Perfect Your Pedal: Bike Tips & Trails from AAA Southern New England

It’s spring – finally – and that means it’s time to go outside, get moving and begin enjoying everything the nice weather has to offer. One simple way is to ditch the car or the humid subway and jump on your bike! Conveniently enough, Boston was just selected for a national project to improve bike lanes, May is National Bike Month and May 10-18 is Bay State Bike Week, so kick your bicycle into gear!

Before hitting the road or trail, here’s a rider-friendly refresher course to help you, your friends and family have the safest ride possible:

• Always wear a helmet and make sure it fits properly with the chin strap fastened. Massachusetts law requires bicyclists to wear a helmet under the age of 17, but it’s recommended for all riders.
• Wear reflective or bright-colored clothing.
  
• Find your perfect fit – you’ll know your bike is the right size when you can sit on the seat and balance with the balls of both feet touching the ground. You should be able to do this without leaning to one side or the other.
• In the event of a breakdown, what’s your backup plan? A great new resource available to all of AAA Southern New England’s 3.5 million members is Bicycle Roadside Assistance. This new program is free for members and, as long as you can get your bike to a normally-travelled road within AAA Southern New England’s territory, service trucks can help you out.
• Bicyclists must obey traffic laws, too! Be aware of motorists, use hand signals for turns and give pedestrians right of way. More details about laws and recommendations for bicyclists who plan to use the roadway can be found here.

Your bike is tuned up, your helmet is on and you’re dressed to impress. Now, where to hit the road? Mary Wyatt, senior vice president at AAA Southern New England, offers her recommendations for the best bike trails in Massachusetts:

• Cape Cod Rail Trail: 25 miles, South Dennis to Wellfleet
• Minuteman Bikeway: 10 miles, Cambridge to Bedford
• Lower Neponset River Trail: 2.5 miles, Dorchester to Milton
• Phoenix Bike Trail: 3 miles, Fairhaven to Mattapoisett
• Topsfield Linear Common Trail: 3.9 miles, Boxford to Wenham
• Wachusett Greenways: 30 miles, Sterling to Barre

Happy biking!

AAA Southern New England’s bicycle service is available throughout Rhode Island, in Fairfield, Litchfield and New Haven counties in Connecticut, Morris, Union and Essex counties in New Jersey, and all of Massachusetts with the exception of Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties. No registration is required for members to begin using the new bicycle benefit. For more information, visit AAA.com/Bicycle.