th March
Monday, March 5, 2012
Mon 5th March
Job fixed up donation after working on his bike and took it for a spin in the parking lot as a test ride, found that the left pedal needed changing so diid that & added a kickstand - so ready to go.
Will and myself helped out on some other bikes and helped a new visitor change a tube on her wheel and says she'll join us Thurs for our Full Moon Ride, which looks to be a warmer night!
that's all folks
-Dave