Did you see the news item today about a Portland bike-sharing program called White Bike? On Monday, according to the AP story, White Bike organizers plan to put about seven donated bikes, which have been fixed up and painted white, at various places downtown. The bikes are available for anyone who has visited the White Bike Web site to obtain the combination lock code. I'd love to hear from people about their opinions on this. Will it really help? Are there people who would like to ride (and who already own helmets) but don't have their own bikes? What I'm really wondering is this: is Portland a big enough city for this kind of metropolitan idea to work? I'm skeptical, but I want to be proved wrong!

Biking followed by massage -- it doesn't get much better than that. The 7th annual Women's Ride for Heart Health takes place in Freeport on Sunday, June 1. This event, sponsored by the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, keeps getting bigger and bigger as more women join the fun. There are three rides (5, 10 and 25 miles long) as well as yoga, massage, medical screenings and lots of information and presentations about heart health. Did you know that heart disease is the number one killer of Maine women? I'll be riding this again with the two girls (now 9 years old) that I rode with last year; it's never too early to develop healthy habits, right? The rides cover lovely rural sections of South Freeport, starting from the LL Bean Conference Center on Casco Street.
Visit the BCM Web site for more information.

If you missed the Bicycle Coalition of Maine's two great bike swaps, here's yet another one where you might find some great bargains. Gorham Bike and Ski, 1440 Congress Street in Portland (near the Westgate Shopping center), is having a bike swap this Saturday, May 17. If you've got a bike to sell, bring it to the shop from Wednesday through Friday. If you're looking for a bike, turn up between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. (but remember, early worms do get the best stuff). Get more details on the Gorham Bike and Ski Web site.