Overheard in the Bike Lane

Saturday morning, early spring, I’m running north on Vanderbilt Avenue in Brooklyn, away from Prospect Park.

The context: A handful of years ago, the DOT made Vanderbilt Ave in Prospect Heights awesome. It’s a big, two way street, and people love going fast on it. They added a big center median and bike lanes on either side of the road, and it’s since become something of a biker’s paradise. The bike traffic jams at big intersections these days are kinda hilarious/nice/annoying. All of which is to say that lots of people are using these lanes. 

That day: It was an awesome early spring morning, one of those days when the sun is actually warm again and the air smells alive. I was coming down the hill and caught up to a guy salmoning in the southbound bike lane.

He made at least one person veer out of his way, and I decided that I’d point out that there was, in fact, a bike lane going the same direction he was just across the street. I said something about how it was dangerous and how he was forcing people to swerve out into traffic to avoid him. There was probably swearing on my part. 

“I’m endangering people? I’m going about two miles an hour.” And that makes it okay? Again, I noted that his bike lane was right over there. 

“But it’s a chilly morning, and this one’s in the sun.”

Seriously dude, you can’t handle biking in the shade?

At this point, I got perhaps too upset, yelled something about him being an embarrassment to all bikers and a pathetic human being and kept running. 

(And yes, I wholly agree that I can be a dick for calling people out and not being super nice about it, but this guy was endangering people because he didn’t want to be cold. How does he survive in New York City?)

Lots of amazing things happen when you’re biking around the city too. 

Last week I was stopped on York Ave., cutting across the street to head west, when a lady at the intersection asked if she could take my picture. I awkwardly posed with my bike. ”You are just adorable!” 

She’s probably making fun of my shirt matching my rims all over the internet as we speak, but it was still nice. 

Sunday morning, pedestrian side of the Manhattan Bridge

The context: Since the summer, the bicycling and pedestrian paths have been reversed, with bikes taking the south and walkers taking the north. There are lots of signs, especially on the Brooklyn side, directing you to the correct path, but also lots of people who do the wrong thing. 

Most people seem to follow the rules, but one November morning I made the point to four bikers while running on the pedestrian side for a whole 15 minutes.

The reactions:

Dude #1, coming from Manhattan, in reaction to my “what’s up with that?” gesture and agressive pointing to the other side as he came at me: “You don’t even see the signs until you’re already on the bridge.”

My only retort was a rather pathetic “Well now you know,” but really, what kind of stupid excuse is that? You start biking, realize that you’re on the wrong side, and instead of taking 30 seconds to correct the wrong, you just keep going?

I usually like to say that it’s dangerous for everyone, the biker and all the pedestrians alike (because it is). But even if you’re the most selfish dude ever, totally unconcerned with the safety of those around you, why would you choose a path littered with pedestrians, who will only slow you down, when there is a whole path just for bikers feet away. Even accounting for the turn around time to get on the right side, you’d probably still cross the bridge faster by doing it on the bike path. 

Couple #2 and Dude #3 just gave me blank stares, but Biker #4, heading up the Brooklyn ramp, was a stand up guy and turned around! My favorite person in New York!

He said he didn’t ever really come this way, which is also a BS excuse given that there are large orange signs and numerous barriers telling you not to enter the ramp, but hey, you’ve got to give credit where it’s due.