ReCYCLEry news

Matthew Lee does it again, this time in celebration of the inaugural Carrboro/Chapel-Hill Cruiser ride three years ago. While the ReCYCLEry does not host Cruiser Tuesdays, you will find a lot of us participating! For more information, please read the following:

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

What:    Cruiser Tuesday dress up and ride
Where:    Starting at the newest BUB Hub location, Johnny's Sporting Goods, 901 W. Main Street, Carrboro
When:      7:00pm gathering, 7:30pm ride
Theme:    Funky Formal -- semi-formal, fully funky!

We are proud to present two new Blue Urban Bike hubs, and are working on quite a few more. Read more about the award winning BUB program's latest news, featuring details on Hub plans and our recent award.

You can now check out Blue Bikes from Johnny's Sporting Goods in Carrboro and from the USAT hub located at the rear of the Chapel Hill Chamber of Commerce complex (Directions and links below.) Please contact us if you are interested in hosting a BUB Hub and thanks to everyone in the community who already make the Blue Urban Bike program work!

Do you want to be a Blue Urban Bike rider? Purchase a one year membership card online!

Current BUB Hubs:

The ReCYCLEry Advisory Board met for its quarterly meeting Tuesday, July 22nd, and has mapped out one of the most active seasons to come! We've received a lot of media attention lately and a huge surge in community participation and we'd like to give a preview of what's on our plate.

First and foremost, we are looking for more people interested in regularly volunteering at the ReCYCLEry and assisting with the influx of participants, and we will also be searching for qualified candidates to join the Advisory Board this fall.

We are sad to have one of our wonderful Board members, Bonnie Corbin, leaving us for Washington D.C. We'll miss you Bonnie!

Our fall plans are huge! We will be having an 8th Anniversary Celebration, Fundraiser and Cruiser Ride on Sunday, October 26th. The fundraising is to help fund an extended series of Mobile Repair Days, where we get groups of volunteers together to travel to local under-served communities, and teach kids how to work on bikes and let them participate to earn a bike.

Original article and broadcast by the local CBS affiliate, WRAL News, 7/21/08

The ReCYCLEry was featured recently on WRAL Channel 5 News and we've already been receiving emails from folks interested in donating bicycles in the Raleigh area. At the current time, we don't have an established drop-off spot besides from our Carrboro location, but we are looking into some possible partnerships. A Durham/Chapel Hill location would be most likely.

However, there is an easy solution! There are a couple of other organizations in the area who have similar missions, and we like to support all such pro-active community organizations:

Durham Bike Co-op... Durham's Latest and Greatest Community Bike Program
durhambikecoop.org

1304 Bikes... Raleigh's Community Bike Project
1304bikes.org

If you have any information, please contact the number in the article. Thank you. Reprinted in portion only, with express permission from WRAL's Managing Editor, and by request of interested parties.

Original article and broadcast by the local CBS affiliate, WRAL News, 7/01/08

By: Adam Owens

"RALEIGH, N.C. — Every year, there are more than 900 crashes between motorists and bicycle riders in North Carolina. Most are thought to be accidental; however, a Raleigh cyclist said the driver that hit her over the weekend did it intentionally...."

"McKeithan said she was pedaling along Old US 1 in Chatham County Saturday afternoon when a car struck her. She suffered cuts and bruises to her arms, shoulders and legs...."

"McKeithan also said she believes the car the hit her was a charcoal-gray Chrysler 300M with a license plate that began with the letters 'X Y T.'"

It's time to give a 2008 summer update on the Blue Urban Bikes project, our own innovative bike loan effort, brought to fruition by the volunteer efforts of the ReCYCLEry and SURGE. Awards and BUB Hub updates are here.

We can now officially call the program, the "award winning" Blue Urban Bikes. At the "Annual Kick Gas Celebration" held today at Research Triangle Park Headquarters, the Blue Urban Bikes Program was awarded the Go Chapel Hill Community Cycling Award and a shiny new plaque for which we need to find a humble, yet prominent placement.

The luncheon and awards ceremony celebrated the achievements of this year's transportation demand management (TDM) programs, including the Durham County Trip Reduction Ordinance and TDM Programs in RTP, Durham, Orange and Wake Counties. Other recognitions included this year's statistics for the Smart Commute Challenge and recognition of the accomplishments of the region's Best Workplaces for Commuters.

Please join us at the ReCYCLEry this Sunday, June 22nd to help tune up some bikes! The final plan is to arrive shortly before 9am when the ladies plan to arrive, and help them tune up their bikes in advance of their 75 mile goal for the day. Volunteers have offered to provide a light breakfast and at noon we will open up our regular Sunday workshop.

Please check our post, BBQ with the Wanderlust Reproductive Justice Story Collective and Bike Caravan, for more information on the group.

Original article and broadcast by local NBC affiliate, NBC-17, 6/22/08

By: Chris Cowperthwaite, NBC-17 Cary Reporter

CARRBORO, N.C. - Vandals are targeting people trying to do something good in Carrboro.

Organizers of a community bike repair workshop called the Recyclery say they want to find out who's been wrecking their site.

Chris Richmond, director of the Recyclery , said that he doesn't want the vandals punished; he wants to meet them, and include them in the Recyclery community.

Ideally, he'd even invite them to do a mural on the side of the building.

"We could use their help painting a building rather than just randomly tagging," said Richmond.

He and a handful of volunteers oversee a mini mountain of bicycle parts, and use it to help people learn all about bike maintenance.

"Our basic idea is that if a bike is in better working order, it's going to be ridden more often," said director Chris Richmond.

Help out long enough, and folks can even build a bike of your own to keep.

Help welcome the Wanderlust riders to Carrboro!

Saturday, June 21st, 2008

What:    Join the Wanderlust bike riders for an evening of story sharing, delicious BBQ, and good conversation!
Where:    117 W. Poplar Ave Carrboro, NC... MAP. No parking on the street—park at Basnight and Sons at corner of W. Main and W. Poplar or University Methodist Church (if there's no event going on) or Carrboro Elementary School—on Shelton Street.
When:      6-8pm
More info:    Pro-choice Public Education Wanderlust Page and blog updates from the tour at Wanderlustwithrhonda.com.

Original article published in The Triangle Business Journal, 6/13/08

By: Catarina Saraiva

Pollution-free travel is goal of Carrboro bike nonprofit

CARRBORO - Chris Richmond knows a thing or two about bicycles. And on Sunday afternoons, he and a team of volunteers put that knowledge to work, repairing bikes brought in by Chapel Hill and Carrboro residents. Along the way, Richmond and friends are popularizing a pollution-free form of transportation in the Triangle.

Richmond is director of The Recyclery, an organization that supplies residents of both towns with refurbished, donated bikes in exchange for volunteering time.

"We have the tools, and we have advice, and we can help folks fix up their bikes," says Richmond.

A carpenter and plumber during the day, Richmond volunteers time to The Recyclery, spending around 24 hours every week on the job, depending on the time of year.

Town officials in Chapel Hill and Carrboro say the organization benefits the community.