road rules

brooklyn, ny

it was a textbook christmas moment. waking up to see the gentle carpet of snow stretching out to pikes peak in the west, the smell of morning coffee rising in the kitchen. a happy family stretching and yawning off their rest from the evening before. i can't remember what i said when i saw it, but i remember the black mountain bike sitting against the dining room table and trying not to get my hopes too high. is that for me? i almost didn't want to ask. sure enough, it was. after all these years, i still feel the same sense of joy when i think back on that moment. i was twenty-seven years old.

the bike was in a box and we had it shipped back here to brooklyn where i assembled it by hand. after the first thaw, the bike primarily served for transport to and from and within prospect park, a reasonable distance from my then apartment in boerum hill. once i started graduate school, evening courses relegated riding hours to the morning, a time i kept reserved for several hits of the snooze button, coffee, and grumbling. that's not to say that i didn't ride, just that i had to keep my spins to modest distances on account of time and physical conditioning.

a few months back, i decided to no longer buy the unlimited monthly metrocard for the mta, choosing to see if i could pay as i go and save money by biking any routes within brooklyn (before their most recent and most eggregious fare hike). this has been a success on several fronts. for one, i have saved money. for another, i have been getting exercise i would otherwise not be getting. a con has been the ungodly amount of sweating, but that problem has been a far worse experience for any company i was meeting on the other end of a commute. this also contributes to the fact that i have taken more 2 am showers these past months than all save reno prostitutes.

biking in the city can be intimidating. yes, there are the car doors and buses (buses!) and the inherent danger that comes from moving fast but not necessarily being perceived. but i feel comfortable enough with that between wearing a helmet and being a cautious rider. the most intimidating factor for me is the attitude received while on two wheels. i feel no sense of solidarity with fellow riders, no head nods, no eye contact, just a sense of you-stay-in-your-place-i'll-stay-in-mine. if your style of riding strikes some of them as disagreeable, they are not shy to let you know (to guy on bedford last week: that lane is wide and i was only going against traffic for the two remaining blocks to myrtle. you need to chill out and deserve all three words of my rejoinder).

the worst are the cars. okay, buses (buses!). okay, but the attitude that comes from cars. they see you coming straight ahead and they are going to make that left turn regardless, leaving it up to you to dodge. and for those who wait, you can see the driver wearing an indignant scoff like i was a little league coach who had just benched their son. if i were a two ton vehicle polluting the planet for the convenience of not taking the subway, they would not mind. but since i'm a biker, i'm an affrontment to all they hold dear.

fortunately, these incidents will become less frequent, even if they will never exactly be rare. the city has a generous network of bike lanes that they have been expanding. this ensures that gradually we will have to share the road less and less with your taxis, escalades, and buses (buses!) and have access to our own improved flow of traffic. as more and more of us forego the straphanging for the handlebar gripping, it can be hoped that the city will continue to provide more infrastructure and accomodation to our needs. as far as the fierce individualistic attitude of fellow bikers, i'm afraid there's no citywide plan to alleviate that menace. all that can be done is to suggest to fellow riders to try to put a smile on beneath that helmet. this is supposed to be fun, you know.