With the threat of scattered showers to soak them on a ten-mile ride to UMass-Dartmouth, a dozen Fall River cyclists left the Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center to join an even larger group who had left Fort Taber in New Bedford on a May 15, 2011 ride. Encouraging people to walk or bicycle is one of the goals of the statewide Mass In Motion effort to improve the health of the state population by making policy and environmental changes that support active living. Mass In Motion coordinators Julie Kelly and Pauline Hamel worked for several months to plan the event with help from Southeaster Regional Planning and Economic Development District staff member Adam Recchia and Jen Genot from UMass-Dartmouth. They chose the route of a potential South Coast Bikeway between the two cities and used the ride illustrated the potential for more local bike paths to encourage healthier alternatives to automobile transportation. Click here for a video of the ride. Click here for a video of a similar event held on November 7, 2010.. For more information, call or e-mail Julianne Kelly, chairwoman of the Open Space & Recreation Planning Task Force, at 508-324-2405 or New Bedford Mass In Motion coordinator Pauline Hamel.

(Top row, left) The group prepares to leave the parking lot of the Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center in Fall River after a brief rain shower. (Top row, center and right) Town of Dartmouth Board of Health director Wendy Henderson heads up Slocum Road in Westport with the group. (Second row) Tom Labonte of Fall River rides his recumbent bicycle along Old County Road in Dartmouth. (Bottom row, center) New Bedford Mass In Motion coordinator Pauline Hamel, UMass students Jen Genet and Rhode Island College student Angela Bannister, New Bedford YMCA executive director Nancy Bonell, and SRPEDD staff member Adam Recchia pose for a photo after the ride. (Bottom row, right) Cyclists prepare for their return ten-mile rides back to Fall River and New Bedford..