Tao of Biking, Zen of Commuting.
Yes, I've ridden a motorcycle across America. It's one thing in my life I really regret. First, you go too fast on a motorcycle. I had a very quiet 650 Honda but it was still pretty loud. I smoked a bunch of cigarettes on that trip just because it fit the look. Leather is hot in the summer too. All in all, I wish I would have ridden a bicycle across the country. It's still on my list of things to do - take Sacha on the Tandem and just start riding. I can't imagine a better way to spend a few months. In time it will come....
But what prompted me to write this article is how shocked I am on a daily basis when I encounter commuter bicyclists that are yelling at people or being angry on their bikes. It's really weird. Today I stopped because I dropt something out of my pocket as I was riding. When I stopped to pick it up I was on the right side of the bike path, against the curb. A friend from Joseph Leonard yelled out to me. She saw me and wanted to congratulate me on opening Loudest Yeller Bicycle Tours. While I was chatting with her a biker came by and yelled "Nice place to stop!". It was really weird because here he is on a road bike going 20 miles an hour down a commuter lane and then he yells at me AS he's literally biking around me with no problem what so ever. So why he got mad and why it was a problem for him that I was there when he moved right around me like a stream around a rock is kind of strange. The whole reason I like biking is because it breaks down the boundries of living. I can stop and talk to someone as I'm going about my day and we can have a talk. In a car I would have just beeped at her or something but as it was I was able to talk with her without causing any trouble. And here is this bike commuter full of rage on his way to work.... why carry car culture over into the bike lanes.
The same is true on the Brooklyn Bridge. Here you have thousands of people walking over the bridge to celebrate the great history of this city, bringing thousands upon thousands of dollars to the city in good clean tourism money and the locals come biking through at 15 miles an hour yelling BIKE LANE BIKE LANE and being as mean and inhospitable as possible to a bunch of people who saved up for months, bought a plane ticket and are spending time being happy in NYC. there are better bridges for commuters going that fast. The Manhattan and Williamsburg are fine for that kind of riding.
For me once I get on my bike I'm in a Zen place. I think that's why I've never had any problems biking groups through the city. Tourists sense that they can be calm on bikes. And we are! we have a wonderful time and the city is beautiful by bike. Personally, if something gets in my way I go around it. I have no problems with people in the bike lane or people not paying attention to bikers. Maybe the best advice my mother gave me about biking was "Don't expect anyone to see you." And because of that advice I put all of the responsibility on me to see what's happening around me and to react to abnormalities. Bikes can move and adjust to all sorts of spaces so the fact that this biker yelled at me in the lane seems to say he has a "right" to the entire lane at all times for the distance between him and his job. It's New York, cars are going to park in the bike path (usually it's cops), people are going to step out into the bike lane with out looking. Things are going to happen - and you can get mad about it or just adapt. I don't love that cars park in the bike lane or that two french girls literally stood on Prince St. to bisous in the bike lane -- but I can move like water around this stuff. No need to yell or hit cars or scare people.
In Shanghai people biked slowly and cars drove slowly and they would all shuffle around each other. It was very efficient in preventing road rage even if the rules weren't designed as clearly. I don't know how you teach the Tao of Biking or the Zen of Commuting to the NYC biking community but it would be a better place if more people were less self-important and chilled out a bit.
