Welcome to my blog about bicycling in NYC! Some time in August 2015 I embarked on an interesting adventure to become a bike commuter in NYC. I'm documenting all the hurdles and headaches of biking in a not-especially-bike-friendly city. Hopefully, some of these stories (mishaps) might help other cyclists avoid the same problems and enjoy biking in NY more.
Where it all began…
I currently attend grad school at NYU. The school runs a Bike Share program that lets you borrow bikes during the day. Like a lot of things in life I had found out about Bike Share early on but it look me two years to finally get around to trying it out! (Grad school will refine your procrastination skills). When I finally went to pick out a bike they turned out to be mostly beaten up cruisers with step through frames so low that a toddler could climb on them. So, I wasn't going to look anything like Eddy Merckx.
The next challenge was to watch a video on how to ride a bike in NYC. For anyone living in an urban environment this kind of introduction is crucial. In NYC urban motorists think you're a nuisance trying to steal their roads; some of them seem like they'd rather avoid running over roadkill than a commuter on a bike. But whatever. The streets of NY belongs to cyclists as much as drivers. Also, never forget that as a cyclist you are clearly superior to them. You're on a highly efficient, environmentally friendly machine that doesn't cause global warming nor decimate our artic ice caps and therefore does not endanger living things or future generations on this planet. You're getting substantial exercise and are far less of a risk to pedestrians than any motorized vehicle. On top of that when you bike you use only 1/5 of the energy of a pedestrian to go about 5 times faster. Whoever came up with the idea of a bike should be given the Nobel Prize in Awesomeness.
After watching the standard introductory video to urban biking the next step is to take the bike out on to an actual road. I started with a curbside lane right outside of a school building on West 4th Street. On Google Maps you'll see it's a solid dark green colored line (Google calls it a "bike trail" and it's different from the lighter green one that indicates just a standard asphalt bike lane with white lines on the street). For curbside lanes and protected paths the ground will be painted green with a large white icon of a person on a bike repeated periodically. Often protected paths will have some "padding" on one side, like hatched road markings to separate traffic. Sometimes there are also parked cars next to one side of hatched road markings that act as a buffer fast moving traffic on a major boulevard. First and Second Avenues in Manhattan come to mind. For a description of the different types of bike lanes in NYC go to the Department of Transportation page located here.
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| A bike lane near the building where the NYU Bike Share office is located. |
After reaching the end of the block I was presented with a bigger challenge. The bike lane abruptly ended and the road ahead was dangerously unmarked. I saw experienced cyclists whizzing straight past me without blinking into the dark, unmarked asphalt, but that was unthinkable. It would be like a beginning swimmer being tossed into the deep end. I certainly wasn't ready for an unmarked road! Where to go now? Checking my map it seemed like turning left would put me on another green lane. Relief! It was clever of NYU to set up the Bike Share program near Washington Square Park. Interesting challenges on every corner (or I might be a bit of a timid lame-ass at this, but it's great either way)!
After going another block the green bike path disappeared again. This time I had to ride on unmarked asphalt, but luckily there were other cyclists boldly pedaling ahead, so I followed them up to 10th Street, where I turned right and headed east for the protected path on 2nd Avenue. The 10th Street bike lane is clearly marked with white lines and filled with weekend riders. But I noticed immediately that cars don't especially care about staying in their own lanes and they seem to care even less about double parking in ours.
It was hair-raising at first. A large white van passed me veering slightly in and out of the bike lane as a silver Honda Accord decides to suddenly lurch out of its parking spot, cross the bike lane, and merge into traffic. This all happened in front of me in about 5 seconds. Yikes! You're supposed to be able to navigate this? In spite of all the signs everywhere, many drivers forget there is a bike lane or that people are using it! Oddly, the helmet gives you some irrational sense of protection. I mean, afterall it's just a helmet on your head and the rest of you is just flesh with some cloth draped over it. You're very vulnerable. But for some reason when I wear a helmet, I feel a little more fearless. I guess you'll have to get your courage from somewhere to bike in this city!
