NEW YORK RIDE REPORT

Hi.

Here it is. My first post as an official Project-B member. My report on the current status of our foreign correspondent, Lyle, and what riding like a bit of an idiot in the Big Apple is like (My first post was actually going be about hauling a Bob trailer full of racing gear - including wheels - with my track bike to Trackfest #2 in Victoria but I failed to get any photos of myself with my aerohelmet on while pulling my trailer).

In the interests of full disclosure I have to let it be known that I'm not a regular fixed-gear street riding with no brakes kind of guy but factoring transportation to & from and the conditions of the riding I was about to get involved in, bringing my track bike (with a brake) seemed the way to go. I also figured that if I'm going to do some bar-scraping fixed street riding it might as well be in NYC.

First off, Lyle is great. Making fools of the Central Park roadies and dicing through city streets with two-tonnes of wood planks strapped to his bike. What more can I say...

I'm sure Lyle has touched on this already but street riding in NYC (fixed or otherwise) is quite different than it is here. The flow is different. Everyone breaks the rules of the road but within all of that rule breaking there is still a certain code of conduct. It took me a couple of days of just sticking to Lyle's wheel to learn it but it's sort of an "If you're going to disregard the light or whatever and it's my right of way, if you're quick about, that's cool I guess." This goes for cyclists, motorists & pedestrians. That said, I still had a few horn honks directed my way but what are you going to do? This also actually relates to another element of the flow in NYC. Even if you're wronged or you wrong someone else, it just gets let go of, 'cause man with Manhattan alone being over 75% of the landmass of all of Vancouver but with the building & street density of our downtown core, it's just going to happen again.



And again and again and again.

Of course, this is with exception, but I witnessed circumstances that had they happened in Vancouver people would have been chasing one another for blocks screaming their heads off and trying to kill one another. Maybe that's the problem with a city our size? Small enough to still understand the official, proper rules of the road yet big enough for them to not always apply yet young enough for no one to understand how to accept it. In this respect, NYC is very different. Lyle and I blew a lot of red lights with a cop or two right there, watching us and doing nothing. Then again, pedestrians do the same so what's a cop to do? Even with their interceptors we would have been able to lose them easily enough.

So yeah, I guess riding in New York gave me a different perspective on riding in Vancouver. Everyone here needs to chill out and let shit slide a little more - including myself. Even if the other person pulls a dough-head move (no matter if they are on foot, a bicycle or another planet) just let it go 'cause man, it's just going to happen again.

And again and again and again.