Biking in Astoria

Biking in Astoria

Building a Better Bike Lane

AV has kindly brought my attention to a great article in, of all places, the Wall Street Journal. Building a Better Bike Lane. I’ve been known to read three newspapers a day (not every day). Online I scan another half dozen. And I just don’t get the Journal. But they do occasionally have a good…
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Why I Ride

Why I Ride

Nobody’s Fault?

I was biking back from Lower Manhattan on 1st Ave between 52rd and 53rd St., on the left side of the Avenue. There’s a bus about 3 car-lengths ahead of me. He’s in the next-to-left lane, but about to move in the far left lane. He’s signaling. Then out of nowhere a car speeds by…
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Two fewer blocks of bike path

The 37th St. entrance to the East Side “bike path” is closed indefinitely. Supposedly for “structural reasons.” I don’t believe them. I think they closed it because homeless people were camped there. Next entrance is 35th St.

Bike Polo

Also in the Times, there’s a good video about bicycle polo. Registration probably required. And of course there are good 1st-hand accounts on Bike Blog. How come his friends are cooler than mine? And I think my friends are pretty cool.

Fixed Gears in the Times

It’s not a bad article. Actually, once you get past the part that implies fixed-gears can’t stop because they don’t have brakes, it’s surprisingly good. But I can imagine writers convincing editors about their story about these crazy people that ride bikes… get this… Without Brakes(!). FYI, my fixed gear has fenders and front brakes.…
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B.S. for Bike Safety

Here’s a link to the NYC bike safety report. It doesn’t really say much. Or blame cars enough. And most of the statistics are pretty useless, most often because they have no denominator. What’s the use of knowing bike injuries by month if you don’t know how many people ride each month? And despite my…
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Fun on a one-speed

A post about Heaven on Keep It Street Level: Riding a one-gear bike takes effort, especially when hills are involved. And sometimes it’s a real struggle out there. But every so often, Heaven is reached on the road. The grade of the road, the selected gear ratio and leg strength all come together at once…
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Bikes allowed on Roosevelt Island ramp

So I was coming back from the Lower East Side biking home at 3am. Unromantically, I left my wife to take the subway because she didn’t bike. But the Queensboro Bridge bike path is closed. For construction. Like is has been on and off for a year. But instead of waiting for the bus or…
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Keep it street level

I’ve just unabashedly borrowed this cartoon from another bike blog I’ve just discovered.There is other good stuff on this blog, too. Like this post on bike commuters.