This has been a strange season, to say the least. We had our only real snowfall at the end of October. There have only been two, maybe three, stretches during which the temperature remained below freezing for two or more days. Last week, the temperature reached 75F (24C) on consecutive days. And, yesterday, the temperature dropped from 52 at the time I rode to work to 27 at the time I rode home.
I knew that the temperature was going to drop, but I wasn't prepared for such a large drop. That has, in part, to do with the fact that I stayed about two hours later at work than I'd planned. Also, the wind, which blew briskly when I pedalled to work, grew even stronger by the time I pedalled home--and I was riding into it for part of the way.
Really, though, I shouldn't complain. Well, all right, I will anyway. I bought some nice wool stuff this year that I never used!
The number of bicycle commuters here in New York is certainly growing. Even auto-centric public officials admit as much; I know that I see many more people riding to and from work than I did even a couple of years ago.
While this has helped to raise, however slowly, public awareness of the viability of cycling for transportation, it is also causing us to experience what NYC motorists have long complained about: the lack of available parking, and the expense of off-the-street parking.
To its credit, the city is building more parking racks and stations. And, two years ago, it passed a law requiring commercial garages and parking lots to provide parking spaces for bicycles.
That all sounds really good. But commuting cyclists have encountered another drivers' dilemma: parking spaces in prime commuter destinations are very expensive.
The garage whose sign appears in the photo is at the low end of the price scale. The only problem is that, while it's in a neighborhood (Prospect Heights, Brooklyn) where many cyclists live, not many work there. On the other hand, prices for bicycle parking spaces in prime midtown Manhattan areas rival the fees for parking cars. As an example, one garage at Bowery and Canal Street charges $221 a month. Another near Columbus Circle charges $189 a month.
What's truly galling, though, is that some garages charge the 18.375 percent parking tax, which is supposed to apply only to motor vehicles. Given that the city never has enough inspectors for restaurants and such, it's easy for unethical garage and lot owners to charge the tax with impunity.
Still, I'm glad that such parking facilities exist, even though I haven't had to use them myself. But, who knows, one day I might. Hopefully, there will be other improvements to the lot of bicycle commuters by that time!
Perhaps you've never pondered the question posed in the title of this post. Now's your chance. Actually, I'll give you one possible answer I stumbled upon.
It seems there's a particular kind of whimsy that only the English can do. And, as best as I can tell, the Brits are the only ones who've applied that sort of mirth to cycling.
And then there is the kind of humor that only the Curry Cycle Co. of Leicester could do.
Curry placed a series of cartoons called "Strange But True" in British cycling magazines during the early part of the 20th Century. Those cartoons were compiled by a correspondent with the nom de plume of "Wheeler" and were drawn by well-known Leicester artist Frank Layton. He also designed Curry's head badge.
One of my favorite of the series in No.2, which includes the high-wire cyclist and one of the best epitaphs ever written:
On this spot at half-past nine o'clock, after watching the glorious sunset of Aug 3rd 1904, Thomas Gilbert Smith, M.D., aged 56, fell dead from his bicycle. Thunder and lightning immediately followed.
Henry Curry started building bicycles in 1884. His brothers joined in the business, and they continued building until 1932, when they began to sell Hercules cycles badged as Currys. They continued with the latter arrangement until some time during the 1960's, when Hercules, along with most British bicycle manufacturers, were absorbed by Raleigh.
