In association with Somerville Bicycle Committee, Friends of the Community Path, Cambridge Bicycle Safety,
with sponsorship help from Bicycle Belle and Wheelworks, and donations from members of the community like you,
in celebration of the opening of the Community Path Extension (CPX), we present:
Summer CPX Family Bike Ride
Saturday August 19th, 2023, 9:30AM, meet at Davis Square
(rain date Sunday August 20)
Registration (one registration per family) is required for insurance reasons: click here. Can be done day of but do in advance if you can.
There is no fee to register, event is open to public, donations are encouraged to help us cover our costs. Ice cream, insurance, permits/DCR staff, portable restrooms, entertainment, play equipment etc really add up. We are organized by parents, not any government body or company. Most of the expenses of our $3,000 budget for this event were paid for by sponsors and donations from friends and attendees. If you have not donated yet and enjoyed the event please consider supporting.
Facebook event page if you prefer
Start Point: L Shaped Municipal Parking Lot adjacent to the former Rite Aid at 393 Highland Ave in Davis Square, which is on the Somerville Community Path.
Bring your kid bikes, grown up bikes, cargo bikes, bike trailers, tandem bikes, bikes with kid seats, etc for our Summer CPX Family Bike Ride. A chance to meetup with other families in the area, celebrate Summer, eat ice cream, play, check out the Community Path Extension with hundreds of friends, listen to the music of Matt Heaton, and have quality time with your children. All children must be accompanied by adults.
Event plan, subject to change:
9:30AM-9:50AM Gathering time
9:50AM-10:00AM Remarks
10:00AM-10:45AM The ride is a safe ride along the Somerville Community Path and North Point Paths.
Our ride leader is Somerville physical education teacher Miss Von Trapp.
Auto crossings will be marshalled by volunteers, including parent volunteers and our honorary marshals (elected officials):
Somerville City Councilors Burnley, Gomez-Moukad, Strezo, and Wilson
Cambridge City Councilors Azeem and Nolan,
State Rep Connolly
And Candidates for office :
Somerville City Council Ward 1 Candidate Hunt, Somerville At Large City Council Candidate Mbah, Somerville City Council Ward 5 Candidate Pereneck,
Cambridge School Committee Candidate Schraa
Please ride slow, yield to pedestrians, give space to other riders and stay to the right, CPX is narrow. Parents please coach your kids in these rules.
This is a longer ride than we normally do: over 4 miles vs 2-3, and it has a couple hills, though it will be slow due to the volume of people and the narrowness of CPX, so self propelled riders will probably not tire out. But feel free to join us at any point along the route if your child would benefit from a shorter ride.
10:45AM-noonish Play, ice cream and songs from Matt Heaton at Paul Revere Playground. There is a playground, large fields and we will have our impressive collection of outdoor play equipment. There is also another nearby playground at NorthPoint Park. Feel free to roam! Popular local children's singer Matt Heaton will ride with us then perform his songs at the destination. We are purchasing ice cream from nearby Charlestown location of Emack and Bolio's, which we will bring to the park to serve (vegan/non dairy option available, all flavors are produced in a facility that handles nuts but do not have nuts as ingredients, we expect to have some packaged allergen free options too).
Test drive cargo bikes with Wheelworks at the destination.
No group return, people gradually depart when they like.
There will be a portable restroom at Paul Revere Park, but not at the start location.
Route map and start location:
Photos of start location:
Photos of the ride route: