A City Cycled
Posts tagged NYC
I think this might be my chance to make it big in the modeling world. If anyone has a pair of ass-less chaps they can spare, email me. I think the photographers will be looking for someone unique.
Actually, nevermind, using another person’s ass-less chaps is pretty nasty. Anyone have a shirt with holes for the nipples?
the best way to go back to work after four days off is to ride in in twenty eight degree weather.
Yeah, it was about 35 this morning here, and it was not easy. It’s times like that when I’m riding and I think, “Maybe I should just take the fucking train like a normal person.”
Then, right after that, I think about being on the train and the people who scream about jesus, the people who smell like they just shit their pants, the people who look like they just shit their pants, the people who beg for money by playing absolutely terrible music and the people who make you mad and you have no idea why but it probably has something to do with their pants, and I remember why I love my bike.
“I begin to worry that hate crimes will be committed against bikers, people in cars mowing us down for no reason, other than the perception that we are taking their right to that extra 2 or 3 feet of road away.”
Yes. I worry about this, as well. The rage, the spitting, the swerving - it’s all so unnecessary for two seconds I may have cost you in your race to the next red light.
“Expansion of Bike Lanes in City Brings Backlash”
There was only one valid argument against bike lanes by opponents in this article, that they take away parking spaces for delivery trucks. And that was only a few business owners. But everyone else, I don’t understand; especially in NYC…
It’s a big, huge, gigantic grey area. As I’ve said in the past, it’s everyone’s fault. Peds jaywalk and cross into the bike lane without looking, then get mad at a cyclist for almost hitting them. Drivers cut you off and act as if you have no right to be in their lane, despite the fact that NY law says we do. Cyclists act like assholes and blaze through red lights and don’t signal to cars that they need to change lanes. Cops don’t enforce the laws on either side. Department of Transportation hasn’t offered any kind of education - for drivers, cyclists and peds - to keep up with the huge boom in cycling in the city.
The blame goes all around, so there really isn’t an easy answer. This morning a car sped up and cut me off, causing me to almost crash, just so he could make a right turn in front of me. It was the closest I’ve come to wrecking (knock on all sorts of fucking wood) so far. The driver was a complete asshole, and I yelled that at him and shook my first (side note: how pathetic does shaking your fist at someone make you feel? It’s lame and ineffective. It’s like saying “I’d love to do something, but I don’t know what! So here is an action meant to reflect my anger!”). But does that mean all NYC drivers are dicks? No, of course not. Likewise, just because some cyclist was a jerk one time doesn’t mean all cyclists here are jerks. But as is often the case in life, people can focus on the negative a lot easier than the positive.
The city’s culture is changing, and as that happens, there are going to be growing pains. It sucks but that’s just the way it’s going to be. I always wonder what it’s like biking in other cities - is it as intense as it is here in New York? I hope this whole thing doesn’t come down to violence toward anyone, but at times when I’ve been biking, it seems like it’s almost inevitable. Me, I prefer to shake my fist in the air like a grumpy elderly man in a retirement home.
(Source: highheelsandtwowheels)
26 notes View comments (via kateziegler & highheelsandtwowheels)
Insert joke about Batali having to ride a cargo bike here.
All kidding aside, a good article from the Journal that essentially says everyone (cyclists, peds, drivers, cops, DOT) needs to do a better job for cycling to be a way of life here. I totally agree.
Here goes something
Getting excited for my first Cranksgiving at two today. I have no idea what to expect, but I’m hoping I’m not the only non-messenger super biker there. My only goal is to finish in under 57 hours. I like to keep the bar set low.
Continuing the theme from my earlier post, here’s a picture someone sent to Gothamist of an ambulance blocking a bike lane. Apparently the EMTs inside were asleep as well. I don’t like when cars block the lanes. It’s really annoying. The ambulance shouldn’t be there. It’s not right.
BUT!
I think maybe, just maybe, we could cut these guys some slack. I mean, they save people’s lives for gods sake. Yeah they’re doing something stupid, but maybe the whiny cyclist could just move on and get over it. I feel the same way when I see people posting pictures and bitching about Access-a-Ride’s blocking a bike lane. Really? You’re going to cry about an Access-a-Ride? It gives rides to disabled people. Some of them would kill for a chance to simply experience what it’s like to ride a bike. So give the drivers a fucking break.
Biking here is annoying sometimes, and there are times to point that out, but this isn’t one of them. Pick something else to get mad about. Like Trump’s hair.
This morning I found out why people use mud guards on their bikes
Here’s to hoping I haven’t had a stain on my ass that big since I was in diapers.
Somewhere in the middle
An article about “commuter racing” has been making the Internet rounds today. It’s a pretty terrible piece about how cyclists race each other while going to work or wherever it is that they’re going. The article is a perfect example of why it’s so hard to just be a normal cyclist in this city. There are quotes from people who take themselves way too seriously and act like everything that has to do with cycling in New York is all or nothing. It doesn’t have to be that way, and it rarely is.
I’m sure there are people who commuter race, but believe me, they’re few and far between. Most cyclists are like me - I commute, and yes I get competitive at times - but I never take it that seriously. It’s not like I’m out there scanning the streets for someone to pass, I’m out there looking to get home to my friends Whiskey and Couch.
If someone is slow, I pass them. Yeah, I enjoy it, and no, I’m not an ass about it. I do it safely. If there’s no chance to pass, I ride behind them at a good distance until an opportunity presents itself. I’m not DMX during the late 90s. I don’t ride or die. I simply ride and sometimes pass people, that’s it. Anyone who does otherwise either needs to get over themselves, or they have a lot more whiskey waiting for them than I do.
Sadly, the NYC Street Memorial Project has 12 more ghost bikes to make and install for 2010 fatalities. So we are calling a:
Ghost Bike Making Workday - all are welcome
November 13th 11am - 5pm(raindate/installation date November 20th)
Please contact us if you have a bike to donate or would like to install a finished ghost bike or have any questions.
Please wear or bring work clothes, wrenches, chain breakers and other bike tools as well as food and drink to share.
Nov 13 2010 - 11:00am -Nov 13 2010 - 4:00pm
Wish I could go but my mom will be visiting, so I’ll busy entertaining her. I’m going to see the Cloisters! Yay!
Just spreading the word.
Do the right thing
I didn’t ride to work today because I’m going to happy hour tonight. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m fairly certain drinking and biking won’t mix well for me. When I drink, I tend to start yelling about pretty much anything, not even in an angry way, just in a I’m Irish So I Get Loud way. Stuff I’ve yelled about, just right off the top of my head: How high I could jump out of a building and still survive, why baseball sucks and scarves. So I can only imagine how much I’d yell at cabbies and pedestrians and everything else I’d encounter after the bar. It sucks not to ride, especially on nice fall days, but it’s really in my best interest not to. I guess I’ll just have to settle on yelling at my friends.
