Bike To Wherever

 Local bicycle advocacy groups and other organizations have, for the past two decades or so, organized “Bike to Work” days or weeks, usually in the middle of May.

The other day, cyclists in San Francisco participated in a “Bike to Wherever Day.” While that sounds like a name a bored teenager would come up with, it actually expresses a new reality: The COVID pandemic changed, for many people, the definition of a workplace. Some began working from home and still haven’t gone back to their old offices or other workplaces. Others are on “hybrid” schedules, meaning that they might go to their offices only three, or even two, days a week. Still others became freelancers or started their own businesses, whether by necessity or choice.

All of that means that other duties are often interspersed with paid work:  Picking up or dropping off children, shopping or various commitments and appointments. And some people find it’s simply easier to go for a lunchtime ride from home than from the office, shop, classroom or wherever they were working before the pandemic.

Some of you may have ridden in a “Bike to Work” or “Bike to Wherever” event. Others among you may have such an event coming up this week. Whether or not you have joined, or plan to join, fellow cyclists, I hope you are riding to work, school or wherever!

The Culture War’s Latest Casualty

 I am a non-Christian transgender female cyclist. That makes me a totem in the culture wars.

The MAGA crowd, White and Christians nationalists and all of the other far-right culture warriors (and their sympathizers), by definition, are opposed to anyone and anything that doesn’t fit their definitions of Christianity and womanhood (i.e. perpetual pregnancy and silent submission). Then, when the Fake Tan Führer (FTF)re-entered the White House, they were emboldened to turn their hate on transgenders and anyone else who doesn’t fit their notions of cisgender heterosexuality.

Now the title of Daniel Zawodny’s article in The Baltimore Banner tells us what the latest target of Faux News-addled is:  “What is the latest victim in Trump’s war on woke?  You guessed  it—bike lanes.”

Turns out, Mr. Zawodny is not being engaging in hyperbole or hysterics. Rather, he recounts how FTF’s Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy—who claims he’s “not opposed to bike lanes” and that he “loves bikes”—confirmed a pause on all Federal funding for bike and pedestrian infrastructure pending a review considering the Trump Administration’s priorities. 

Given FTF’s hostility to cyclists—and environmentalists, anyone who wants social and economic justice and any energy source that isn’t nuclear or a fossil fuel—I have a difficult time imagining those priorities including us.

Rockaway Residents Reject Bike Ban

 If you have been following this blog, you know that I frequently ride the Rockaway Boardwalk along the South Shore of Queens.  Who can resist a seaside spin?

While I sometimes like to build up speed, I am careful and try to be respectful of beach goers, dog walkers and other pedestrians. I can, however, understand the impulse to engage in Grand Tour fantasies: I’ve done it myself. After all, the Boardwalk is a long flat stretch with no traffic lights and few, if any, other reasons to stop or detour.

Some folks in the local community board want to change, at least partially, what I described in my previous sentence.  Others, however, wanted to go even further.

At a recent Board meeting, a proposal to ban cyclists along thr Boardwalk’s most popular segment—from Beach 73rd to Beach 108th Streets—between Memorial and Labor Day. That area includes concession stands, bathrooms and changing areas and a surfing school, ans is closest to subway stations and the Veterans Memorial Bridge, which connects the Rockaways to the rest of Queens.

Accidents and altercations between riders and pedestrians have been reported. Some Board members—and media outlets like the New York Post—have used them to portray anyone on two wheels as a menace.  I’ll admit that I’ve seen a few reckless cyclists. But I think the greater problem is riders on mopeds and eBikes that don’t have a pedal assist.  I think they’re intoxicated by sea breezes rippling their hair (they’re almost never wearing helmets) and the power they feel. 

Fortunately, more than a few people can see, not only black and white, but all of the shades in the picture. Some just happen to be local residents who helped to vote down the proposal.

Some are calling, instead, for clearly-painted lanes and speed limits on the Boardwalk. They also believe that requiring cyclists to dismount around the major concession areas at 86th, 96th and 108th Streets. The Long Beach Boardwalk in Nassau County, where I have also ridden, has a similar policy for its main concession area during the peak season.

The Long Beach policy is enforced:  Police officers stand by barricades.  And a New York City Parks official says that would be needed—and that it would be the best way not to punish local residents who like to ride the Boardwalk for the actions of those who “come in and use it as their racetrack” (i.e., “outsiders”) however hysterical that claim might be.