Week Four and Totals for National Bike Month

Well, National Bike Month is over. Thanks to everyone who participated in our bicycling challenge. Grand Total for the Month of May: 2,466 miles! That's considerably more than last year. Way to go everyone! If the average car gets 25 mpg, that's 98.6 gallons of gasoline not burned, and the equivalent to saving roughly 1873 pounds of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere due to car commuting! Even though National Bike Month is over, don't lose momentum- keep on pedaling!!

Here's the details from Week Four: It was a little on the wet side, but as it turned out most of the days were bikeable:

Total miles for the week: 479

Whit Anderson (WWBPA Member): 40 miles for the week

Silvia Ascarelli (WWBPA Trustee): 6 miles in two days going to the train station

Russ Buckley (WWBPA Friend): 13 miles on one commute

Juan Cardenas (WWBPA Member): 12 miles for the week

Ken Carlson (WWBPA Trustee): 33 miles on two commutes

Henry Van Cotter (WWBPA Member): 69 miles. "Took my bike on NJ Transit for the first time last night- Hamilton To Princeton Junction- worked out fine"

Jessica and Deniz Dagci (WWBPA Friends): 64 miles (32 miles each). The Dagci's live on Washington Road in WW and commute by bike four days a week to Princeton (6 miles roundtrip), plus once a week an 8 mile trip to the grocery store. They live car-free. Way to go Dagci's!!

Bruce Ellsworth (WWBPA Member and former Trustee): 21 miles on one round-trip commute

Bill Garrett (WWBPA Member): 81 miles

Chris Scherer (WWBPA Trustee): 40 miles, round trip tot he WWBPA Trustees picnic loaded with 2 six packs of beer!

Ben Tufford (WWBPA Friend): 142 miles on three days of commuting

New Times Square Pedestrian Makeover

Check out this video from the NY Times on the new pedestrian "free of cars" plaza between 42 Street and 47th Street in Times Square. 

Read more about it at Streetsblog.org.

` Susan Conlon

National Bike Month- Week Three

Week Three Total: 876 miles Total for Month so Far: 2020 miles (we have surpassed last year's total and we have one week to go!)

Well, we are deep into National Bike Month, and the weather was ideal last week for riding. Here's the details from those who sent in their miles and experiences with a highlight of Bill Garrett (pictured above):

Bill Garrett (WWBPA Member): 99 miles for the week. Bill lives off of Cubberly Road in West Windsor and bike commutes most days to work at Mathematica on Alexander Road. Bill is an avid cyclist and is doing the 500 mile Anchor House Ride for the Runaways again this year.

Whit Anderson (WWBAP Member): 30 miles this week. "Had a sick kid this week, only 30 miles for me" (in 3 days of commuting).

Silvia Ascarelli (WWBPA Trustee): 16 miles this week to the train station and back

Russ Buckley (WWBPA Friend): 39 miles for the week, 3 days of commuting. Russ lives in West Windsor 6.5 miles from work in Plainsboro.

Juan Cardenas (WWBPA Member): "So far this month I've logged 36 miles commuting on the bike (Home to/from Princeton Jct. train station" You may find my commute route on Bikely.com: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Regular-commute

Ken Carlson (WWBPA Trustee): 106 miles and all five days this week (13 work days in a row bike commuting!)

Van Cotter (WWBPA Member): 10 miles, 1 day of commuting

Jessica and Deniz Dagci (WWBPA Friends): 64 miles (32 miles each). The Dagci's live on Washington Road in WW and commute by bike four days a week to Princeton (6 miles roundtrip), plus once a week an 8 mile trip to the grocery store.

Bruce Ellsworth (WWBPA Member): 42 miles on two bike commutes

Dimitriy Fridkin (WWBPA Friend): 88 miles from 4 days of bike commuting. Dmitriy is a High School South sophomore who lives in Plainsboro and bike commutes 7 miles to High School South every day! You can find his route on Bikely.com http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/To-School-and-Back.

Matt Martin (WWBPA Member): 15 miles. "I biked 3 days this week to the train station"

Marc Monseau (WWBPA Friend and Princeton resident): 25 miles biking. "Got a flat on the way in yesterday, so 25 miles biking, 10 on foot"

Joe Monzo (WWBPA Friend): 36 miles, one way South Brunswick to Columbus.

Paul Shapiro (WWBPA Member): 114 miles

Ben Tufford (WWBPA Friend): 142 miles in 3 days of commuting from Robbinsville to Manalapan. Here is a link to Ben's commute: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Morning-Commute294521

Jeanne Weinmann (WWBPA Friend): 24 miles this week, 4 days of commuting.

Plainsboro Walkability Assessment

The Safe Routes Assessment of Plainsboro Township on Saturday, May 16 was largely successful, thanks to the many volunteers we got from the community. A total of 45 volunteers in 15 teams assessed 170 intersections in Plainsboro for safety and accessibility elements. Volunteers came from WW-P High School South’s GREEN CmPS team, WW-P High School North’s Environmental Club, Vertices LLC, and of course, the WWBPA. The project was supported by a $1400 grant from McGraw-Hill, as part of their 6th annual Global Volunteer Day.

Over the months of preparation for the assessment, I believe I have well invested my time into this project. Throughout my work with the WWBPA, I have also been highly impressed by their continued dedication to realize their mission of a “community where residents and visitors have access to and can travel safely and conveniently by bicycle and on foot for commutation, recreation, and fitness within West Windsor Township and between neighboring communities.” Undoubtedly the Walkability assessment performed yesterday will help enable residents of both West Windsor and Plainsboro to travel more safely on foot.

We plan to continue the project in the following week by inputting the data collected yesterday and creating a subsequent online map. The map will be similar to the one created last year. I hope that using the map we create and the subsequent prioritization of problematic intersections, we will be able to advocate for pedestrian infrastructure improvements in Plainsboro Township. Help in this portion of the project would be greatly appreciated; if interested, please email wwbikeped@gmail.com.

Thanks again to all the volunteers!

-Jenny Yu

Opening Day at the West Windsor Community Farmers' Market

Yesterday was fun at our table at the West Windsor Community Farmers' Market for opening day. We set up and staffed our WWBPA table and had lots of people stop by to talk, share ideas, pick up a copy of our spring newsletter, and picked up 4 new memberships! 

We'll be back at the market in 2 weeks, and every other Saturday morning, here's the season schedule: May 30, June 13 (with the Pedals for Progress Bike Drive), & 27, July 11 & 25, August 8 & 22, and September 12 & 26.

National Bike Month- Week 2

Week 2 Total: 579 miles
Total for month so far: 1169 miles

Well, week 2 had much better weather than week 1, which was great since this week was National Bike Week and Friday was actually National Bike Day. The WWBPA had an information table at the train station on Wednesday where we met many new bike commuters, many of whom bike to and from Princeton. Total mileage for week 2 was 515 miles (Week 1 was revised to 526 miles with additional reports- see earlier post). Please send in your report for week 2 if you haven't. This week, we're highlighting 2nd Vice-President Ken Carlson, who was happy to be able to bike all five days during the week.

Reports from Week 2:

Ken Carlson (WWBPA Trustee): It was my first week this year of biking to work every day of the week. 90 miles in all for the week. Since January 1st, I have bike commuted to work 50% of the time, and I'm hoping to get that to 75% by year's end. I feel fortunate to be able to bike commute to work, and I find I am happiest when I don't have to drive my car! My 18 mile round trip biking route to my job in Cranbury is for the most part, fairly safe and in places very pleasant. Click on this link to see my route: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Grovers-Mill-West-Windsor-to-Dey-Road-Cranbury. I highly recommend checking out this bike route site (www.bikely.com).

Whit Anderson (WWBPA Member): Whit, Mr. Consistent biked 50 miles for the week, biking every day on his 10 mile round trip.

Silvia Ascarelli (WWBPA Trustee): "Just two roundtrips to the train station (six miles) this week -- was put off by the threat of rain on a third day.
For those who also watch the weather when deciding whether to ride to the station, please fill out the WWBPA's online survey: (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=beZw8P_2f7k42Ztm4oNo9feg_3d_3d).
We are working with New Jersey Transit to add more racks and lockers but also are exploring whether sheltering some racks with a roof would encourage more riding. Let us know your thoughts!"

Jessica and Deniz Dagci (WWBPA Friends): 64 miles (32 miles each). The Dagci's live on Washington Road in WW and commute by bike four days a week to Princeton (6 miles roundtrip), plus once a week an 8 mile trip to the grocery store.

Bill Garrett (WWBPA Friend): 103 miles for the week (16 mile round trip to Mathematica).

Matt Martin (WWBPA Member): "I have a grand total of 15 miles for the week- happy National Bike Day" (three days of commuting). "My daily bike commute is shorter these days due to the fact that we moved to a house closer to the Princeton Junction train station (where I then take the train to Jersey City). I now have a daily bike commute of just 4 miles round trip. Also, I was glad to recently get one of those great bike lockers at the train station, which makes the biking experience even more enjoyable"

Joe Monzo (new WWBPA Friend): 72 miles- 1 long roundtrip ride between his work in South Brunswick and his home in Columbus. Ken C met Joe on 5/19 while we were both commuting along Southfield Road. Joe gets the prize for the longest bike commute!

Daryl McMillan (WWBPA Trustee): 1.5 days of commuting for 15 miles.

Paul Shapiro (WWBPA member): 64 miles. Two days of bike commuting. Paul lives in West Windsor and works in Philadelphia and several days a week parks at Cornwalis Heights off of Rt 95 and bikes 16 miles to work.

Ben Tufford (WWBPA Friend): Biked two days totaling 88 miles.

Jeanne Weinman (WWBPA Friend): 12 miles in 2 days of commuting

Scholarship Opportunities for High School Students Deadline May 15

The WWBPA is accepting applications from high school seniors for students scholarships through May 15. High School students who are graduating in June 2009 who live in West Windsor Township are eligible to apply for cash scholarships awarded by the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance. Students: Please download at wwbpa.org with “STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP” in the subject line to:wwbikeped@gmail.com. The application deadline is May 15, 2009.

National Bike Month- Week 1

Well, it was a wet first week for National Bike Month, but still the bike commuting stalwarts slogged through! Here's a recap of the week, with a special highlight of WWBPA member Whit Anderson.

Total miles biked (from those who reported in): 532 miles

Featured bike commuter: Whit Anderson (WWBPA member). Whit logged, or slogged, 50 miles for the week, biking every day on his 10 mile round trip. This week, Whit felt more like a drowned rat than a bike commuter. Whit, an Oceanographer (and luckily used to water) bikes every day to work, all year long to his job at the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton Forrestal . To see Whit's commuting route from his home in Princeton Junction please visit this site www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/My-commute147827. Bikely is a cool interactive site that lets you map and follow a bike commute route.

Ken Carlson (WWBPA Trustee): 65 miles for the week. Bike commuted Wed-Friday, from his home near Rabbit Hill Road to Dey Road in Cranbury, usually a 9 mile route, but threw in some extra training miles. Didn't get rained on once (somehow)!!

Jessica and Deniz Dagci (WWBPA Friends): 64 miles (32 miles each). The Dagci's live on Washington Road in WW and commute by bike four days a week to Princeton (6 miles roundtrip), plus once a week an 8 mile trip to the grocery store. They live car-free. Way to go Dagci's!!

Bruce Ellsworth (WWBPA Member): 42 miles to work on two commutes

Bill Garrett: (WWBPA Friend): 74 miles (including 17 miles from Friday May 1). "My roundtrip distance is 16 miles. I ride through Mercer County Park for a ways. It’s nice to have to look out for deer and rabbits rather than cars and trucks. Last week, on my way home from work, I rode to my polling place to vote."

Kirill Karperson (WWBPA Friend): 14 miles. Bike commuted Friday from his home near McCaffery's to and from Carnegie Center. His route can be found here: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=62+Saratoga+Dr+N,+Princeton+Junction,+NJ+08550&daddr=Lanwin+Blvd+to:Woodmere+Way+to:40.308527,-74.624248+to:210+Carnegie+Center,+Princeton,+NJ+08540&geocode=%3BFRauZgIdnp-N-w%3BFWnLZgIdMm6N-w%3B%3B&view=map&hl=en&gl=us&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=3&sz=16&via=1,2,3&sll=40.307709,-74.622145&sspn=0.012763,0.020556&ie=UTF8&ll=40.317297,-74.635105&spn=0.012761,0.020556&z=16

Matt Martin (WWBPA Member): 12 miles (three days of commuting). "My daily bike commute is shorter these days due to the fact that we moved to a house closer to the Princeton Junction train station (where I then take the train to Jersey City). I now have a daily bike commute of just 4 miles round trip. Also, I was glad to recently get one of those great bike lockers at the train station, which makes the biking experience even more enjoyable"

Dan Rappaport (WWBPA member): 9.5 miles on Friday

Paul Shapiro (WWBPA member): 64 miles. Two days of bike commuting. Paul lives in West Windsor and works in Philadelphia and several days a week parks at Cornwalis Heights off of Rt 95 and bikes 16 miles to work.

Ben Tufford (WWBPA Friend): 132 miles for the week (three days of commuting)

Henry Van Cotter: (WWBPA member): 65 miles. A wet week! Highpoint: Followed a great blue heron on tow of the mornings. Lowpoint: Car ran a stop sign and forced Van to maneuver into the opposing lane (luckily no cars were coming)

Jeanne Weinmann (WWBPA Friend): 30 miles for the week. Biked Monday-Wednesday, and Friday, to and from Community Middle School on a 6 mile round trip route.

Hopefully next week will be drier and we will get more reports from these bike commuters and others. Please spread the word! Let's see if we can beat last year's 1400 mile mark for May!