It’s hard to know what to make of these two items that we came across in discussions at the Daily Heights, but we certainly noticed them. First, the one about the skateboarders. Then, the one about the bicyclist:
Terriers Beware: Light-Skinned Asian Skateboarders in BoCoCa
I for one think that skateboarders can reach speeds of more than 50 mph… I was walking through BocoCa last wed and several light skinned Asian men flew by me on these boards almost killing my Boston Terrier. Police in this area should really not hesitate to bring in these characters and charge them with whatever crime they probably committed.
We’re not sure what the ethnicity of the skateboarders has to do with anything, but even more than that, you don’t actually see people describing the neighborhood as BoCoCa every day. So, did it happen in Bo or Co or Ca?
Next up we have our bicycle rant from Prospect Heights or ProHi, to borrow from the previous post:
Prospect Heights Bikers: Learn How to Ride
Okay, so what’s the deal with you people? As a driver, day after day it amazes me how inept so many of you are at riding bikes in the streets of the city, particularly in this, and surrounding neighborhoods.
Here’s what I see: you don’t ride at the speed of traffic, preferring to leisurely pedal at 5 mph, without a care in the world. You often ride two, or even three abreast, in order to better facilitate conversation with your biking buddies as you make your way down streets. You even ride against traffic on narrow streets and get mad when honked at. You have been seen riding so far from the curb and parked cars that you end up in the path of moving cars. You don’t use headlights at night (illegal), hand signals, bells, and you almost never look over your shoulders.
To top it all off, most of you don’t even wear helmets, which baffles me.
As a former bike messenger, daily driver, and native New Yorker, the only thing that makes me curse out loud in my car is how so many of you bike like you’re on a sun-dappled, suburban sidewalk. It makes me furious, really.
I don’t know when this happened in New York. Used to be, bikers and drivers had an understanding, and a certain rhythm in the streets of this city. Sure, there have been accidents, and middle fingers flipped, and filthy words hurled, but jeez, at least traffic used to move.
Last thing I have to say to you “bikers” is: learn how to ride those super cool, retro metro, “I bought this $25 bike so I can sport a $100 Kryptonite chain,” bikes. It would make a lot of pedestrians, and drivers a lot happier.
There you have it.
7 responses so far ↓
1 hellx // Sep 7, 2007 at 8:51 am
Nobody gets pissy about bicyclists like ex-bike messengers. I’m the same way.
2 Anonymous // Sep 7, 2007 at 9:18 am
“You have been seen riding so far from the curb and parked cars that you end up in the path of moving cars.” Unfortunately this is a necessity – cars frequently fling their doors open without looking. As a cyclist you just have to assume that every parked car is a potential to be doored. Look, riding in this city is not easy, but something I’ve been really trying to do lately is follow the rules of the road; stopping at traffic lights, yielding to peds, riding with traffic etc. At the end of the day it only adds minimal time to my commute, and I don’t come home foaming at the mouth with road rage. As a bonus, I’m occasionallly rewarded with zenlike rides where it all clicks, I make every green light, the weathers perfect, smirking at my fellow cyclist who hasn’t learned thisd and is yelling f*** words at cab drivers etc. I think if we want cars to follow the rules, cyclists have to abide by them as well. That doesn’t mean that parking in the bike lane, looking at me then looking away while jaywalking right into my path, the taxi cab cut off turn is right etc, etc.
3 Dope On The Slope // Sep 7, 2007 at 10:51 am
It makes me furious, really.
And we all know how objective and rational a furious driver is when judging the behavior of pedestrians and cyclists.
I’ve observed some real assholes on bikes (some of the on the friggin’ sidewalk), but the jerks in cars have them far outnumbered.
As for the bike messenger being the model for responsible use of bicycles in traffic…
4 Anonymous // Sep 7, 2007 at 1:36 pm
The skateboarder comment above is ridiculous!
5 Brian of Brooklyn // Sep 7, 2007 at 5:01 pm
How can the poster be certain the skateboarders were Asian? Were they speaking Asian?
6 Anonymous // Sep 8, 2007 at 11:23 am
I bike to work every day through “ProHi” and “PaSlo”, I ride in the bike lane when there is one, I wear a helmet, I have a light and a bell (ding! ding!) and I am quite conservative when it comes to intersections after being blindsided, doored and run off the road so many times. But I’m rewarded with cars yelling “wat da f are you doin fat ass!” or just “bitch!” every couple of days. OH well. It’s worth it. Biking to work is pretty fun and it makes my fat bitchy ass feel good.
7 Pork Slop // Sep 9, 2007 at 6:46 am
The Daily Slope people are like a bunch of 5th grade mean girls. They are also very single, self-absorbed, unemployed and childless. Oh yes – just like 5th graders!