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No Ordinary Rides

4/29/2015

4 Comments

 
There are no ordinary rides. Sometimes that's a good thing. Sometimes it's a close call I'd rather forget.

Today, I have an errand to run. I use that as an excuse to ride up to the tennis courts at 120th first, intending to do my errand on the way back. 

I am stunned at the beauty around me; as surprised as if I'd never seen it before. 

Trees flowering.

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Clouds worthy of Magritte.
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Kids skipping rope.
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Up at the tennis courts, players are reuniting after a long hiatus.
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I dawdle. This is the best part of the ride. I wish there were more riding like this on the Promenades. The path to the GWB is bumpy and filled with those Spandex Warriors who would be just as happy in a Velodrome (why don't we build them one?). I take a leisurely turn around the end of the Promenade. 
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And end up riding behind these guys.
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I'm always a little conflicted at people riding two by two. On the one hand, it's an inconvenience and clogs up the bike lane. On the other, it's a friendly thing to do - something I'd like to be free to do myself, especially on a day like this. I'll pass them later, I'm in no hurry. We ride down the path and head under the West Side Highway...
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And that's where it happens.

Now, I'm a very defensive rider. I signal. I call out "On your left," on a regular basis. I always check to see if anyone is coming up on my left if I'm about to pass. And now, I check my left not just once -
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But twice, leaving time for the blue rider to pass, and leaving extra room on my right to account for unforeseen behavior (keep in mind the camera does not take in the full angle of the eye). So I am in the far left of the lane.
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The next thing I know - 
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This guy is passing so close, I can feel his arm against my left sleeve as he hems the three of us in.
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Guys like this are terrifying. He is skilled, and sometimes I fear these guys less than inexperienced riders. But he is riding for speed, and not defensively or he never would have made this move. Four days before the 5 Boro Bike Tour, and I could have wound up on the bottom of a 4-bike pile-up, losing not just that tour, but a lot more than that.

To my amazement, he shakes his head as he passes...
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Baffled that I had the nerve to move into his path to begin with. It's the same behavior I've seen in Central Park with those Strava guys (it's always guys) yelling "coming through!" as they speed through cross walks filled with pedestrians. The guy was going too damn fast. The guys next to me are as horrified as I am.

The rest of the ride is a meditation on whether it's a good idea to cycle at all in NYC. The roads are bad. Add in the cars. And then you have unlicensed behavior like this (and no insurance). Something like this could be life changing for me. 

I come home feeling physically great. I love cycling - everything about it. Everything except this. Is it worth it?

It's an open question right now. It's not till after I'm home for sometime that I remember anything about the errand.


4 Comments
Serena
4/29/2015 04:46:07 pm

So good. Did you go for your errand at the end?

Reply
Sheila
4/29/2015 11:35:44 pm

send this one to the NY Times! And any local papers that might take up the cause. Your council person? Seems like an issue made for a pol to take up as a cause. And, also, good ratio of spring beauty to violent death!

Reply
Jane
5/15/2015 03:43:37 am

I have been riding the Greenway on the West Side for about six years now, and this seems to be a new thing just this year: people passing you just as you are passing someone else. No one who drives a car would DREAM of doing this ... why have guys on bikes suddenly decided that it's okay? Also, just this year, I find that people are passing on my right (often just as someone else is passing me on the left). What can we do to educate people -- primarily new, weekend cyclists -- about how to use a bike lane? I've ridden the Greenway rather than th streets for years, because it's felt safer ... but it doesn't anymore.

Reply
Melodie link
5/19/2015 09:23:50 pm

Hi Jane -

I wish I had an answer for you. I really think a lot of these guys need a velodrome. There was talk of building one in Bklyn, but the NIMBY came into play (I think). Transportation Alternatives, to which I belong, is doing a lot of work on Vision Zero. Perhaps they will take up the cause as the Greenway becomes more and more crowded. And too, once our streets have more parking-protected bike lanes, it's possible the rest of us will feel safer biking there and won't need the Greenway so much. But you're right - it still should not be a speedway and yes, drivers wouldn't think of behaving this way.

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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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