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Blind Spots

9/26/2016

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Since I’ve returned to cycling, I notice a reluctance to take my eyes off the road and check if someone’s coming up behind me. It’s a question of confidence: after being off the bike for 6 months, I’m still getting my riding legs back. But this negligence has led to some near misses. Not good.
 
The fact is, even when I do take that moment to check, cycling takes place over time: what was absent when I first glanced, may be suddenly present by the time I make my move.
 
So I bought a helmet mirror. They’re called “rear view mirrors,” but in fact they tell the future. Without a mirror, one false move can trigger a series of others whose consequences escalate in geometric progression. With a mirror, there is more information about what lies ahead (based on what's behind); it buys some time to make safer choices.
 
If only we had such mirrors to guide us in life.
 
Last year, I went on a ride of the Katy Trail with L and 4 of her long-time friends. I haven’t seen any of them since.
 
I bring this up because cycling is often done in groups, and fitting into a group dynamic is a skill just as important as knowing how to follow a route map. Musicians are chosen for their chops, but often just as important, is how tolerable their personalities are; because you spend more time traveling together than you ever do on stage. As a musician, I passed this test. As a cyclist, I flunked: I lacked the rear-view mirror that showed dangers creeping up from behind; I was completely out of my depth in a group of people who’d known each other for 40+ years (and pretty much shared the same rear-view mirror). And even if I’d had such a mirror, we all have blind spots.
 
It’s humiliating to consider that that many people agreed I was not a suitable traveling companion (not that I’m arguing). But the hardest part has been losing L as a riding partner. She was a cycling “mother” if you will. She took me from a Brompton to a road bike with clips; she taught me the value of training, repeat hills and maintenance. She really got me started.
 
Will I ever join a group cycling trip again? It’s certainly easier (though pricier) to go with the big names: Back Roads, VBT, Butterfield. The rules are clear; the responsibility lies with the company. It’s a little lonely if you’re single, but the trade off is that the personal stakes are low.
 
As for my trip on The Katy Trail, today I can look back and see where I made the first bad choice which started the unraveling of trust (the fault is not only mine), but I can’t go back and change it. All I can do is learn from my mistakes, and not be too hard on myself for having made them.
 
Hindsight after all, is 20/20.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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A Good Friend

9/22/2016

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In an effort to get back into shape, I’ve gone into training doing the Central Park Loop a couple of times a week. I’ve worked up to riding the Loop twice, with two hill repeats (a total of three ascents), the last one standing on the pedals. Other than my quads being a little “noodley” after that last ascent, I’m feeling pretty good about my come back.
 
Until I run into this guy:

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I’ve just done two hill-repeats and am headed around the loop for the last killer ascent, when he draws up next to me.
 
“Did you know you’re not sitting straight in the saddle?” He asks.
 
“Um, no,” I reply, “How’m I sitting?”
 
“You’re veering off to the right”
 
“Interesting,” I say trying to defend myself against this unexpected criticism while at the same time making sense of it.
 
He rides off.
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That’s the thing about New York. Everyone has an opinion.
 
I confess to feeling slightly deflated. Who is this guy anyway? And what business is it of his how I ride? He wouldn’t have said anything if I’d been a man.
 
But after blaming the messenger for awhile, I decide to evaluate whether his comment has merit.
 
The fact is, I’m still making a come back from a Tibial Plateau injury. My right leg, while adequate for walking, is still not as strong as the left. Is it possible my body is compensating?
 
I continue around the Loop and make my final standing-on-the-pedals ascent.
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But my heart isn’t in it. I get back on the saddle ¾ of the way up…
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Notice something? No, not the pot holes.
 
The photo is not level – none of them are level. My camera has slid way over to the right.
 
Now that I think about it, it’s been doing that almost since I began using it – way before my injury. I used to think it was a problem with my helmet, and even got a new one, but that didn’t change anything; my footage often came out right-slanted, forcing me to edit it back to level. Since then, I’ve worn my helmet tighter, but still this keeps happening. If my riding posture is the cause (and I’m forced to admit that’s the most likely culprit), maybe this is a more intractable problem than I realized.
 
And a more dangerous one. When I had my fall in LA, I was turning left but I fell right. I’ll never know exactly how it happened, but wouldn’t be surprised if my right-slanted posture had something to do with it.
 
And now an invasive New Yorker has pointed out the problem.
 
In Buddhism, this guy would be known as “A Good Friend.” A Good Friend can be someone who’s kind and supportive. It can also be someone who acts as a mirror or catalyst for actualizing our higher self. It’s not always pleasant. It wasn’t pleasant for The Buddha* and it’s not pleasant for me. But correct cycling posture is a vital component to riding.
 
Friends come in all shapes and sizes. Some are kind and some are cruel. All of them are useful.
 
*http://sokaspirit.org/1354
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We Ride Together

9/15/2016

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Lauren Davis. Giovanni Nin. Sam Hindy. Matthew Von Ohlen. These are just four of the 18 cyclists who have been killed by cars this year, the last death believed to be intentional (no one yet apprehended). They were not riding recklessly. Sam Hindy was attempting to navigate a dangerous intersection in The Bronx; Matthew Von Ohlen was in the bike lane in Brooklyn. But they were left unprotected by the infrastructure that Mayor Bill DeBlasio had promised when he outlined his Vision Zero plan (no more deaths by car by 2024). It’s just September, and already we have surpassed last year’s tragic number of 15 cyclists dead. The NYPD’s response? Ticket cyclists for minor infractions.
 
In case you think you’re off the hook because you don’t ride, consider this: every 6 minutes, a pedestrian is struck by a car in New York. In the event of a fatality, it’s a misdemeanor for the motorist (if it ever gets to court), and TWU Local 100 - the NYC Bus Drivers Union - is trying to overturn even this.
 
Enough is enough. 
Transportation Alternatives is gathering with numerous other organizations – the 5BBC, Families for Safe Streets and others – to stage “We Ride Together,” an unpermitted ride of 1,000+ cyclists in yellow shirts, down 5th Avenue. We’re cyclists, but we’re riding for safe streets for everybody.
 
We gather at The Plaza. 
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And listen to TA Director Paul Steely White (and several supporting City Council Members) talk about the need for safer infrastructure in all 5 boroughs. Our city is built on a 1950’s model he says, where city streets were seen as super highways. But the density of the city was very different then. With today’s population and rampant development, the needs of pedestrians – and cyclists – must take priority over the car. The City is encouraging cycling; there are Citibike stations coming to all 5 boroughs.
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Where is the infrastructure to protect us?
 
The ride takes off to a stereo chorus of tinkling bells.​
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It's incredibly moving to see nothing but bikes as far as the eye can see:   ​        
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We may not have the horse power, but we have the numbers. And it doesn’t take much to see we are just a fraction of the total number of cyclists...
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And pedestrians out there.​
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Many of whom are glad to see us.​
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It’s a joyful ride, but a defiant one. Chanting, “Whose Streets? Our Streets!” and wearing yellow signs that read, “Mayor DeBlasio, People Are Dying,” some of us hold up photos of people we lost, killed by cars.
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But drivers won’t go down without a fight. Like this guy, who drives right into our peloton, leaving his car in the intersection, determined to defy us whatever it takes.
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Today at least, he’s on the losing end of that argument.

We sail through midtown, our members acting as volunteer traffic directors to protect us.
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Down towards the Flat Iron building in the fading light...
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And finally to Washington Square Park (we ride around it first), where we gather to thank everyone who put this ride together.
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And to mobilize in groups to get home. I’m in Manhattan, where significant progress has been made. To my astonishment my ride home takes place completely on buffered and parking protected bike lanes.
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A route that did not exist even a year ago. And as I ride, my eyes well at the commitment of the activists who made this happen. Someone thought of this. Someone cared about us.
 
But large numbers of my fellow riders come from the other 4 boroughs – boroughs where long-identified “dangerous streets” are still the only riding alternative. Until all of us are safe, none of us can be safe. In the meantime, we ride together.*
 
*Hours after the Vision Zero ride
http://gothamist.com/2016/09/16/brooklyn_cyclist_in_critical_condit.php
 
For more coverage of We Ride Together:
  • http://www.villagevoice.com/news/a-thousand-cyclists-protest-nycs-sluggish-response-to-traffic-fatalities-9117346
  • http://pix11.com/2016/09/16/hundreds-of-cyclists-ride-down-fifth-avenue-to-protest-city-response-to-crashes/
  • http://www.amny.com/transit/bike-advocates-call-for-more-funding-to-mayor-bill-de-blasio-s-vision-zero-initiative-1.12324920
 
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    Melodie Bryant is a resident of NYC and avid cycler of a folding Brompton bike named Lucille and a Scott road bike, Lola.

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