Good Cause: Donate To Streetsblog This Week For A Chance To Win A Shiny New Schwinn

 

Bike Month is winding down, so hopefully you hit up some of the awesome events listed on BikeNYC.org and witnessed a few wild rides at the City Reliquary's Bike Fetish Day (check out these great photos). To wrap things up, we'll leave you with one more way to participate without even stepping away from your screen.

All month long nonprofit cycling and sustainable transportation website Streetsblog has been raising money to support the invaluable daily content that they've been delivering since 2006. In addition to a steady stream of news and information on their NYC, LA, SF, DC and national blogs, Streetsblog also runs Streetfilms, a site "dedicated to documenting livable streets worldwide." As of Wednesday they were just $3,500 shy of their $30,000 goal, and you have until Friday at midnight to help bridge the gap. 

In addition to supporting a great cause, your donation will get you a chance to win a set of Yehuda Moon comics, and if you chip in $50 or more to Streetsblog NYC or Streetfilms, you'll be entered to win a Schwinn city bike from Ride Brooklyn.

While you're preparing to pledge your support, check out one of Streetfilms' many biketastic videos:

-- John Ruscher

This Saturday: Celebrate The Final Weekend Of Bike Month at The City Reliquary’s Bicycle Fetish Day

Back in April one of our favorite Williamsburg mainstays, the City Reliquary, celebrated its 10-year anniversary (check out some photos and video). This Saturday, the not-for-profit community museum will present another long-running event, its 8th Annual Bicycle Fetish Day. It'll be the perfect way to cap off your Bike Month festivities.

Running from noon to 6pm and taking place on Havemeyer Street between Hope and Grand, Bicycle Fetish Day will be a cycling-centric street fair featuring bike gear vendors including Horse Cycles, Velo Brooklyn and Taliah Lempert's Bicycle Paintings, the bike-oriented apparel of Outlier and Nona Varnado, and advocacy groups such as Transportational Alternatives and Times UP! There will also be delicious food and excellent contests--from "Best Vintage Bike" and "Best Commuter" to "Best Mutant Bike" and "Best Ugly Bike." Bring along your own ride and compete for some your rightful share of the prizes starting at 2pm. Following the fair, the Reliquary will host a Brooklyn Brewery-fueled after party from 6-10pm.

In addition to the new features that debuted at its anniversary celebration, the Reliquary recently unveiled its newest rotating exhibition, featuring images of the Bronx River by photographer Jahi Sabater. "The Bronx River was an actively polluted waterway until very recently, but has become a focus point for environmental justice groups," says Reliquary managing director Jay Chen. "Sabater's work mingles pastoral beauty with urban grit to give us a glimpse of a waterway that few have seen." This summer the Reliquary will be screening New York-focused films twice a month in its backyard. "We're hoping to arrange them chronologically, so that collectively, they'll show six ages of New York over the past century," Chen says.

The City Reliquary is also looking for volunteers to help out in its gift shop and as museum docents—shoot an email to vollies@cityreliquary.org if you're interested.

-- John Ruscher

Wheels Up: BikeNYC.org Helps You Celebrate Bike Month

May is Bike Month, and while it might be more than half over, there's still plenty of cycling goodness left to go around. We recommend Transportation Alternative's BikeNYC.org, which is brimming with useful information about city cycling, including a daily calendar of bike-related events.

Today, for example was Bike to Work Day, and this weekend you can check out the NYC Bike Expo at Penn Pavilion, the Brooklyn Bike Jumble in Park Slop and lots more. The site also offers some handy tips and tempting deals for NYC's bike-lovers, as well as an interactive map to help you safely pedal your way around the city and a link to Transportation Alternative's directory of bike-friendly businesses.

Of course you can also get your Bike Month fix right here at 3rd Ward. Sign up for our Basic Bicycle Mechanics class to get to know your ride, then get to know it even better in Intermediate Bicycle Mechanics. Or learn to build your own Badass Bike Light!

-- John Ruscher