By Dan Pugatch

September 1 is known as D Day around here. It’s the day college students pour back into town in their moving trucks, wheeled carts, and alma-mater promoting sweat pants. On this day the full-time residents of Boston are harder to find, as they tend to avoid all shopping centers, restaurants, and schools of any kind. If they do go out on a bike, the rule is to steer at least 100 feet clear from any rented truck or car on the road.

But this mass of confusion heralds other things, such as apple-picking season, Halloween costume planning, and of course sheets of rain for days and days. Now is the time to gear up for the deluges to come. Here are a few tips that should help you stay dry and warm, as well as keep your bicycle from disintegrating into a pile of rust and pedals.

What you wear is going to be the key investment when it comes to keeping the bike commute going into the fall. The first rule is to avoid cotton by all costs: it takes forever to dry, and while wet it irritates the skin and does not keep you warm. Me, I tend to swerve around the high tech fabrics that sound like an ingredient from a bag of Extreme Cool Ranch Doritos, and stick with the original technical fabric: wool.

Wool naturally wicks away moisture, and unlike poly-whatevers and cotton, wool will keep you warm even when sopping wet. For slightly warmer days, I recommend sticking to a wool base layer under your shirt, jacket and pants. They come in various thicknesses so once winter creeps in, you can continue to layer on the wool until summer arrives. Wool socks are also a must have for cyclists. I wear them even in the summer.

The rain gear you choose can also make your commute pleasant or exhausting. For the coat, I like a hooded lightweight shell with lots of breathability. Don’t be fooled by the tags in the shop, you do not have to have the best 5 star waterproof jacket—because it’s likely the same jacket will have only 1 or 2 stars of breathability and you will end up sweating rivers even when the temperature dips below zero. Go for the higher breathability. The better raincoats are in the $150-200 range and have armpit zippers that can be open pretty much whenever you are riding. The hood should have draw cords for a more skin-tight fit that will also allow you to wear a helmet.

Rain pants are worth the investment but can be just as pricey as the raincoats. Wool military surplus pants will do just fine until you can save up for a nice pair of cycling rain pants. The nicer models zip off into shorts as well. Booties go over your footwear and keep your feet dry, but tend to fall apart quickly. If you have an old pair of sneakers just wear a few plastic store bags over you socks before you put your new “wet weather” shoes on, it’s an old trick from my days of hiking as a Boy Scout that came in handy later in life when I was a bicycle courier here in Boston.

Now that you have a sense of the right clothing to wear while riding in the rain, it’s time to protect your bicycle from the deluge and make the ride more comfortable as well.

Fenders are a must of course, they come in all forms from clip on plastic to bolt on metal, and even hand carved ornate wooden ones. The rear fender will keep the skunk stripe off your backside, and the front fender will keep your feet cleaner and your drive train in better shape. The bearing system for your pedal pushing is inside the ‘bottom bracket’ that connects the pedal crank arms to the frame. With the bottom bracket constantly taking a spray of salt, sand, and water it is not unusual for a daily year round commuter to go through one or two of these a year. But having a front fender will help keep this splash back to a minimum.

It’s also important to lubricate your chain a few times a month, but don’t do this the day it rains or before. The newly lubricated chain will collect even more gunk than normal on a rainy day, especially sand, which will make a grinding noise when you pedal.

Speaking of sand, it’s also a good idea to keep a ratty towel around to wipe off your rims after riding through the rain. Sand can collect there and embed itself in your brake pads, which can eventually grind down your rim a little faster and reduce your braking power.

It’s also very convenient to have waterproof panniers, backpacks or messenger bags to save your stuff from the rain. These are available in a huge variety at most bike shops, but not all are completely waterproof so check the label. And if you don’t have a waterproof bag or don’t want to spring the extra cash it takes to buy one, make sure to put books, laptops, cell phones, and other valuable items in plastic bags.

Last but not least, be extremely careful when riding in the rain. It’s a good idea to go slower because your braking power is usually not as strong, and make sure you are extra alert. Resist the urge to put your head down by keeping your eyes wide open to all the normal hazards. Situations where you’re riding through traffic jams become particularly dangerous when visibility is low, as neither you or a driver cutting through stopped traffic to make a left are likely to see each other through the deluge. To this end you should always use lights, the brighter the better. It’s harder for drivers to see you out there on rainy days even when it’s daytime.

Despite all the hazards, if you’re well prepared, riding in the rain can be an empowering and even joyful experience. And along with a little luck, the above advice will help you stay warm, dry and safe out there. Enjoy the autumn season on a bike!

The Boston Cyclists Union confirmed with Boston Police that a 24-year-old woman, now identified as Marlene Pineda by the Boston Globe, has died after being hit by a car at Commonwealth Avenue and Kelton Street sometime shortly before 4:17 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 9. Both the Accident Reconstruction and Homicide units of the BPD were on scene. As the incident has prompted a death investigation, no further information is available from the police report. Unconfirmed witnesses have apparently posted to Universal Hub describing the crash.

[Edit—There is now an article in the Boston Globe about Pineda, and an earlier article describing the crash.]

An earlier crash on on Aug. 8 at around 8:20 pm on Cambridge Street near the Massachusetts Turnpike in Allston involved head trauma. Boston EMS reported the crash as a motor vehicle strike, but witnesses told Boston Police that the cyclist hit the curb. One witness in contact with the BCU noted the bike was “mangled.” And the victim himself came forward to the BCU after being released from the hospital Thursday. Though he could not remember the crash due to head trauma (a common occurrence for serious crash victims), he stated that he is a very experienced cyclist (a racer in fact) and that it was unlikely he had just hit a curb. He suspects a hit and run.

Any witnesses to the crashes are encouraged to call the Boston Police first, Brighton’s District 14 is at 343-4260. You can also call the BCU as a way to aid our work on improving crash reporting at 617-620-1989.

The intersection at Commonwealth Avenue and Kelton Street does see a higher than average number of accidents involving either pedestrians or cyclists, as older, non-bike-separated data shows. The rate there is approximately .8 accidents per year. Average for all the city’s intersections is .02 per year. The rate at Cambridge Street and I-90 is 1.2 per year. Due to high speeds on both Cambridge Street and Western Avenue, the BCU is currently gathering support for physically separated bike lanes, or “cycletracks” on both streets.

According to Boston EMS reports on bicycle crashes, now in their own category thanks to BCU advocacy, ambulances are responding to between 40 and 60 incidents involving bicycles per month during the summer in the City of Boston. Over half of those do not involve motor vehicles, and most, thankfully, are not as severe as these we are seeing this week.

What we know about the details of bike crashes in Boston is still very little, as the data has only been collecting for 2 months. But based on Cambridge data and the little we do know, here are some tips for staying safe:

• Wear a helmet, and make sure your friends do too. Doing so significantly reduces the chance of serious or fatal head injuries.
• Always stop first before crossing an intersection with a red light or stop sign. Cars can pop out where you least expect them, and even more quickly when they have the right of way.
• Stay out of the ‘door zone.’ Ride as if each parked car you pass is about have its door flung open.
• Be aware of cars that are turning left from the opposite direction. Often you cannot see them when they are darting through the traffic you are riding alongside. And they can’t see you.
• Take the lane at intersections. Done safely, this prevents right-turning cars from hitting you.
• Do not wear earphones. As nice as this might make your riding experience, it also makes you less aware.
• Always cross trolley tracks at a 90 degree angle if possible (at least 45 degrees). All bikes are at risk of being caught in the tracks. If you find yourself in a desperate last-minute situation, try to hop the tracks.
• Tell your friends the above.

New Help for Bikers: Racks and Tune-ups from Chris Lovett on Vimeo.

Touring the city’s farmer’s markets and offering free bike tune-ups has really opened up a fascinating window on biking in the city. We’re reaching cyclists of all levels, from those who wish they could ride a bike to those who practically live on one.

As the one fellow that’s going to all nine of our locations each month this summer, and spending all my time listening to bikers from East Boston to Mattapan and from Roxbury to Roslindale, I’d like to use a little space here to send some of these anecdotes and bits of information back to you.

The first thing I’ve noticed is that the love for bicycling is truly universal across neighborhoods. Some areas might offer fewer safe places to ride than others, but the love is there, waiting for a better day.

I’ve talked to Italian retirees in Eastie, single mothers from Hyde Park, Vietnamese families in Dorchester, nurses and doctors in Mission Hill, and dozens of youth in every neighborhood that look to the bike not only as a way to get around, but as a source of joy.

That’s why being able to create this program with funding from the City of Boston, youth mechanics from Bikes Not Bombs, and volunteers from all over the city has been so satisfying. It’s corny, but we’re out there spreading this joy around. And what people have been speculating is true—access to bike shops and repair does make a huge difference.

In Mattapan, East Boston, Roxbury and Dorchester, where the closest bike shops are often over hills or bridges or not well connected by transit (and health indicators like obesity rates are much higher than other parts of Boston), we see more bikes in disrepair than in Roslindale and Mission Hill, where bike shops are reasonably close. Sometimes we see bikes that are downright dangerous.

On a recent Saturday a 9-year-old boy rode up on an older mountain bike and asked us if we had helmets. Most youth I’ve met wouldn’t take a helmet if you paid them, so I was visibly shocked. “What?” I had to explain that we’d requested them from the Boston Public Health Commission, but they hadn’t arrived yet. (Thanks to Boston Bikes, the first order of helmets that we will offer for $7.50 is being made today.)

Then I noticed he had no brakes. What were once a pair of brakes were missing brake shoes, hanging loosely, and wrapped up in the cables that were supposed to operate them.

Well, suffice to say we couldn’t let him ride away like that. Thanks to volunteer Max Lee of Mel’s Hyde Park Bike Shop, 15 minutes later he had working brakes with new pads and cables for free (we normally charge for parts, but this was an exception).

He didn’t talk our ears off, he was pretty quiet, but he made sure to shake all four BCU volunteers’ hands and say thanks before he left. And when he tried those brakes he couldn’t help but smile.

I wish I could say this was a unique occurrence. We’ve fixed over a dozen bikes with little or no braking power this month, most of them for kids who rode up out of the neighborhood on them. We’ve also put at least twice as many bikes back on the road after collecting dust in people’s basements, allowing them a new opportunity to get regular and enjoyable exercise. All together, we’ve serviced over 200 bikes!

At each market we’re also asking what types of bikeways would make people feel safer on the street, and which roads they would like to see them on in their neighborhoods. This information is collected on neighborhood maps, and will be compiled to instruct our advocacy for a citywide bike network for commuters and families.

Next we’re going to take what we’ve learned and tighten up the operation next month. We’ll try to tune up over 250 bikes in August, and also look for more ways to gather local information about more neighborhoods.

Looking forward to next year, we’d like to expand this program well beyond what our small but generous two-year grant from the city can handle. We’d like to double our capacity in 2011, and maybe even add some more market locations before the 2010 season is over.

To do this, we’ll need to keep building our awesome team of volunteers. And if you’re looking for something really awesome to contribute to, well, this might be a good choice. You can also be there to share in the personal reward of watching someone enjoy a resurrected bike.

To volunteer, you don’t have to know mechanics, we actually need folks to just engage with new cyclists, teach fix a flat workshops and collect information about neighborhood streets. Just email pete@bostoncyclistsunion.org or call 617-620-1989. Spanish, Vietnamese, or Haitian Creole speakers encouraged!

To donate, to join the union, or to sponsor a market, click here.

The Boston Cyclists Union would like to sincerely thank Chief Jim Hooley and his staff at Boston Emergency Medical Services for answering our request to implement a far superior way of collecting bike crash data-and doing it in no time flat!

It is clear that Chief Hooley understands the importance of good data to health prevention-in this case preventing cyclist injuries and deaths on the road.

What the BCU asked for in April-following the death of 22-year-old Eric Hunt in Mission Hill-and what Hooley and Boston EMS data specialist James Salvia have done, are virtually one and the same. Nearly every request we made was fulfilled, and then some! All that remains to be sorted out is how this data is analyzed, stored and sent to other city departments, including the Boston Transportation Department where it can inform improvements to road design.

Before the Boston Cyclists Union came into being and tackled this project, bicyclist and pedestrians struck by motor vehicles were lumped into the same category. So for instance, while we knew then that Massachusetts Avenue was the worst in the city for pedestrians and cyclists hit by cars, we could not tell how many of the victims on Mass Ave were cyclists and how many were pedestrians. So how could we know what to fix?

Thanks to a new “bicycle accident” check box in the EMS reporting system, the answer will become a whole lot clearer! And that is not all. We can also analyze:

• Whether or not cyclists were wearing helmets or not.
• How fast each vehicle in each accident may have been traveling.
• Details about what the patients said happened in the accidents.
• The locations of injuries.
• The potential severity of injuries.

We can also see the patient’s age and sex, which is key, pending our continuing work with the Boston Police Department on their crash reporting systems, because we may one day be able to match these EMS reports with police reports, hospital discharge records, and morbidity records in order to create a comprehensive database that provides a wealth of information about each crash. We would have detailed information from the point of impact all the way to the end of a victim’s hospital stay.

As this data is collected in the coming years, we will increasingly be able to pinpoint problem intersections in the city, as well as note which movements in those intersections are the most problematic. Looking forward three and five years, this data will be indispensable when the city begins to fine-tune its emerging bicycle network.

Working together, Boston EMS, the Boston Police Department, the Boston Public Health Commission, the Boston Transportation Department, the Boston Bikes program, and the Boston Cyclists Union can and will do their part in helping our city become America’s Cycling City!

Please, to help keep this important work going, become a member of the union today!

A new planning process has been launched in East Boston to reconfigure Central Square (the one in Eastie, not that other town!), and local bike advocates are all over it.

“They definitely have a lot of really great ideas,” said Diana Baldelomar who coordinates youth at Neighborhood of Affordable Housing Inc., an East Boston CDC that is delving heavily into environmental, health and fitness causes-including biking. “They focused a lot on traffic calming. We’re going to be more specific about we want. [The city's plan] shows bike lanes on Border Street, and two other streets, but we want to ask are those going to be connected to anything? We’re also talking about putting [sharrows] on roads that didn’t get bike lanes and just more signage.”

Currently Central Square is a free for all of cars, pedestrians, and the occasional bike. The East Boston Farmer’s Market held in the small park in the middle of the square, for instance, is very difficult for pedestrians to access.

For it’s part, the city is focused on improving pedestrian and bicycle access, but is seeking advice from the community on just what those improvements might be.

“Adding a bike lane to Border Street promotes important connections throughout the emerging East Boston bike network,” said Vineet Gupta, the Boston Transportation Department’s head of planning. “And we’re going to include bike racks extensively. At the community meeting on the 27th residents came out in support of bike accommodations on the square and we were very happy to see this.”

MassBike, Massachusetts statewide advocacy organization, is also getting involved. MassBike director David Watson made an “impassioned” speech at the meeting, said Gupta.

Other bike efforts are also underway in the neighborhood, such as an effort from the East Boston Greenway Committee to extend a path from the greenway that runs through the center of Eastie out to Constitution Beach. The effort faces a challenge in convincing MassPort to support the idea, as the path would curtail expansion of the vast airport parking lots and other facilities along one corner of the airport’s current outer limit.

For those reading this in East Boston, the Boston Cyclists Union will help spread the word to you when the next planning meetings on either of these two promising projects come up! Email pete@bostoncyclistsunion.org if you’re interested in getting involved.

A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine this week indicates that both brisk walking and bicycling are likely to make significant contributions to controlling weight gain in premenopausal women—but slow walking not so much.

“This helps make the case that we need better separated bike facilities in the U.S. because bicycling is an effective way for controlling weight gain,” said Anne Lusk of the Harvard School of Public Health, one of the authors of the study and also an advisor to the Boston Cyclists Union. “Bicycling has a better chance of controlling weight in all populations.”

The study, using a population sample of over 18,000 women from the 16-year Nurses Health Study II, found that of the respondents who walked, only 39 percent walked briskly, and statistically, those who increased that walking time by 30 min controlled weight better over time than did the overall average. A larger 50 percent of respondents reported walking slowly, and did not show significant weight control.

On the other hand, even though cycling intensity was not examined, cyclists increasing their riding time by 30 minutes a day fared nearly as well as the brisk walking group at controlling weight gain over the 16-year period, and of course far better than the slow walkers. The authors also note that this may be the first study to separate the benefits of cycling from those of walking.

This has far reaching implications for urban design, said Lusk, namely that the recent craze for improving public health by widening sidewalks and plazas may be less likely to cause weight control for the pedestrians they attract than would an extremely safe bikeway, like a barrier-separated cycle track.

Dutch planners have designed their wide, separated cycle tracks and other innovative bikeways with women and older cyclists in mind for decades, and, as other researchers have pointed out, that country’s far higher cycling rates (27% commute by bicycle in the Netherlands compared to .5% in the U.S.) coincide with a far more svelte population (10% vs. 22.5% in the U.S).

Perhaps it’s time American urban transportation planners take note. Bike lanes may be the low hanging fruit, but cycle tracks are the future.

Working with Bikes Not Bombs and the city’s Boston Bikes program, the Boston Cyclists Union is proud to announce a new program that directly helps cyclists.

Huge swaths of the city, such as Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, and Eastie, are not served by bike repair shops. This makes it difficult for some folks to dust off the bikes in their basements, or for others to simply keep their bikes on the road.

So once a month, around eight open-air farmer’s markets around the city will host the Boston Cyclists Union’s new mobile bike tune up stand!

In addition to fixing up bikes, the BCU will be promoting anti-theft tactics, selling affordable U-locks and bike lights, directing folks to other city resources for affordable helmets, and collecting inside information from local cyclists on where they would like to see safer streets, which routes they use, and what changes in city policy might improve their cycling experience.

A small grant for the program has been provided by the City of Boston, and the Union hopes to expand the program next year through fund-raising and the BCU’s new dues-paying membership program (soon to be online!).

The schedule and locations are available under our Resources pull down menu above, or here. More locations may be added soon.

Also, anyone interested in becoming card-carrying members of the Boston Cyclists Union can come sign up at any of these locations!

If you are interested in volunteering for this project, contact pete@bostoncyclistsunion.org. Both mechanics and non-mechanics are needed to help out.

After adopting a BCU suggestion to design a cycletrack for a future Western Avenue, and receiving a rough sketch of how a cycletrack might work on Cambridge Street in Allston, the Boston Transportation Department (BTD) has invited the BCU to collaborate on these and one other improvement in the neighborhood: completing the North Harvard Street bikeway between Cambridge Street and the Larz Anderson Bridge leading to Harvard Square.

“We have invited the Boston Cyclists Union group to share ideas with us,” said Vineet Gupta of BTD.

The BCU’s sketch of a Cambridge Street cycletrack, delivered to BTD in May, was developed by a group of BCU members—longtime bike advocate Charlotte Burger of Allston, BU Bikes representative Galen Mook (a Brighton resident), Northeastern professor of engineering Peter Furth, and Anne Lusk of the Harvard School of Public Health.

“It’s something we’re definitely exploring,” said Gupta of the cycletrack sketch. “It’s very complicated because of the [highway entrance] ramps that have to be looked at. I think there are many alternatives. There are a whole bunch of ways to do this street. The city is pursuing the right solution.”

BTD is also coordinating the designs for these Allston thoroughfares with MassDOT, which is engaged in rebuilding these and several other bridges over the Charles as part of the Accelerated Bridge Program, and the City of Cambridge, which is redesigning its own section of Western Avenue.

The Livable Streets Alliance has also been working on some of the same problems from another angle-advocating to widen the scope of MassDOT’s redesign processes for the bridges to also include the approaches to the bridges.

Led by neighborhood residents, the BCU is also beginning a public campaign that will gather signatures in support of the cycletracks on Western and Cambridge. Petition gatherers will also gather more input from neighborhood cyclists on potential solutions.

All of these developments are a big plus for Allston-one of Boston’s most bike-happy neighborhoods! If you’re interested in joining the effort for safer cycling in Allston, contact charlotte@bostoncyclistsunion.org.

Working with Artists For Humanity in South Boston and funded by the City of Boston, high school students Joshua Rosado, Victor Torres and Cameron Akeredolu won a contest sponsored by Mission Hill Main Streets to install three bike racks at Brigham Circle.

One resembles a giant padlock and two others have abstract designs. The three were installed last week around the circle, and are already hosting locked up bikes.

“I tried a few initial designs that didn’t work out so well. Then, I looked to my side and I saw this little keychain lock and I thought to myself, ‘How about we expand it into a big lock?’” wrote Rosado in a blog post about the project. “This accomplishment, all by the age of 18, makes me have more appreciation toward my talent and my craft.”

Rosado’s design is a favorite among passers by, and all three are improvements to the circle.

“It was really great because these public art projects take a long time to realize,” said Nick Rodrigues, a sculpture mentor to the students at Artists For Humanity (AFH). “A lot of kids here are at-risk so it really keeps thing on task. It was really good to have them looking forward to something. And to have a permanent piece in the city is amazing.”

Rosado, a student at Snowden International High School has also been accepted to Mass College of Art and Design, down the street from his handiwork. Torres is entering Boston Arts Academy in the fall and Akeredolu attends the Jeremiah Burke High School in Dorchester.

AFH and Trimount Ironworks in Dorchester are also becoming a go-to place for the city’s more fanciful bike racks. They recently helped fabricate six racks that mimic the new Boston Bikes logo, one of which was installed at City Hall and unveiled during Bike Week.