elijah’s adventure

When I used to live in NYC I absolutely loved riding from Brooklyn into Manhattan and up to Central Park and back. There was an incredible air of excitement, as I felt myself become hyperaware with the flood of potentially lethal stimulation. Having grown up on Saint Simons Island Georgia, beautiful and with a laid back atmosphere, the transition into biking on NYC was frightening at first. I knew that the best way of conquering my fears was to bike straight into and out of the madness - Times Square.

If you’ve never been there, I’m sure you’ve seen videos. The glaring advertisements from the omniscient LCD panels, the exhaust, car horns, sea of yellow taxi cabs, buses, food stands, tens of thousands of pedestrians…..It’s incredibly overwhelming. Especially if you’re trying to bike through. There was even an occasion where I hoisted the bike above my head to “walk” through a twenty-thick crowd of pedestrians. The insanity is refreshing.

Once you get the hang of it, by learning to ride on the line between cars, cautiously cross vacant intersections underneath red lights, and to pedal as furiously as possible during the green lights, bike riding can be quite effective. It’s certainly faster than driving, and sometimes faster than the subway, depending on the total distance.

Bikes are maneuverable, fast, healthy (they decrease the risk of heart disease, but increase the risk of head trauma), better for th environment, arguably better for national security, and fun. There are monthly mass (thousands of riders) rides to remind people that bikes belong on the streets and are a considerable alternative to cars. More information is available at a critical mass and times up websites.

Ahh, the entire point of this post was to show you this race: