by kharied
When visiting a new city, finding your way around and discovering neighborhoods is always the hardest part of acclimating. One great way to learn about a city and efficiently see all the neighborhoods and landmarks is to cycle around. Boston has recently upgraded its biking lanes and has several bike awareness programs as well as bike safety education for new riders. There are also easy ways to map a route through the city by either using Google maps, which has a bike direction section on it for “on-the-go” routing. Or you can even pre-plann a trip to several monuments using Ride the City which offer some suggestions on routes and points of interest.
Now that you’ve planned your route and have some ideas on where you’d like to go, you just need one thing: a bike! Boston has many local bike shops which are happy to rent out cycles for customers who range from novices to those who have ample experience and are looking for a swift city style bike to ride.
Back Bay Bicycles located at Mass Ave and Commonwealth Ave has several styles of bicycles for rent as well as group rides you can sign up for once you acclimate to the city. The group rides range from 10-30 miles around Boston and the outlying neighborhoods. They also have hourly and daily bike rentals available if you would like to go about the city on your own or with some friends. If you happen to take a shining to cycling, they also offer a full selection of utility, racing, and hybrid bicycles for sale with a knowledgeable staff and full service area who will ensure you get a well fitted bicycle tuned up and ready to go.
If you happen to find yourself on the other side of the river, enjoying scenic Cambridge, then Cambridge Bicycles also offers a similar experience as Back Bay Bicycles. This shop, which has won the local Dig This Award (http://cambridgebicycle.com/about/#digthis) for the Best Bicycle Shop six of the last eight year offers a full selection of bicycles to rent as well as purchase. They offer daily rentals (http://cambridgebicycle.com/rentals/) and weekly rentals at reasonable rates.
If you are looking for a more structured tour, there is Urban Adventours who also offesr basic bike rentals or guided bike tours. These tours are all inclusive: providing guides, helmets, locks, and all required equipment for a day of exploring Boston by bike. The guides are knowledgeable long time local cyclists who guide groups through Boston Proper as part of their daily city tour or through the famed Emerald Necklace of Boston, or a scenic bike ride down the Charles River and around to end at Boston Harbor. If you’re a bit skeptical of navigating the city streets alone, this tour puts together a larger group of around 10 persons to all cycle together, making the experience less stressful and relaxing knowing you are in a larger group biking down the street.
For those who are living in the city and have not tried cycling around as of yet, there is the Boston Hubway program which offers residents an affordable and easy to access method of biking through the city. Membership to this program is $85 a year, which gives access to over 150 bike parking stations around the city. With this program, member commuters can access bicycles for free for the first 30 minutes. If you are not a resident of Boston and wish to access these bikes while in the city, they offer 24 hour and 3 day access passes priced at $5 and $12 respectively.
With all of these options available to yourself, there is no reason to shy away from a healthy and fun way of touring the city. Have a unique experience of biking down the Charles River Esplanade or around the Arnold Arboretum, unique experiences only available by bike or foot that make Boston a green and wonderful city to live in. Biking also reduces commute times, is a great way to exercise, and also see Boston in a way you never have before.
