Tagged: New York Cycle Club

Early Season Cycling Pains

First Spring Training Ride

It’s been a pretty long, cold winter. Most of my friends have complained about it, exclaiming "I’m over this winter," and "Bring it, spring!" since Martin Luther King Day. But I enjoy the long winter because it allows me to savor the months when there’s work for me and because it feels like there’s a lot of semester left for writing my dissertation. But winter makes me inert. It makes me slow. And I am usually quite out of shape by the time the spring equinox rolls around.

Being out of shape was most evident on Saturday when I rode with the New York Cycle Club for a 59-mile bike ride from Sakura Park to Pizzarena in West Nyack, and back to Central Park. It was my first long ride since last summer. And I was completely out of shape. I began cramping up on the return particularly on the hills on Route 9W. The group kept dropping me despite a good number of the members being my parents’ age.

Once I figured out that they had dropped me, I took my sweet time. I used the restroom twice: once at the Englewood Cliffs Police station and again at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. I rode at a pokey 15 miles per hour, but took it easy on the hills because I wanted to avoid the painful cramping.

When I returned home, I found a couple of mechanical issues with my bike. First, the front tire had a bulge, suggesting that the thread had started to weaken. I could have been in some real trouble should my tire had burst while I was riding, especially since my group was well ahead of me. Second, my rear wheel was significantly out of true. I seem to remember this when I rode it as some point last year. I had loosened my rear brake as triage and made a mental note to repair it later. As with most mental notes, I had forgotten it and thought that my brakes needed a simple adjustment. Nope, my bike really needs a proper tune up.

Wiped Out

Discovering that I am out of shape and that my bike needs some work has been a brutal but necessary start to the cycling season.

Six Guidelines for Central Park Cycling

For anyone who has ever been in Central Park knows, the drives in the park are almost always overly congested in the warm months. There are walkers, runners, cyclists, and during rush hour, there is the added danger presence of automobiles, and each is competing for precious space in which to move. Moreover, the NYPD had been ticketing cyclists who ran red lights while riding on the park drives. As someone who used to ride a lot there, I can tell you that stopping at each light is not only impractical but a little dangerous as there will inevitably be either another cyclist or car zooming past you while you’re stopped at the light. The cycling community has come to an agreement with the Department of Transportation and the NYPD to not ticket those who go through a red light. But, of course, there are a few who could ruin it for everyone.

Earlier today, the New York Cycle Club emailed its membership asking everyone to abide by six guidelines to ensure that cyclists don’t lose the privilege of rolling through red lights in Central Park. If you please, allow me to reproduce those guidelines.

  1. When approaching a crosswalk, particularly if there is a red light, slow to a speed that will permit you to maneuver; look both ways for pedestrians; always yield to pedestrians who are in or about to enter the crosswalk. Park use is extremely heavy now, even in the very early morning hours.  Be alert; be conscientious. Your actions will determine our future use of this precious resource.
  2. Although you may be comfortable passing within six inches of a runner or walker, they will not be comfortable with that clearance.  Give them at least 3 or 4 feet.  Whenever possible and practical, cross behind the pedestrian. “Yielding” does not mean racing through because you’re confident you won’t actually hit the pedestrian.
  3. When passing a slower cyclist, give sufficient clearance.
  4. Don’t ride in packs.  Keep the groups small and ride in a single paceline.
  5. Get a bell. It is the law and is a useful tool in a densely packed park if used judiciously.
  6. Above all be courteous. Creating goodwill here will go a long way towards helping our cause.

Having been in a number of collisions, though none in Central Park or anywhere with a decent bike lane, I think I already follow most of these rules, and I agree that these are prudent measures to take ensure safety in a congested shared space, such as Central Park. These guidelines provide pedestrians a measure of security when cyclists are riding in the park, and they also protect other cyclists, particularly the inexperienced ones who are out in the summer.

However, it seems like I have to buy a bell now.