Tour De Palm Springs

In places where they don't have winter--or, at least, not anything anyone living north of the Potomac would call "winter"--there are bike rides of the sort we, in the so-called temperate zones, would have in May or June or September.

One such place is Palm Springs, California.  I've never been there, even though I have traveled in that part of California.  I guess I believed the rumors that Versace-uniformed agents at the city limits wouldn't let you in unless you showed your Coutts World Silk Card. (If it's good enough for the Queen of England, it's good enough for me!)  Then again, I once went to the opera wearing the same clothes I wore while helping to paint a friend's house that day.  That's a story for another time.

Anyway, the ride itself sounds interesting.  I wonder how many celebrities ride, or just show up.  

Actually, I wonder about one celebrity in particular:

If he ever rode in that area (if indeed he rode at all), I assume he didn't have to worry about trees.  Now, on the ski slopes....that was another story!

All right.  To be fair, I'll point out that he stood by his child, Chastity, when she "came out".  Of course, Chastity is now a guy named Chaz.  And some folks say he was a good mayor of Palm Springs.

To Join, Or Not

Yesterday, I encountered a roadblock about 8 km (5 miles) into my ride.

Just east of LaGuardia Airport, a long line of cyclists streamed down the avenue in the opposite direction from the one I was pedaling.  They were riding every kind of bike imaginable, from “stealth” carbon fiber frames that looked like they were designed by Salvador Dali to department-store machines of the kind that drove me and fellow bike shop employees to drink (and other things) when I was in college.  Some riders—mostly males==were clad in lycra kit, while others wore what one might see on just about anyone else on a summer day:  shorts, T-shirts and the like.  One young woman even rode in a glittery dress one might see on a performer in a Broadway musical, with glittery high heels protecting her feet from the pedals she was pushing.

It didn’t look like a club ride; I wasn't sure of whether or not the Tour of Queens had already taken place.  So, I guessed, the ride might have been for some cause or another, although I didn’t see any T-shirts, banners or other signs of such a gathering.

 

I followed the street to the next major intersection, just to the west of Citi Field.  The police and marshals held motor traffic, which was backed up for a few blocks.  As you can imagine, some drivers were annoyed, but they didn’t honk mainly because there is a regulation (sporadically-enforced) mandating fines for unnecessary horn-honking. 

I must admit, I was starting to share their exasperation.  I hadn’t started my ride with any particular plan, but once I got on the road, I decided to ride along the World’s Fair Promenade and cross the bridge into eastern Queens and, ultimately, the North Shore of Long Island.

It actually wasn’t such a big deal:  I would take a detour that would add about ten kilometers to my ride. Before I made my turn, I watched some cyclists rolling through the intersection and saw there were many more behind them.  In fact, I couldn’t see the end of that line. 

While deciding what to do, two cyclists beckoned me to join them.  I politely declined; I really wasn’t in the mood to ride with such a large crowd.  More waved their hands and yelled, “Ride with us!”.  I shook my head and thanked them.  One of them actually looked upset, even offended.

Aside from my desire not to ride with so many others, I had another rationale for not joining them:  If they were riding for a cause, my joining them would do nothing to help with their fundraising.  At least, that’s what I figured:  I’ve participated in bike rides to raise funds for diabetes research, suicide prevention as well as other causes.  In every one of them, I had to enlist people to sponsor me:  They would pledge to donate a certain amount of money for each mile I rode, or a lump sum for my having done the ride.  I assumed that the ride streaming before me worked in the same way.

This may seem strange to some of you, but I really have no problem--assuming, of course, I’m in the mood for a large-group ride-- in “crashing” (hmm…that’s not such a great word choice, is it?) the Five Boro Bike Tour or other large organized rides that have no purpose but cycling or, perhaps, celebrating cycling or solidarity among cyclists.  On the other hand, I really don’t want to join a fundraising ride unless I’m helping to raise funds.

Turns out, they were riding the Tour of Queens.  Had I known that, I might've joined them. Just might've.

A police officer saw me turn down the riders’ invitations to join.  “Why don’t you ride with them?”

“Maybe another time.”

Riding In "Their" Neighborhood: A Bronx Tale

Normally, I'm not much of a fan of organized bike rides.  But I must admit that the first time I did the Five Boro Bike Tour, it felt great to be "taking over" the Verrazano Bridge and various streets throughout the city.  Sometimes people stood on the sidelines and cheered us on.  But some jeered us, and once I heard someone scream, "Go to Cuba, you f---ing commies!"  

I guess if I feel that I can "claim", if you will, a place by pedaling across or through it, someone's going to feel threatened.  I don't think my "claim" gives me sole possession; rather, it makes me a part of where I've ridden, and that place becomes part of me--and others can feel the same way.  But I guess that's just not how some people see it:  To them, a group of people riding through their neighborhood--especially if they look and dress a little different--is an invasion, an intrusion, on their way of life.

The funny thing is that even though I am white, the most hostile reactions I've experienced were from other white people.  Some of the friendliest receptions I encountered while on organized rides came in Harlem, when it was still entirely black, and Williamsburg when it was Puerto Rican.

So...What kind of a reaction would I and fellow riders had been black or Latina, and riding through some white ghetto? Would the irrational resentments some feel toward cyclists have been exacerbated by racial tension?

I got to thinking about such questions after showing A Bronx Tale to two of my classes last week.  It's the first film Robert de Niro directed.  In it, he plays Lorenzo, an Italian-American bus driver whose son, Calogero, witnesses a mob hit and doesn't "rat out" the perpetrator.  From there, the film follows Colagero--then nine years old, in 1960--through the ensuing decade as he, and his world change.

One of said changes is in the complexions of the skins of people who live in the neighborhood.  By 1968 or thereabouts, blacks have moved within a few blocks of their neighborhood.  A group of them rides down the street where the young Italian-American hoods hang out.  They--with the exception of Colagero--charge into them, knocking them off their bikes, and beat and kick them to the ground.  Colagero--"C" to everyone in the neighborhood--tries, in vain, to stop them.  

As the young black men are being beaten and their bikes trashed, the Moody Blues' Nights In White Satin plays in the background.