My Bike Doesn't Take Space Away From Your Car

Every time I take a trip on my bike, I'm taking my car off the streets and/or my butt off of a seat in a bus or a subway.  I'm not widening the potholes in the city streets, or cutting you off at an impromptu merge in Houston Street construction, or fouling the air you breathe with my car's emissions.

Non-bikers regularly tell me that "they" break the rules of the road.  It's true: we run red lights and stop signs.  In some cities, law allows cyclists to treat stop signs and red lights as yield signs, because of the mechanics of riding a bike.  (It's harder to get going than to keep going.)  It's also true: some cyclists ride the wrong way on one-way streets.  They're more of a menace to themselves and to bikers going with traffic than they are to motor vehicle drivers.

Hey, guess what?  Cars also run red lights and stop signs.  A few months ago, I yanked Zeke out of the path of a van careening through the intersection of 1st Avenue and 34th Street against the light.  He never saw the van: "Ow, you hurt my arm.  What did you do that for?"  The what-ifs still give me heebie-jeebies.

And take pedestrians.  If I had a nickel for every time a pedestrian stepped right in front of me while I was making my way legally through an intersection with the light, I could retire right now.  I'll take a dime for the ones who lead with the stroller, and half a dollar for the ones so hypnotized by their texting machines that they never noticed I laid rubber squealing to a stop to avoid crashing into them.

Most bike lanes are carved out of streets without reducing the number of lanes allocated to motor vehicles.  On the few New York streets where a bike lane replaces a traffic lane, it also reduces danger to pedestrians, and the number of bikers that aren't driving a car or taking a ride in a cab probably reduces the traffic enough to make up the difference.  Because one car takes up as much space as six to eight bikes. 

Maybe four bikes, if it's a Smart Car.

http://smartcarvs.com/archives/54

 

Jogging in Freezing Rain

I went for a run this afternoon.  The snow had given way to stinging freezing rain blowing into my face.  The East River, a color somewhere between lead and Joyce's snot green sea.

I used to go outdoors and do stuff year round.  Through the winter, I'd be out biking and hiking and jogging.  But for the last several years, winter exercise has all but disappeared what with one lung infection after another for two or three or six months. Spring and summer, attempting to claw my way back to fitness before the next bout of enforced inactivity.

I have no idea why I'm healthy this winter.  I'm fairly shocked by it.  Occasionally I'm annoyed that circumstances mean I can't take good health for granted, but mostly I'm grateful to be aware of what a gift this is.  And I'm out getting exercise -- because I can.  Today, though, trying to keep my eyes from being pelted with little bits of ice, I had a new thought. 

Maybe this is nuts.

East River in the Morning

Back in the days when I used to ride recreationally, 19 degrees meant DON'T GO BIKING.  DO SOMETHING ELSE.  Go hiking, maybe.  Or stay inside and read a book.

Now that I'm commuting the work by bike and by train, 19 degrees means DRESS WARMER.

That said, biking used to mean getting up on a Sunday morning, riding 20 or 30 miles, grabbing a bite at a deli, and then riding back home.  Going out for several hours poses different challenges in terms of staying warm than a fifteen-minute ride to the train station.

Still, it was cold. But also, it was nice to be out, watching the sky get brighter as I rode south beside the East River.

SOPA and PIPA

There's information on these two bills, on which the Senate is supposed to vote next week, on Wikipedia. But if you're reading this on Jan. 18, you won't be able to follow that link, because Wikipedia is participating in an on-line strike against the bills.  You probably won't be able to follow that link, either. Google has announced it will support the strike with information on their home page, so if you want to know more, you could try going over there.

Some Facebook and Twitter users are avoiding those social networking sites tomorrow in solidarity with the internet strike.  I'll be joining them.  See ya the day after tomorrow.

East River at Night

It's not exactly quiet.  There's the thump of traffic on the FDR overhead, the clatter and rattle of trains on the East River bridges, and the occasional thwack of a helicopter taking off.

But ending my day biking next to the East River in the dark is, somehow, incredibly peaceful.  I'm alone, or close to it -- a state seldom possible in New York City.

I check the temperature on the Watchtower building and shiver a little; I glance up at the stream of light flickering its way across the Manhattan Bridge, I pedal along mesmerized by the constantly shifting colors reflecting off the water in the river.

Spring will come.  Days will lengthen, temperatures will rise, the joggers and the fishermen, the lovers and the loiterers will return.  I will appreciate not having to bundle up against the cold, not arriving home with chilled ears and fingers and toes.  But I will miss that solitude.  Right now, I find I am enjoying the winter.

Every Little Bit Counts... Right?

I reached the tipping point.  I've been driving to work so little I realized I should change my car insurance.  So I spoke to a very nice fellow at the agency to let him know that I'm no longer commuting 55 miles each way in my car, and that my anticipated annual mileage will drop correspondingly.

This will, it turns out, save me $4.68.  Every six months. 

I think you can buy a Starbucks coffee confection for that.

Ah, well. I added up the costs of commuting by car versus by train last year.  The train ride wins out hands down, even when you factor in the time spent riding the rails.

Chocolate and Child Labor ... Still

I've barely recovered from the onslaught of post-Christmas sale offers that hit my in-box, and it seems people are already thinking about the next frenzy of consumption: Valentine's Day.

Did you know that Hershey is lagging behind the other major chocolate manufacturers in its labor practices?  Most of the world's chocolate comes from West Africa, and Hershey has refused to take decisive action to end child labor, forced labor, and trafficking in humans.

Buy chocolate with a Fair Trade label:

That way, you know it wasn't harvested by little kids, and in fact you know that the farmer got a fair price for the raw materials.  Bonus: look for a brand that's also organic, and take a minute to write to Hershey headquarters and tell them to get a conscience.

Thanks!