Today's commute turned into a game of "playing chicken with the rain." Sometimes those commutes are the most fun because, when I do manage to dodge the rain, I feel like a kid who's gotten away with something.
The first half-hour of my commute felt like a ride across a big lawn lined with rotating sprinklers. It seemed that, as soon as dewy drops evaporated from my nose and hands, I'd get spritzed with another quick round of moisture.
However, about half an hour into my ride, heavier rain dropped from the sky. Suddenly, I could just barely see ahead of me. I ducked under a canopy in front of a store. What kind of a store it was, I wasn't exactly sure. The sign advertised photo finishing and passport service; inside I saw a jewelery case, a couple of fax/copy machines and a couple of desks. And, although the store appeared to be open, I didn't see anybody--not even an employee--inside. I wanted to thank somebody for providing such a good canopy exactly when I needed one!
Anyway, the rain stopped, but I saw lightning flash about a mile or so away. I trusted-- for that moment, anyway-- the wisdom in the old wives' (how sexist!) tale of how lightning never strikes twice in the same place.
Then it was back to riding in and out of the invisible rotating sprinklers. It wasn't raining when I got to work. About an hour later, the sun was shining and my students were staring out the window as I was teaching them the most important things anybody would ever teach them. Well, I probably wasn't, really, but I have to make them--and myself--believe that. Right?
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!
