If A Cyclist Falls Into A Pothole...

 A few days ago, I was riding home from one of my bread runs in the Little Italy area of the Bronx.  After stopping at one of the fruit stands in Fordham Plaza, I proceeded up Webster Avenue.  A bit more than a block north of Fordham Road, I noticed a pothole so deep that I could see, on one side, the bedrock underneath and on the other, what looked like utility pipes.

That hole was there when I first moved into the neighborhood, just over a year ago.  The one good thing I can say is that because I know it's there, I barely have to look for it in order to dodge it:  It's as if an image of it, or its location, is lodged into my mental GPS, if you will.  But I wonder whether someone who isn't familiar with that stretch of Webster has been pitched off their bike when their front wheel dropped into it.  

That idle thought led to another:  If the person's bike was damaged or destroyed--or if they were injured--could they sue the city?

I don't know what New York City regulations say, or don't say, about such a scenario.  But I imagine that some lawyer could make a case for someone being reimbursed for a damaged or destroyed bike, medical bills and lost wages.  

In Palo Alto, California--home to Stanford University and a major technology hub--Peggy Hock-McCalley is bringing such a lawsuit against the city.  Last September, Roderick McCalley, her 81-year-old husband, was riding along Park Boulevard when he fell and sustained a major head injury and neck fracture.  Two days later, he died.

Cyclists on Park Boulevard, Palo Alto.  Photo by Gennady Sheyner for Palo Alto Online.

The city claims Mr. McCalley had entered a lane closed for construction when the accident occurred.  The suit filed by his widow maintains that he fell into an unmarked open construction ditch in the asphalt. So, while I have no firsthand knowledge of the case, I can understand--especially given my near-encounter with the pothole on Webster Avenue--how he or someone else could ride into a hole or depression he couldn't have seen, or wouldn't have known to look for, as he was riding.  

Also, Ms. Hock-McCalley maintains, "There were no warning signs" which made the ditch a "hidden hazard" for "persons who use the road every day."

She is seeking more than $35,000 from the city for creating dangerous conditions, negligence and wrongful death.  Whether or not she wins, if you'll indulge me a cliché, it won't bring back her husband.  And unless Palo Alto--and other cities--are more proactive in addressing road hazards, there will be other tragedies like the one that befell Roderick McCalley.

From The City To The Island

 Yesterday I pedaled out to City Island. It’s not a long ride (about 25 kilometers round-trip) and it’s mostly flat.  So I thought about taking Tosca, my Mercian fixie, but instead went with La-Vande, my King of Mercia.

I was glad I made that choice: I pedaled into the wind most of the way back. Also, La-Vande has fenders, which shielded the bike—and me—from salt and sand the Department of Sanitation spread over the streets during recent snowfalls. And parts of the Bronx River and Pelham Parkway Greenways were mud puddles. 

While most of the bike—and I—were protected, the chain and cassette are a little worse for the experience. I don’t mind; I’m going to replace them in a few weeks.

I regret not photographing is some streets and both Greenways.  Road conditions are usually at their worst around this time of year: The salt and sand, along with temperature changes, result in fissures that make some of those concrete and asphalt ribbons look—and ride—more like broken stairway. Interestingly, it was worst along the stretch of Pelham Greenway from Williamsbridge Road to the I-95 underpass: Its surface was more uneven, and muddier, than along the path through the wooded area just before the bridge to City Island.

Only City Island Avenue traverses the island; the other streets, only a block or two long, are bookended by the Avenue and the water. And the Avenue has only one traffic lane in each direction. So it doesn’t take much to create a jam, which I encountered. The good news, for me anyway, was that I could move along easily.  Perhaps surprisingly, given that it was a mild day (about 12C or 54F) for this time of year, I didn’t see any other cyclists—or pedestrians or scooters.

So, when I reached the end of the island, I felt it was all mine—or, perhaps, that everyone else had forgotten it.

I must say, though, that there’s something I very much like about the light and water at this time of year: The austere, steely clouds and tides of winter are showing the first hints of turning into a more vivid, if still stark, shades of blue that will, eventually, brighten in the sun.

By then, the days, and my rides, will be longer, I hope.

Glissante Lorsq’il Est Mouillé

 He acknowledged that he did “quite some beautiful sightseeing” during a bicycle ride in Paris. But he also complained about street conditions at the beginning and end of that ride.

I imagine that he had good reason, even though—in my experience, anyway—streets in the City of Light are in better condition than those in my hometown of New York. The rider in question, you see, wasn’t a tourist and sightseeing wasn’t the purpose of his trek.  He was pumping and spinning his way through the Olympic time trial. Oh, and less than a week ago, he finished third in the Tour de France.

R

Remco Evenepoel in the Tour de France

Remco Evenepoel lamented the poor road conditions during the first and last few kilometers of the 32.4 kilometer time trial, which began this morning near the Eiffel Tower, headed east towards the Place de la Bastille and the Polygone de Vincennes before looping back into the city and finishing at the ornate Pont Alexandre III—in the rain that has fallen almost continuously since yesterday’s opening ceremonies.

That precipitation may have made things even dicier for the mountain bike racers. Nino Schurter, who won medals in the previous two Olympics, said the gravel on the manmade course 40 kilometers outside Paris was “quite loose.” He added, “If you go fast, it’s quite slippery.”