Sadly we didn’t get to wear the fashionable orange vests this time due to an orange vest shortage, but we did have ‘I’m Here To Help’ stickers as well as the opportunity to assist people when they were lost and offer general support.  After a few wrong turns coming out of Brooklyn Bridge Park, we did manage to get our small group back on course and on the way towards the 15 mile finish.  Ken’s first aid kit made an appearance for an injury, while John and I witnessed a cyclist that fell off her bike in front of a highly aggravated and honking taxi driver.  Aside from these incidents our watch was an uneventful one and there were no serious injuries.

This years trek was no less enjoyable than last year – the Bug group marshaled the 15 mile route, then took a vote and in a surprise burst of energy continued on to complete the 35 mile ride.  Not what one would call the most grueling day of biking, but it was sufficient to wear me out for the afternoon.  Our route ended in Astoria Queens where we headed over to the nearby Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden to regain our lost strength.

Best part of all, having that many cyclists on the road at one time raised awareness of the need to provide safe alternate modes of transport to everyone living in this great city.  According to Transportation Alternatives 110,000 New Yorkers commute by bicycle daily.  There is clearly a need for safe road conditions for both pedestrians and cyclists, and being able to assist this cause even in a small way felt pretty good.   Do you regularly use transport other than a car?  And do you have any cool ideas for ways BUG could change your commute?

I’d like to apologize for any inconvenience caused.  Stay tuned and we’ll schedule another one just as soon as we’re back up and running at full capacity in the new building.

For those of you that were unable to make it to our first two Open Houses, or for those that have been anxiously awaiting the next one, we’re opening the doors again on Wednesday the 9th from 6 to 8PM. This will be your last chance to check out our current digs, as we’re moving to a new location further south on Broadway in just a few short days.

Why spend your Wednesday night at our humble office? Because we’ll have cool BUG applications and other demos to show off. You’ll get a chance to play around with the hardware and we’ll be on hand to talk about the SDK, BUGnet, applications, stuff you’re interested in building, whatever you like. Perhaps most importantly, there will be beer. There might even be a free T-shirt or two as giveaways (distribution methods of aforementioned T-shirts still pending). No matter what your reasons for stopping by, we’d love to see you.

You can find us at 915 Broadway (between 20th and 21st) on the 11th floor, at the end of the hall in Suite 1109. Look for the fancy red Bug Labs sign on the door.