If you don't already know I love bike riding and I love my bike. If it were more feasible I would have sold my car a long time ago and only traveled by bike. Part of my love for bike riding is city riding, right through the middle of traffic, right in the mix. Sure, sometimes you get honked at or yelled at by some schmuck who thinks he owns the road or a non experienced driver who doesn't feel comfortable enough to pass you. But for the most part if you like to ride around the city streets of Manhattan you know what you're doing and rarely get in people's way. It truly is a beautiful thing to be able to fly through the traffic of the city whether during afternoon rush hour or just on a saturday afternoon. Not to mention liberating in a way that can only be described by getting out of your car and getting on a bike.
"And that's why the bike lanes are weird: because there are people going the wrong way on them, people walking on them with their coffee and donut and then yelling at you. But it's New York City, so.... I like to ride in the middle of the street. Because you know what? I'm safe there; they can see me. The cars, they see you. If you're on the side, hiding, they're not going to see you and you're going to get hurt."
Excerpt from an interview of Jeff Underwood, owner of Continuum Cycles.
This is something I read a long time ago and loved it. And it really is something to live by if you're riding around any sort of urban area with traffic. Something I usually follow and should have followed this morning. I woke up this morning and since it officially over for me and the beach this year I decided to get on my bike and get some things done. On my way home I was coming down Northern Blvd on the right most lane going with traffic between the parked cars and the ones driving. All of a sudden it happened, riding at a pretty decent speed a car door opened, and were it not for my boy Jesus up there looking out for me I might have been in a hospital right now. It was such a close call that even after shifting to the left and yelling the door still made contact with my right handlebar and somehow I managed to control it between the door and the moving cars (a little under 3 feet of space). I usually ride with drop down handlebars holding the lowers like the lovely young lady in the picture, adding to my luck though today i happened to be holding the top part of the grips. Were my hands in the drop down position the door wouldn't have touched the right side of my handlebar it would have completely smashed my hand leading to what played off in my head as me and my bike exploding in the sky. The lesson I learned today is maybe I should start wearing a helmet and if I do find myself flying past parked cars I will be paying more attention to the whether or not the driver seat is empty. So maybe I do have superpowers, or maybe it's just someone looking out for me?
This is something I read a long time ago and loved it. And it really is something to live by if you're riding around any sort of urban area with traffic. Something I usually follow and should have followed this morning. I woke up this morning and since it officially over for me and the beach this year I decided to get on my bike and get some things done. On my way home I was coming down Northern Blvd on the right most lane going with traffic between the parked cars and the ones driving. All of a sudden it happened, riding at a pretty decent speed a car door opened, and were it not for my boy Jesus up there looking out for me I might have been in a hospital right now. It was such a close call that even after shifting to the left and yelling the door still made contact with my right handlebar and somehow I managed to control it between the door and the moving cars (a little under 3 feet of space). I usually ride with drop down handlebars holding the lowers like the lovely young lady in the picture, adding to my luck though today i happened to be holding the top part of the grips. Were my hands in the drop down position the door wouldn't have touched the right side of my handlebar it would have completely smashed my hand leading to what played off in my head as me and my bike exploding in the sky. The lesson I learned today is maybe I should start wearing a helmet and if I do find myself flying past parked cars I will be paying more attention to the whether or not the driver seat is empty. So maybe I do have superpowers, or maybe it's just someone looking out for me?
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