What's Hot!

Biking in New York City is, at best, a speed trial and at worst an exercise in life or death obstacle racing. Today, I got to change hats and pretend to be a bike messenger (more or less) as I delivered some tapes to a midtown client. This involved biking the Brooklyn Bridge (still, a B- bike path as far as I'm concerned. It baffles me as to why there aren't more crushed pedestrians in between the wooden planks considering how haphazardly and blindly they wander out into the bike lane). I was passed by a cyclist wearing the U.S. Postal Service outfit.

#1 Hot thing: U.S. Postal Service cycling outfits. Hey, for all I know, he probably was on the U.S. Postal Service cycling team. They did have the day off, after all. 'Bout the only good thing Reagan ever did was give government employees today off. It's always seemed strange the post office has a cycling team, though. I mean, if they had a really committed one, wouldn't my mail actually get where it's going faster?

Biking from the Brooklyn Bridge up into midtown can happen in a variety of ways. I was feeling frisky today, so I took the route directly through town. That follows Centre Street up through to Union Square (it turns into some other street...Broadway, maybe?) on its way there. This isn't a terrible route, though at the Chinatown juncture, you pretty much feel like your arms are going to fall off from the pothole absorption and you're going to get crushed by buses and taxis converging upon you.

Around Union Square, I made the choice to turn up and take 6th Avenue as best as I could. Turns out 6th isn't as bad a street as one might think. Sure, it's filled with a million people (probably literally) and taxis left and right and erratic stop and go traffic and...okay, so it's not a great route. And it only develops a minor bike lane around Times Square and only lasts for a few blocks to Bryant Park. Still, it didn't seem as over-trafficked as I would've expected it to be.

#2 Hot thing: Hairnets. Oh my! It's the sexy look for the new year. Mark my words, when the fall fashions come out, it's going to be nothing but hairnets.

I will now comment on the sorely lacking bike parking facilities in NY. In fact, in comparison to a hick burg like, oh say, San Francisco, NY blows. There aren't a plethora of parking meters (which I'd settle for). There are almost no actual bike locking posts (save for a set in front of B&H Photo). And strapping your bike to those flimsy punctured holed out metal posts seems like you're asking for trouble. My advice: if you've gotta bike and park in NYC have at least 2 good locks (a u shaped and a chain for maximum versatility).

#3 Hot thing: Throwing your hand up and standing in the bike lane while you try to hail a cab. If you can decapitate a bike messenger (or me), you get an extra $10 off at Prada. SuperMegaGalactic Hot!

Coming back down from midtown, I utilized 7th Avenue. At Times Square...fuhgeddaboutit. It's enough to make you feel like you're in LA traffic. Thankfully, this clears pretty dramatically around 28th St. and you can jet almost all the way down to Spring St. (where I crossed over to get into the City Hall Park area) without too much difficulty. And traffic gets very thin at the Village, so you'll feel like you're all alone on 5 lanes of traffic. Nice. I will say that having a rear view (or the ability to turn your head back and forth repeatedly while you ride) is absolutely helpful.

#4 Hot thing: Shoes that are so ungainly and clunky that they make you trip over even pavement. Sooooo hot. The only thing hotter than that? Taking yourself so seriously that you can't even laugh (or even crack a smile!) about how silly it is when you do trip. This is like lava hot, I'm tellin' you.