And I mean that quite literally. I mean, take a look at the shot above. That is the Manhattan Bridge pretty much on any given day!! The Brooklyn Bridge however, is another story. Now, I am a pretty laid back chilled out person. But when I try to ride over the Brooklyn Bridge, I am enraged by the time I get from the concrete incline up to the slatted plateau because of the throngs of tourists that just can’t stay out of the bike lane. I mean, REALLY people, they have a picture of a bike in one lane, and a picture of a walking figure in the other. You don’t have to speak English to understand that the bike lane, when facing Manhattan is on the right side, and the walking path is on the left. When facing Brooklyn, the bike lane is on the left, and the walk path is on the right. I don’t even have a picture to post here of this nightmare because I get so mad about it, that I don’t even think of my camera as I’m riding through all the inconsiderate people. All I want to do is blast an air horn right up on someone’s ear every time I get on the bridge….

…But never again!! Yes, I have now renounced the Brooklyn Bridge for riding forever more!! I mean it. My poor nerves can’t take it. I can’t stand the tourists in the bike lane taking pictures, not paying attention, strolling in the lane like three wide, letting their kids run around in the lane–oh that’s a doozie!! Or my personal favorite, they stroll in the bike lane on the downhill. Oh god, there is nothing that enrages me more than to have a good speed going, flying, literally flying down the decline on the bridge and having to rubberneck because of these thoughtless people. Rubbernecking…..on a bike?!?! Oh hell no….

Sometimes what I do to teach them a lesson is to time it so that as they are strolling and not paying attention to what they are doing, I speed up and literally brush their arms as I whiz by. And more times than not, I hear them get startled and jump a bit. I always smirk, thinking that maybe I have taught them a lesson. I can feel the dirty stares on the back of my head, but I don’t care. They need to either have me scare them or some equally thoughtless cyclist actually hit and hurt them. Yes, I can admit there are thoughtless cyclists too–we are not always the innocent ones out on the road…

One time I was so pissed at having to keep yelling my usual “Excuse me!!” to all the offenders that I just lost it on one woman when I came upon her in the bike lane that I yelled (and even much to my own surprise), “MOVE!!” She was so stunned she turned around and I gave her a dirty look as I rolled by her, and again, I felt a dirty look thrown right back at me, boring into the back of my head. I felt a little guilty about yelling at someone like that, but I was frustrated with the whole situation.

And it doesn’t even really get any better in the evening either. So I am making a call to arms: all cyclists, take the Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges as our own!! I mean, sure, you may at times have to take the Brooklyn Bridge to a destination that is close to it, but remember, you’re on a bike. In my book, there is no “out of the way” on a bike. It just means more toning for your thighs, more conditioning your circulation. Who cares if you have to go a few blocks more? Isn’t it worth it just to avoid fantasies of beating down a tourist in the bike lane with your chain?….or is it just me that has those fantasies?…..

Really, look at that picture of the Manhattan Bridge during the day. It’s empty. You can ride however you wish across the span–hey do wheelies if you want. No one is on the bridge!! Granted, at night it really is creepy–I know I’m spooked on it at night and I don’t spook very easily–but you get to and from Brooklyn a lot quicker. And also noted is that it lacks the same kind of incline and decline the Brooklyn Bridge has which most riders prefer to work up a bit of a sweat. But if you hate the tourists in the bike lane as much as I do, consider he Manhattan Bridge. Or even the Williamsburg Bridge. I really like the span they have. It is architecturally interesting, brightly painted, stickers and social commentary galore for reading while you ride, wide lanes and the incline and decline you’d miss if not on the Brooklyn Bridge.

I know for sure that my sweet affair with the Brooklyn Bridge on wheels is dead. And Middle America and most of Europe killed it…

And I don’t just mean being super-psyched about being a Brooklynite. I am speaking about the Brooklyn Pride Parade which took place on Saturday, 14 June which marched down one of the main drags of Park Slope, good old 7th Avenue. I am attaching here some pictures of one group that I was impressed with–Dykes on Bike Cycles of course!! As it was nighttime, the photos didn’t come out as clear as they should ahve, plus it was raining like a mother and then even on top of that, my battery ran out before the last of the parade went by. You’d think that would put a damper on the festivities or even my mood, but no, not at all. I like to go out and support the Pride parade so wasn’t going to be a grumblepuss for anything!! So here are some pictures I took of the ladies.

Now it was at this point (above) that the girls got off their bikes and proudly raised their rides up in the air to cheers from the spectators and cheers and howls from me!! I was so happy for them that I wished I could have rode with them for support and to have another woman on a bike, showing my continuing advocacy of gay rights as a straight woman. Call me corny, but I was moved by the gesture.

I am excited about the upcoming Pride parade in Manhattan which is my favorite. I will find out if maybe the Dykes on Bike Cycles will let me ride with them as well as make sure that I take better pictures. Even if they are still fuzzy, I’m putting up pictures of the riders and even better if I get an interview with one or more of them!! We shall see….

HAPPY PRIDE BROOKLYN and NEW YORK!!

P.S.–If you are interested in the other pictures I took of the parade you can see them here.

So kids, I am out in the Hamptons this weekend and I am spending time with a family friend. She took me with her to her spinning class this morning and I have a few things to say about it….

First, the class is so totally counterproductive to any kind of actual riding, road or otherwise. It was very weird to my trained brain and body to watch everyone pedaling on these bikes like their tails were on fire!! Then they slowed down, then sped up again, slowed down and sped up even more–and all this to clubby techno music, and the instructor wasn’t yelling at us, but had her voice raised to get everyone amped. So anyway, I think I may have stuck out because I had my race stance on and kept pedaling at the same pace the whole class. I was crouched over like I was doing a long distance ride on the long bars, which in a way I was. I found it to be quite refreshing to keep pedaling for long periods of time as opposed to the constant starting and stopping in the city. And as I kept up my pace (and even put on more and more resistance), I knew people were going to burn out, which they did. Some folks of course are into the spin class and did pretty well, and I applaud them, but I know that if they were put on a bike on the road, it would be a very different story.

I realise now that spin class isn’t really about being able to pedal or have some kind of semblance to riding. It is all about burning calories, which is what these folks totally did. However, I still say the real thing is the real deal.

And the one thing that really got me was the fact that here you are in this room, stationary (which drives me NUTS about the gym), sweating your face off with no cool breezes that come with the open road. I swear I soaked through my clothes and was dripping sweat all over the place and I kept thinking, “God this is a hot box!!” It was weird to see just how much I can actually sweat. I guess that since I am active, my sweat glands have no problem pumping it out, but when outdoors, it’s a little better than being indoors and stewing in your own juices. UGH!!

But all in all, I got a great workout and I really didn’t even feel much burn. I am very happy about that, because if I did actually feel some kind of burn, I’d be worried…..

A friend of mine and I were thinking that this would be a really great tattoo:

Now you have to use your imagination and clean up the image a bit. Or maybe not. I mean if you think about it, maybe keeping the tattoo looking a bit scruffy like that would make it look more authentic. I mean, it would look like you have just scraped your leg against your cassette (like any normal day), but it’s really a tattoo!! How cool would that be?!?! Think about it–a tattoo, that looks like a grease stain on the leg that looks like a tattoo anyway, but it really is a tattoo!!

OK, I do dork out sometimes, but I’m cool with it….

Oh how happy am I that summer is here. Beautiful blue skies, flowers in bloom, warm breezes, tan lines…. And time to shed the long sleeved jerseys for something like this baby from Craft:

Of course now is the time for rain and lots of it. Making sure your breaks are on point is key!! Aside from that, you need the right gear to stay dry. I have looked around for some rainwear and there seems to be a trend for the standard yellow jackets and pants that remind me of the rainwear you wore at camp. However, this beauty from Pearl Izumi caught my eye:

So far this spring, start of summer, there seems to have been a lot of rainy days. And my saddle seems to channel rain straight down the crack of my….well, rather than give up my saddle, which I really like a lot, I’d like to get my hands on these from Showers Pass:

My saddle is a WTB saddle here:

Now do you see the reservoir going down the middle of the saddle? Now, this is supposed to distribute your weight on your butt evenly so you don’t go numb, but I swear when it rains, it just channels the water into my seat. This is a great saddle and like I said, I will not change it. I think this is geared more toward mountain biking and I’m sure that riding on the mountain in the rain is a no-no. However, since I have a cyclocross, it is weird when I look up components for my ride, as some are mountain, some road. I dig the mountain saddle….

Anyway, there will be much to do during the summer, as I have joined two cycling clubs, and there are many tours just dying for my involvement. Also this year I am going to be on the lookout for ways of getting out of the city (gasp!!) and find roads to ride for miles and miles into the sun… And I fully intend to be prepped with the best gear!!

So tooling around on the web I found this site called MeetUp in which meet up groups are created by interest and then they have meetings. The site is a hub to gain members and the meetings are organized and info is emailed to your email address. So naturally I typed in “cycling” in the search box. I came across a page of cycling groups and I just signed up for two of them!! The first one is called NYC Cycling Chicks. It seems there are one hundred and twenty seven members, and I guess I make it one hundred twenty eight–though I’m not sure yet because I had to fill out some questions from the organizers asking me about my riding and experience and level of difficulty. I hope they add me, that would be weird to turn someone away don’t you think? The second group I signed up with is called Beacon Bicycling. This is a new group and I think I”m member number thirteen. Lucky!! No, really, thirteen is a good number for me.

So I finally signed up with Facebook recently, hoping to get this blog out there, and I came across this pretty cool online bike store. It’s called

I Bike Do You 2 has some pretty cool stuff, including BMX gear and unicycles!! I also just happen to like the way the site looks. I urge you to check it out, see if there is something that is of use to you!! I think I want to get the Race Face Hoodlum Hoodie…..

Also, I got the little picture of the logo for the shop by using this thing called Clipmarks. You can use it to add stuff you clip from other sites to your website, blog or save them and put them into pages like I have here. Pretty neat little tool!! Now this site is going to have a lot more visuals. Yay!!

Yes, kids, the stubborn one here finally made the switch to clipless pedals!! What ultimately prompted me to do it is the fact that the regular metal pedals had those spikey things on them that kept stabbing, knicking, tearing and outright cutting my legs. I couldn’t take it anymore. So down to my regular bike shop I went, Bay Ridge Bicycles. Those guys are awesome.

So I was very trepidatious about getting the clipless for the first time. I was worried about being attached to my bike during a fall and breaking my ankle or even worse, falling in front of a car and not being able to get away in time, still being attached to the bike. (As you can see I was terribly afraid). I have even seen plenty of folks falling down not being able to click out in time. I didn’t want to add another item on the list of things that can hurt me on my bike. However, getting cut on the leg everyday from those awful metal pedals changed all that.

I didn’t realise that there were the clipless that were a hybrid of sorts. The pedals I got (above) can be used with the shoes that lock in, or they can be used without. I figured that during the learning period I could just switch to regular shoes. Well the first day I fell. Twice. The first time I caught myself on a fence. The second time was a full on fall, in the street, foot all caught up in the front wheel. How embarrassing!! I even hit my elbow and got a speed knot that really hurts when you touch it. But I’d rather a speed knot on the elbow than a broken ankle any day. I got up, dusted myself off, with the help of my friend John, and was kind of shaken. For a moment, I considered putting my sneakers back on and just trying at it again another day. But I wouldn’t let myself. I clicked my feet back on those pedals, shaking, but I did it. I didn’t fall again the rest of the day. I almost fell again the next day, but got my foot out in time. I realise now that I still have to be rolling to get out. And what has really helped is the advice that one of the guys in the shop gave me. I have played it in my mind like a broken record. This is what he said:

“When you’re coming to or even think you’re coming to a stop, click out.”

His advice was great. I click out when coming to corners like twenty feet away or if I think something is going to keep me from being able to move on, I click out about ten feet away and I have my foot out in time. The problem I keep having is forgetting that I’m clicked in sometimes and I stop on a dime and think I can just put my foot down. When I do that, I make myself roll some more and click out. Man, it’s an experience I can tell you. It’s almost like learning how to ride all over again!!

Now what I also get out of this is the power I get from using the clipless. I get more out of the rotation and man I swear even the dreaded uphills are not as bad!! I feel I have more control… Why oh why did I wait so long to go clipless?? I used to use the stirrups when I raced. I forgot how much power you get when attached to the pedal. But then when I stopped, I just went with the laceless and didn’t think any more about it. How stupid, especially now with my penchance for demoning through traffic, I need the control. I almost see now why fixed gear is so popular with the messengers.

The shoes I got are from a company called Lake. Check out the website. The shoes I got are these:

They are so comfortable!! And they are very sneakery, so you can ride and then also walk around without wearing the stiff, clicky road shoes (which now that I think about it is another reason I didn’t want to go clipless). They also have a really cool reflector on the back. Because of shoes like these, I feel much more comfortable with the switch. They are utility and fashion in one (girly coming back out…). I am really glad I got them!!

As I was walking out of the door with my bike, heading down to DUMBO to sign in for the ride, I wondered just why they have to start an eighteen mile tour so early. The start time to sign in was eight o’clock. I knew there weren’t that many people riding and I was a bit cranky on the way down.

However, my attitude changed as soon as I got down there. First, the vibe of a crowd of riders is always infectious. People were jazzed, dressed up in their tour outfits, kids were excited, people were chatting with friends, people were wearing their bike gear and all kinds of bikes were in attendance. So of course a bike nut like me got excited too. Not only that, but the day was gorgeous!! Not a cloud in the sky. I even had to pull off my riding jacket to cool off. (Tis not me looking at the map. I just thought this would be a cool shot.)

As I waited there for the ride to start, these two awesome girls came over and chatted with me and we ended up spending the ride together, along with another friend of theirs. They were really cool people and I enjoyed hanging with some new people!!

The ride itself was kind of slow moving. At first I was a little irked. But chatting with new friends and the beautiful weather overshadowed the pace. I thought the turnout was pretty good too. It wasn’t that crowded, but still it was big enough to make a show of it. The crowd wasn’t as diverse as the 5 Boro or even the Tour de Bronx (which, by the way, I have already signed up for). But that was cool, because I think the riders were all Brooklyn natives so you know they were all cool!!

The ride was cool and I had a good time out in the sun and getting some fresh air and more exercise. I even got a shot of this really cool ride:

Pretty bitchin’ if you ask me. The owner even wore a leather vest over his T-shirt, bandanna and black jeans. He looked like a Hell’s Angel!!

I would totally recommend anyone doing this ride. It’s a great way to get to know your fellow Brooklynites, your fellow city dwellers, and just some good clean fun….

So I went out for a bit to a friends house party on Saturday, much to the chagrin of my sickened body, but I am the ever vigilant socialite and must abide to an invitation by a friend. So off I went, riding pretty smoothly actually because I had been bedridden for a while, and I get to the gorgeous duplex apartment and, wheeling my bike in hoping to keep it off of the street, wow!! Here is a parade of old school bikes, belonging to the folks that live in the apartment. So like a dork, I whip out my camera and investigate.

The first bike that caught my attention is this one:

A John Deere?!?! Like the tractor dudes? I mean, is that for real? And I am genuinely asking because I really don’t know. I didn’t know that John Deere made bicycles. I can tell you that this bike was old because when I lifted the frame it felt like I was bench pressing a weight in the gym. Yikes. I can’t even imagine trying to get up a hill riding this bike, but I sure as hell would surpass the speed of sound if you put me on a downhill on it!! Here is the far-out shot:

Pretty cool for tooling around the neighborhood, grabbing scant groceries and some cat food no? I am a sucker for the front basket on a bike. It always makes me want to get out, pedal to the nearest Italian shop and buy some vine ripened tomatoes, fresh baked Italian bread and a brick of fresh spun mozzarella, and some flowers. Yeah, I girl out like that sometimes.

Next in line was this one:

Peugeot. Classic. Funny how being a more contemporary biker, I don’t come across bikes like these anymore and it is more reminiscent of my childhood than being a kitschy throwback for the uber-cool. I think it’s awesome that people ride classic bikes like they ride classic cars. It’s all about being in the know. Anyway, looking at the handlebars, I kind of squirm, as I have never liked the brake cords hanging out like this:

I am more of a streamline kind of gal.

But in speaking about these classic bikes, I have a a treat of sorts. I came across this site in my ongoing research to find all bike knowledge that I can. It is called Bicycle Classics and they have products to keep up your classic ride!! They seem to have a pretty good collection of parts and they seem to be as geeked out about bikes as I am!! Major plus in my book. Check it out. The site itself is very basic, they do not have any pictures of the parts, but it seems to me to visit this site, you really have to know your stuff, and perhaps this site is geared to bike geeks as well. It’s well worth checking out if you are serious about wanting to upkeep a classic bike.

(Photo taken from Bicycle Film Festival website, Bikes Rock 2007)

So today, staying in bed because I’m sick (booo) I had to at least do some more valuable surfing to come up with more and more info to post. I’m a dork like that. So in my vigilant quest to be in the know about everything I can, I cam across a wonderful and wacky site called Bicycle Film Festival 2008. Apparently it is the eighth annual event. There is all kinds of things going on with this organization and it seems there can be something here for anyone into the culture. Especially we artists!!

What kind of looks really cool to me coming up is an event called Bikes Rock. It’s happening Wednesday, 28 May at 9 and going on until late. It’s at Studio B, 259 Banker Street between Calyer and Franklin here in Brooklyn!! It seems to be a mixed media event, crossing film and music, sounds being created from bicycle parts. Very interesting. And what self-respecting film festival wouldn’t have a dance party afterward??

See you there dude.

On my ride home today, I happened to have come to a red light and waited next to a dude who was on a fixed gear–an old Bianchi. He wasn’t wearing a helmet. (Please refer to my previous post about riders that do not wear helmets.)

Anyway, when the light turned green, I wasn’t in the mood to try to race him, as it was the end of the day and sadly, I am sick today. And this hill was a doozie. So he takes off like any cyclist would, tearing out of the crosswalk in which we waited, baiting me for a race up the block. I bet he felt great peeling ahead of me and riding over his bar to get up the hill.

However, I wasn’t that far enough behind him to miss the fact that he was one of those riders I spoke about in my previous post about track or fixed gear newbies. As he rode over his bar, cranking his pedals to get up this hill, it was obvious that he had no real riding experience. He was rocking his frame back and forth so much that it looked like he had a metronome hanging off of his butt!! And riding as wrong as he was, expending so much energy into rocking the frame back and forth, I was still able to keep quite near him, as tired and sick as I am today!!

Novices!! Especially fixed gear newbies. It’s sad when they sport the fixed gear, chain wrapped around their waists with the trendy little mini U Kryptonite and their trendy hipster clothing, and CAN’T ride. And they don’t even know had bad they look to a trained cyclist!! As I have stated before, they think it’s just enough to sport the flashiest gear and most don’t take the time to learn how to actually ride, getting the full benefit of working out on a bike and actually beating the hell out of a good bike. You can ride the living bejesus out of a good bike and it’ll never let you down.

When will these trendsters ever learn??

I came across this site called Crank Brothers and nearly fell off my chair when I beheld this beauteous sight. This is their Cobalt XC wheelset, aluminum, stainless steel spokes, disc brake only, tubeless compatible, and in my favorite color, blue.

And being the bike-head that I am, I love tools. I can’t get enough of the Swiss Army style tools that cycling repair has to offer. I dig the fact that you can carry an array of tools on you in one little space in your bag and whip it out when you or a fellow cyclists need to fix a ride. So imagine the squeal that came out of me when I beheld this:

This too is on the Crank Brothers site. There are nineteen tools on this baby….nineteen!! Dude, I could sit for hours and play with this thing. And it comes with a “flask” to keep it in!! Oh my god, oh my god!! I need this to add to my collection of other fold-away tools, to keep in my bag and admire like Smiegel held on to the Ring of Power…

“Precious!!”

I can’t say that I can even begin to imagine whay anyone in this city, ANYONE, would set out to ride a bike without a helmet on. Even despite the warnings I’m sure they hear, even peripherally, yet also the rants that I myself have posted regarding the drivers here in NYC as well as other posts I have read by other bloggers in and outside of the city also ranting about careless drivers.

I have had this conversation before with folks that do not wear helmets. I get distressed when they want to argue against wearing helmets. It is quite disturbing the things people say, and even sometimes the blase arguements that they throw together at the last second when confronted about not wearing them. And I see all kinds of riders not wearing helmets, from pro riders to the average rider, to people riding on cruisers in the middle of traffic, just nonchalantly peddaling as if there were not semi-trucks whizzing by them so close, their hair picks up in the breeze.

What I have always said about driving I will now apply to cyclists: You cannot for one moment think that anyone else on the road is going to move around YOU. How can they when they are not paying attention to the road like they should? The best defense for navigating the road is to be hyper-aware of what’s going on around you and to treat everyone else on the road like they are out to get you. Think about it. If you are walking down a dark street at night to get home, you don’t just walk like it’s a bright spring day. You clutch your bag a little tighter, you perk your ears up for sounds of footsteps behind you, you may even, like me, keep an eye on the shadows around you to keep abreast of any sudden movements behind you. That is how you should treat riding your bike any time of the day. You have to treat it as if you are being followed down a dark street at night and you are prepared to protect yourself.

Now first and foremost, I believe that a lot of riders here in the city don’t wear helmets just for the simple fact that they have not seen an actual accident involving someone who has fallen without a helmet and has hit their head.

I have.

Consider this: the accident to which I am referring involved a woman who was on rollerblades. This was about a hundred years ago when I used to race and was training everyday in Prospect Park. On one lap around, there was a woman lying in the road, and I kid you not, her brain was partially hanging out of her head. Or perhaps it was just some scalp or something. However, it was a serious accident, she was bleeding profusely and was most certainly in shock. She was still conscious and talking, but you knew she was in shock because she was saying how she was fine and could get back up and go. Then she started rambling about something other than laying there in the road and it was quite scary to see that she was obviously not fully functioning. There was already a small crowd around her (those of us that could stand to see this horrific sight) and waited until the ambulance came for her.

Now I brought that up not only to demonstrate that head injuries are real from road related falls, but the fact the she was on rollerblades is even more sobering for us cyclists. Why, you ask? Because we are moving at higher speeds than a person on rollerblades and if this poor woman could bust her head open on rollerblades, imagine the effect of moving at 30 or more miles an hour!! Yeah, I get that queasiness in my knees too.

I also happen to know of people who got into biking after watching a lot of Europen races. Now those races can get anyone jazzed about riding, if even not for racing, but just to get on a bike. And I am all for that. However, it is very misleading, I think, for Americans to watch these races as the riders–what seems a lot of Italians–do not wear helmets, but those cloth hats with the floppy rim and tons of logos on them. I have had people tell me if the Europeans can wear those cool hats, then they too will want to wear those and look the part of the suave Italian racer. Oh boy.

People who propose that argument fail to realise that for one, the hats are worn to keep longer hair out of the eyes of the racers. Yes, being that they had something else on their body for advertisers to cover with logos was what happened, it did not spring from an idea for another cool accessory to wear with thier logo covered jerseys. The hats came from a need to help a rider with loger hair be able to see. Yet also what seems to elude folks watching these races is the fact that the riders are riding on closed courses!! If the rider so chooses not to wear a helmet, that is his choice, but he is riding in a controlled environment (for the most part) and they are not riding in the streets of Manhattan or Brooklyn, contending with traffic and spaced out vehicle operators. They are NOT on city streets: I cannot stress that enough!!

Track riders seem to be the worst offenders. They believe that their own control keeps them safe. Again, I don’t care how controlled you are, there are drivers on the road driving with shitty brakes, and will hit you. Or perhaps a driver may hit an oil slick left on the road from a car or truck leaking oil onto the street. Again, this is something beyond your control. And in fact, what will you do if YOU hit that oil slick left in the road? What happens if god forbid (and it has happened to me) an important part falls off the bike, your chain splits, you go flat during your “patented” corner turn?

You have to think ahead. You have to think in a way that you will protect yourself at all times on the road. And as such, we want to road to be safer for all that use it, and make potential riders want to be out there too, enjoying the same high we get from riding!!

And trust me, I feel like SUCH a dork when in dusk I have to slip those nerdy lights onto my bike–both front and back. But you know what, I have gotten a much different response from drivers when using the lights. They actually acknowledge me, which is important. Same thing with helmets. That helmet on your head shows that you are serious about protecting yourself on the road.

Don’t ever give anyone else the chance to decide your own fate.

So tonight I went to the third annual Brooklyn Blogfest 2008 at the Brooklyn Lyceum, 227 4th Avenue. It was really pretty cool. I went with a friend from work who sent me an email about it this morning, I checked out the webpost and decided I had to come to promote my blog here. I got to go up on stage at the end and talk intoa microphone and tell about my bolg. I got a realy good response!! I’m thrilled I went and got to meet other Brooklyn bloggers and we met and connected and there are some really awesome bRooklyn blogs and Brooklyn bloggers out here.

However, one of the bloggers, a woman named Heather, got up and spoke about her blog called New York Shitty and she referenced a joke on one of her posts. However the post was about bedbugs in the subway system!! Here is a little clip I swiped from the post:

“It was at this point that one of the more terrifying points of this entire meeting (in my opinion) was brought up: bedbugs make good “hitchhikers”, e.g.; they can attach themselves to a person’s clothing and spread. Five different subway stations have turned up positive for bedbugs. Three of them (the ones Mr. Brownbear could recall) are:

1. Fordham Road, Bronx
2. Union Square, Manhattan
3. Hoyt-Schermerhorn, Brooklyn

At the latter most they were found on a subway bench, which makes sense given it is has been established these little critters like wood.”

Ewww!! God I always knew that riding the subway was bad from the fumes, the dirt, the passing of flus and colds and what really made me stop riding was people farting all the time. But now this?!?! I am SOOOO glad that I stopped straphanging!!

Check out the rest of Heather’s post here.

Thank you Heather for letting me know this!!

What IS IT with the drivers here in NYC?!?!? I mean seriously, getting sideswiped on me bike not twice, not three times but FOUR times on my way to work this morning? One dude sideswiped me on the drivers side, had his windows open and his kid was in the back seat also on the drivers side and heard me go, “Whoa!!” as he grazed past me, and I swear I think even the kid got scared for me!! Another driver rolled down a long street with me on his right, knew I had to be there because (YAY!!) they just put a brand spaking new bike lane on this big street near my house. They took out the second lane to give us riders our own lane!! So anyway, here I am rolling on the right and this dude speeds up to the light so he can cross into the bike lane at the corner to make his precious right turn. However, it’s a red light. Um…yeah….so what’s the point of trying to overtake me at a red light? I had to slam on my brakes to keep from speeding right into the back right side of his van.

Now, I have no energy to argue with people, I really don’t. It’s just not in my nature. I pick and choose my fights and if I argued with every driver that did me wrong on the street, I’d never get down a mile of an avenue. Usualy what I do is to try to roll up into their sight and give them a dirty look. This guy wasn’t even looking in my direction, so I had to roll on without displaying my fury with the carefully crafted “Don’t fuck with me” look that I have. You should see it, it’s genius…..or maybe you shouldn’t…..

Luckily, or thankfully, however you’d like to look at it, I do not freak out when cars come too close or just turn me off my path. I think cyclists that freak out and tense up end up falling or making a bad move and make things worse for themselves. Like scaring themselves more or even worse, getting hurt by falling. All I do is go Whoa!! and then contemplate the near miss later….like on here.

Fucking NY drivers. I don’t know how half these people got their licenses or even stay on the road, but there has to be more to getting your license than just being able to move a few levers…..like any trained chimp can do. Drivers don’t respect cyclists, they NEVER pay attention turning, they think speeding through a red light in traffic is going to get them where they’re going faster. They park in the bike lane!! I want to break out all their lights and windows with my lock and chain when they do that, then leave a sticker right on the windshield in front of the driver’s eyes that says, “Don’t park in the bike lane!!!”

Hey, that may not be a bad idea. If I got those reverse stickers that say the words on the sticky side….but wait, no. I can’t go to a place to have those made up and then get caught by someone who’d track me down by finding me through the printer. Hmm. Maybe then just regular stickers that I can stick on cars that say don’t park in the bike lane. It’s a really good idea, but risky. If caught by drivers, I’d get my ass kicked. If caught by the authorities, I’d probably be charged with defacing property. Maybe I can find some psycho riders that would be willing to do that…..

Must meditate on this one……..

So like I stated, I didn’t do the 5 Boro this year, and god was it hard to be riding around yesterday and seeing the riders coming back into Manhattan, still wearing their little blue smocks from the ride, and seeing the look of contentment on their faces. Yes, I must admit, I was a little miffed. BUt I kept telling myself, “The Tour de Brooklyn, the Tour de Brooklyn!!”

In any case, I went out yesterday to get some of that beautiful sun and air, despite the fact that I was still hungover form the night before. Rock and roll I always say. But I got some beautiful shots from my ride…

And believe it or not, but this shot is down by the Staten Island Ferry dock where people were still coming back, but somehow I snapped this corner with no one in the intersection!!

And here’s one more….

Looking at the beauty of mine own city, is there any question as to why so many of us ride?

…or do you have to? Who’s to say that a rider can like only one style of ride? I must admit that I have had problems with the fixed gear community–mostly (as I stated previously) the problem being the same as we snowboarders vs. skiiers. I suppose that there must always be two sides to every equation.

But going by my years of riding experience, I have come across many riders. All outdoorsy, clean air loving, out of the box kind people. I cannot say that I have any animosity toward another fellow two wheeler. (I have seen a rider in Prospect Park hit a roller blader, knock him down, injure him and take off without stopping. I wanted to smack the hell out of him and remind him of how cars treat us riders, but alas, he was faster than I was and I lost him on the criterium.) However, it’s like in any movie you see where one car pulls up alongside another at a red light, both drivers look at each other, nod in silent understanding, and as soon as the light blinks out of red and starts glowing green, they peel off in thunderous screeching. Classic American rivalry.

And rightly so it should bleed into the cycling community!! Granted there are sub-divisions of the track and free wheel groups, but I’m sure we can all agree that these two categories are the parents of our own little miniverses. Also at red lights, we too, check out the “other” guy/gal on their wheels and thus begins the drag.

My first thought when you say fixed to me is, “Damn snobs.” I can’t tell you how many times I have been sitting at the end of the turned up nose of a fixed gear rider when we talk shop, and they scoff at the extra components on my bike. Gears? Laughable, they shout out. Brakes? Ugh, they huff, I’m bored with you already. And you know what? That is really not the way to make friends. It’s bad enough that the road is divided among pedestrians, runners, roller bladers, cyclists and drivers–and none of us seem to get along!! So why do the fixed gear-heads want to keep themselves apart from we free-wheelers?

Apart from that, I think that riding fixed gears on the city streets is not really a good idea. I only say that because I know how badly the streets are chewed up, and rolling over bumps, potholes and outright canyons in the asphalt is so much more navigable on a free wheel. With a free wheel, you can roll over these crotch-busters, riding over the bar, legs stationary and ready for anything, absorbing the shock with your knees. With the fixed gear, you have to keep pedaling no matter what…that can’t be good for the bottom to keep pedaling, can it? And to go barreling toward traffic at the end of the block with no brakes…my knees go weak just writing about it… I can stop on a dime with my brakes and even on days when your body is just tired, squeezing those grips to save your life is heaven sent. (Not to mention those days you may be completely hung over and the difference between squeezing handles and having to use more musclature to stop is also what creates the divide for me.) You have to have a higher level of control in order to ride, period. Most people in general don’t pay much attention to their environments around them, even less in the city, but to be hyper-aware on two wheels takes a certain kind of mental fortitude. Fixed, I admit, you have to be Jedi. That is, only if you are a demon on your wheels and know what you’re doing.

I understand that there are fixed riders that have been riding forever and know how to navigate through the urban jungle, but there are a lot of newbies with their tracks that think just because they have a track, they are immediately taken into the fold and, by association, they are cool and knowledged. These newbies ride for a crazy short amount of time, perhaps thinking that by being able to get up that hill on the way home they, by right, are a true fixie. Dropping thousands on a track that you only tape up immediately afterward seems to be the thing. Or collecting variations of fixed gears, with pretty colors and straight bars (GRRRRRRR) by default–even having three or more bikes–gets them in the know. It’s easy to differentiate between the old schoolers and the newbies. As for one, I can easily blow the newbies away!! They handle potholes with kid-gloves, slowing down considerably to circumvent the hole. They think of their frames as designer labels, something to show off, not as an extension of thier own bodies!! And if the frame takes a beating, so be it any seasoned rider will say. Chicks, as well as dudes, dig scars. It’s cool.

Keep in mind that I call them newbies because I know that some will truly get the bug and stick with it for years to come, whereas most (by law of permutation) will drop the notion like every other trend they have followed. And many good bikes get recirculated back into the community for those of us that are broke but would spend their last dimes on the used dream bike and forego eating for a few weeks.

Coming off the high of road racing, I rode my road bike for years on the city streets and realised that the streets were killing my poor bike, but I liked the urban course. I did some research and found that the cyclocross was what I needed. Free wheel (of course), drop bars, thinner-than-mountain-bike tires but more bite than road wheels, aerodynamic, lightweight and durable, this was the bike that I had searched for. Then it took a few more years to find the right one. And the right one I did find.

That in mind, I find that a lot of the fixed newbies don’t do any research, they just know what is trendiest (even without history behind the trend), buy blindly and get out there to be seen. This is cycling: sweat, dirt and broken bodies, not a runway guys… get over yourselves. I can’t deal with a rider who thinks that they know everything about riding but have never entered a race. Fashionable gear and flat rides in Manhattan do not a rider make!!

I am making a call to all riders!! We are a breed all our own, whether free-wheel or fixed, but at the end of the day, the result is still the same:

Sweaty, salty and dirty bodies
Another cool story of how you have avoided death one more day on the city street
Dirt, asphalt, tar and grime on your body/bike/clothes/sneakers
Rockin’ thigh/calf muscles
Almost total disdain for drivers
Awesome blood/oxygen circulation
Blood rush to the head that beats any drug or drink you put in your body
Kick ass face/arm/leg tans
Runy nose (hehehe)
Keen insider’s knowledge of city streets–i.e. the Grid
SCARS
Freedom to move around the lanscape anyway you like
Sprocket markings on the ankles
Chain grease on everything you own
Inability to function without your bike shoud a situation arise where you can’t ride

Am I right? Let’s all be friends….can’t we all just get along?

This morning, riding on my way to work, I was stopped at a red light and this minivan pulls up next to me and I just hapened to have noticed it out of my peripheral. No biggie. Then the window on my side rolls down and the driver honks the horn. I hear a voice call out to me. I turned and the driver said,

“Hey how are you feeling? You’re better now?”

I looked for a second, then realised it was the woman who had stopped and called the ambulance for me when I got hit by the car weeks ago. She not only recognised me, but stopped to ask how I was doing!! I yelled out,

“HEY!! Hi!! Yes, I’m better!! Thank you so much…..”

She honked again then pulled off. I was stunned. I just couldn’t believe it. I got to see her again and thank her especially after my posting here in which I hoped that I could thank her even aside from thanking her in my post, sending out my gratitude into the universe.

Sometimes I am absolutely amazed at how life works out sometmes.

You know, every time I say that, I feel like I’m cussing myself, because, yes, I AM a driver. Although not as bad as the others on the road. (Dont’ we all think that?) However, I came up with a good idea–I think–for people getting and renewing their driver’s licenses.

Put them on a bike for about two to four weeks on the road.

Think about it. If drivers became cyclists, I think not only would they learn just how badly they treat us, but they might, just might be more cognizant of us on the road when we share it.

Take for example this morning when I rode into work. This one driver was on my left, I was in the bike lane which was on the right. I am going at a pace right alongside him, and he speeds up to try to make a right turn. He nearly had me roll right into the right side of his car, thus causing yet another collision between me and hardened steel on four wheels. Asshole!! Now if I give him the benefit of the doubt and he has his blinker on, I can’t see it alongside him on the right. And just so, what is the harm in giving me the two seconds you’d give to a pedestrian to let me pass? Really, what is the problem?!?! Why do drivers feel they have such an entitlement to the road?

Or how about cars that double park in the bike lane? Which forces we riders to turn out into traffic in order to avoid the car sitting in the bike lane, which is oftentimes parked right under the black and white sign designating the bike lane for bikes only. Why is a car being steps from a doorway more important than my fragile body being forced into traffic? Why can’t the car turn down the sidestreet? God forbid they can’t sit and idle in front of whever building they’re sitting in front of. (And the last time I checked, idling engines are non green.) It’s almost laughable, but since my accident, I can’t laugh at it–I get angry and frustrated.

I think if I put that driver that almost turned into me today on a bike a put him in the same situation, he may think twice about turning without looking. Let that mofo try to reapply for his licence then. Or how about I email him a picture of the hole in my knee I got from being hit by a car, then put him on a bike for a while, then let him renew his license…

I can’t get over how drivers talk on their cell phones, eat, gab with their frinds in the car, or just plain are ridiculously retarded enough to make a right turn while looking left or vice versa. I have seen it with mine own eyes!! I know that the next bad thing that may happen to me (if I so choose to let it) is that I get into yet another twist with a car and I go after the car with my chain and lock. I’d break every window and light on the car to teach the driver and every other driver that saw it a lesson: that we bikers will not be intimidated and we have just as much a right to the road as they do!! However, like I said, the bad thing that would happen is either I get arrested for destroying private property or the driver just kicks my ass.

I wish I had an answer for making drivers treat us better (other than destroying thier precious cars with chain and lock), but I do not. I also think that it takes more than putting up those (super-awesome) signs that say “Share the Road”. I think my idea is good, as putting folks in actual situations teaches them more than having them sit in a five hour class watching a video in which Christopher Reeves is walking around talking about driver’s safety.

Here is a post I wrote the other day on Yelp.

Radegast Hall & Biergarten

I finally made it out to this infamous biergarten out in Williamsburg and I must say I was impressed. The selections on tap are your usual good picks, but the bottles that they had…..OH!! I tried to be adventurous and found that everything I had picked was awesome. The menu items in which you receive service was not really my dig, but they had a variety of sausage picks. I went with the Kielbasa and boy was I stuffed!! The drawback is that you have to go up to the grill yourself to get the sausage fare, but really it’s well worth the stumble. I also noticed that the surrounding area outside was real bike friendly-i.e. many spots to lock up, including the scaffolding right across the street which provided unlimited poles to secure your ride. The waitress was friendly, the vibe was good (although I can’t possibly imagine why anybody brought their children there–the food isn’t really kid friendly) and the skylight was a really cool feature of the room in which I sat with the communal tables.