Cycling in the City

I signed up for annual membership to Mayor Bloomberg's bike-sharing initiative in a blink of an eye. After all, I had already test-driven the communal cycles around Paris, London and even Tel Aviv, so the arrival of New York City bikes was long awaited. The choice of sponsor and name could not be more fitting. Chasebike or People's Bike just would not have had the same ring.

Apparently it was not all plain cycling for Mike's Bikes though as many inhabitants complained that:

A) the streets were too congested and in bad shape
B) they did not want bike stations on their doorsteps
C) the project was far too costly. 

Two months into my membership, I certainly agree with reason A.  Reasons B and C must be preventing their presence on the Upper East Side, hence taking away my resolution to cycle to work each day.

First things first; the App is downloaded on my trusty iPhone complete with maps, station locations and bike availability. So now, kitted out with my new blue helmet and blue key I take my first non-pedestrian peddle on Fifth Avenue. Huge fun! People pointed and stared - you could say enviously - at us. These shiny new blue bikes were causing a storm of interest. Car and taxi drivers would talk to us at traffic lights "What are the bikes like?" "How do you get these?", " Watch out! So dangerous!".

The ease of taking out and returning the bikes and the speed in which you can get around the city on these two wheels are real highlights. I was soon cycling like a Chinese delivery boy, weaving in and out of traffic like a pro. I would scare the daylights out of my husband, cycling behind, as he continued to negotiate the streets like he was driving his SUV.

The truth is, I can't and never will cycle like a delivery boy, or like any other NYC bike owner. They are a different breed here than anywhere else I have seen. As a pedestrian, car driver and now cyclist, I am appalled by the lack of  respect for road safety from fellow cyclists. They seem to peddle their wheels with this sense of invulnerability, throwing all caution to the wind. You see these "Hit-me- if-you-Dare" cyclists speeding past red lights, going the opposite direction to traffic on one-way streets and Avenues, taking the center lanes and criss-crossing at their peril causing drivers and pedestrians to check their pulse rates.

Why, of why, do they not receive the same policing as anyone else on the roads? After all they are putting other peoples' lives at risk just as much as any driver.  So there, I said it! I got this off my chest before I unlock my next bike and remember to stop at traffic lights, keep to the direction of the traffic and obey all traffic safety rules.  OK, except for one misdemeanor - we were ashamedly chastised for posing for this photo in front of the Rockefeller Center. Seems I forgot that rule to stay off the pavement (sidewalks) although they seem safer to me than those roads!