Bike Snob Abroad by BikeSnobNYC

Author:BikeSnobNYC [BikeSnobNYC]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Sports & Recreation, Transportation, (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯), Bicycles, Cycling
ISBN: 9781452105253
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Published: 2013-04-02T01:54:56+00:00

Chapter 7:

Dreams of a brighter tomorrow in which it’s normal for regular people

and families to ride bicycles are all quite lovely, but for now it’s still

mostly young Brooklynites riding to the beach to show off their latest

tattoo acquisition.

What good is that to me now?

Riding bicycles with my family is one of my greatest joys and one

of my most treasured conveniences, yet too many people still look at

me when I do it like I’m Michael Jackson dangling his kid off of that

hotel balcony. I also know that, should some misfortune befall me

while I’m on my bicycle, regardless of the true circumstances, I will

bear some or all of the blame. Internet commenters will say that I was

“probably running the light,” or that I somehow got what was coming to

101

me from the drunk driver going the wrong way down a one-way street

in a 5,500-pound Denali because I wasn’t wearing a helmet, or that

I didn’t have “adequate respect for the power of the car.”

Of all these common ways in which we like to blame the victim,

it’s that last one—failing to respect the power of the car—that’s in

many ways the most upsetting. Really? Is failing to respect a car the

problem? Or is the problem that they don’t have enough respect for

the value of human life and expect others to yield to their consumer

goods? Have we really become so skewed and twisted that the people

are supposed to respect the cars? Have we surrendered our humanity

to consumerism, and our streets to our appliances? Is America the

fabled land of freedom and opportunity, or it is it a land in which you have no claim to public places unless you own the right stuff?

Is America the ultimate melting pot—just so long as all that molten

humanity is forged into SUVs? In fact, in this country, owning or

leasing a car is almost a prerequisite for humanity. You’re not a person

unless you’re paying hundreds of dollars a month on a loan or a lease.

Isn’t this a form of indentured servitude?

Even in New York City with its vast public transportation net-

work and its swarms of pedestrians I’m constantly reminded of this.

New York City is different from the rest of America in many ways, but

not when it comes to valuing cars over people. Statistically, according

to a recent study, I live in the third-most dangerous neighborhood

in New York when it comes to getting hit by cars. If I want to cross

the four-lane avenue to go to the store I only have the “walk” sign

for seven seconds, and even then I still have to dodge all the speed-

ing drivers who fail to make the yellow. Hundreds of cyclists and

pedestrians were killed by cars in 2011 in New York City, yet almost

none of the drivers were charged with any wrongdoing—and that

102 BI K E S N OB A B R OA D

includes the ones who didn’t even have licenses.

In the past, if you had asked me to choose a cycling dream vaca-

tion, I would have come up with something like a tour of the Alps,

or a chance

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