Mayor Tom Menino's quest to turn Boston into a world-class cycling city took another step forward today as the city officially announced plans to add bike lanes to the busy stretch of Mass. Ave between Symphony Hall and Boston Medical Center. The decision was announced officially at the Boston Bike Week event at City Hall Plaza this morning.

Harvard Square to the Phoenix offices via bicycle, according to Google.

I'm a recent-ish convert to the world of bicycle commuting, and as such, I've often wondered if I've been doing it right. Specifically, is there a faster route I could be taking to get into work? Now there's an easy way to find out: Google has added a "bicycle" option to Google Maps, which seems to look for things like bike paths and areas with clearly-indicated bicycle lanes.

This thing pictured above is a bicycle. You're going to see more and more of them in the coming weeks and months. Quick word of advice: if you see one hurtling towards you, you may want to get out of its way.

Before I even start speaking, I know what you're thinking: "great, here comes some other entitled bike-riding asshole who's telling everyone else to be safe while he's tearing ass in and out of traffic and running red lights!" Understand: I agree, to an extent, that a lot of cycle advocates preach a lot more than they practice.