I Bike NY

From Random Bike Photos

This just in! You do not need to prepare for a short bike trip to work or the store as if you were gearing up for the Tour de France! Spandex, highly reflective tight-fitting biking jackets, and (gasp) helmets* are not actually required to bike the streets of New York. Nor are over the shoulder messenger bags and torn and cuffed jeans. You can actually look like a normally dressed New Yorker, and get around town on a bicycle.

You don’t have to be a 25-35 year old man, flying down the street on a fixed gear cycle screaming at pedestrians and motorists to “Get the F— out of the way.” I didn’t even know what a fixed gear was until last week, and once I found out I wondered why the heck someone would choose to ride a bike without gears, breaks, and the ability to coast. That’s cool?

I bike New York because it’s the easiest way to get around town. Period. The fact that biking in America is perceived as either “Sport” or “Fringe” is a tragedy. You know the common idiom, “It’s like riding a bike…” Well, most people learn to ride at a very young age and it is a simple skill that stays with them the rest of their lives. Its not really that complicated.

I’m not sure how or when biking became seen as a leisure activity or something for children, but it probably has something to do with sprawling cities and the rise of the automobile. As the distances to work became greater and greater and the automobile traffic became more and more oppressive, the bike changed from a transportation device to a recreation device. And it stayed in the garage a lot more often.

But folks, we don’t live in suburban Atlanta (thank God), we live in one of the greatest cities in the world. A city that has a lot more in common with the capitals of Europe and Asia than it does with America’s heartland. True, our city expanded and became more car dependent thanks to the highway building efforts of Robert Moses, but we still live in a place dependent on mass transportation and walking. A place with mom-and-pop delis, independent pizza shops, and non-chain restaurants. And a place that is flat and compact and GREAT for cycling.

Moreover, we now have a Mayor and Transportation Commissioner that are taking back the streets from the automobile and turning over space to pedestrians and cyclists. We have experienced a rapid expansion of our bike route network (working toward 200 new lane miles in just 3 years) and seen a dramatic rise in commuter cycling (one year increase of 35%!).

So its time to stop thinking, “I’ll bike when it is safer”, because it is safer when there are more people biking. We’ll know we’ve made it when a passenger actually looks before throwing open a taxi-door into a bike lane. When a pedestrian realizes that just because the cars have passed, it doesn’t mean that it’s okay to walk blindly through the intersection with an ipod in their ears. And when cyclists realize biking is not fringe, but mainstream and that the rules apply to them too.

*Helmets are required by law for cyclists 13 and under. I would also say they are important for cyclists new to biking and/or biking in New York. My family, friends, and co-workers definitely do not approve of me biking without a helmet, and I am not trying to encourage other people to ride without one. But this country is about personal choice, and I quite simply do not like to wear them. I am not a high-speed racing cyclist, a bmx mountain biker, or a trick cyclist. I bike at low speeds, with caution, and am comfortable with the risk involved.

Filed under: Who bikes NY?