Last fall, a group of 50 bicyclists rallied in Boston's Waterfront Park to protest the exclusion of bicycles from the local subway system.

The so-called "T Party" included a race across. Boston Harbor, where participants either rode their bikes, took the cycles in a canoe, or (by special dispensation) traveled with their bikes on the subway to the opposite shore. Although the event was supposed to publicize the need for cyclists to have access to the subway, the canoe proved the fastest way across the harbor.

"I go into withdrawl if I'm not with my bike," said Deborah L. Kern '86 at the rally in October. Another participant said cyclists have been "very rudely treated by the MBIA" Their protest represented one of many problems local cyclists encounter each day, Although bicycle racks are a common sight across campus, students cannot ride their bikes in the Yard. Thefts remain a problem. And the congested Cambridge traffic always naakes riding dangerous.

For off-campus students and residents of Quad and distant River Houses, cycling forms an integral part of each day. "A bike is definitely a Quad necessity," says one Cabot House resident. "I couldn't get around without it. It's too far to walk everywhere and the shuttle takes too long."

Despite its usefulness, riding a bicycle in Cambridge poses a number of dangers. "Its a real life illustration of Darwinism--survival of the fittest on the streets of Cambridge," comments another Quad resident.

"Cars in the Square have no respect for bikes. They just figure you'll get out of their way." He adds, "Cars have no respect for you, so I have no respect for cars."

Sgt. John E. McCarthy, traffic supervisor for the Cambridge Police Department, agrees that bicycles and automobiles often seem locked in a constant battle over the streets.

"Bikers and drivers just are unable to communicate with each other, and this creates a lot of personal animosity between them," he says.

Andrew W. Ward '79, member and former captain of the Harvard Cycling Team, says, "Massachussetts drivers and Boston drivers in particular make it difficult to ride. In short, they just don't obey many of the road rules."

Ward recognizes that most cyclists also disobey traffic rules. "A lot of them are just inviting accident. For the most part, they tend to run red lights and ride down one-way streets the wrong way," he says, adding that drivers' legitimate expectations for cyclists to "pull some ridiculous stunt" further compounds the problem. "They'll tend to either give you a wide berth, speed up past you or just honk their horns," he says.

McCarthy believes that most student cyclists, under the pressure of time, often tend to overlook the rules and regulations governing bike riding.

The attitude of one Currier House commuter seems to support this. While she recognizes certain dangers in haphazard riding, she says, "When you're late to class, you pick the shortest way to get there and that's the way you go."

"I realize that they [students] need to get from class to class in a hurry," McCarthy notes, "but I can't stress enough the need to use absolute caution and obey the traffic rules at all times because there is definite danger involved."

Former State Sen. William L. Saltonstall '49, who largely wrote the current cycling statutes 11 years ago, says, "At the time, the state laws were very vague about the rights of cyclists to be on the road... The goal of the statute was to make clear that they had definite rights but also definite responsibilities."

The law require cyclists to equip bicycles with brakes, reflector, and either a bell or horn, register them with the local police department, and follow the same traffic rules governing vehicles, including signaling and obeying all lights and signs.