This is not a post, I'm not here until Monday.

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm gone until Monday, so what you're reading isn't a post.  It's just the blogging equivalent of popping back in because I forgot my umbrella.  Except instead of my umbrella what I forgot was to share with you this delightfully smug little piece I wrote for "Reclaim," which is Transportation Alternatives's magazine:

I'm not sure what the smugness equivalent of a "mic drop" is, but it's probably something like tossing your reusable hemp shopping bag over your shoulder, pivoting on your Birkenstocks, and walking briskly away.

And while we're on the subject of my absence, yesterday a commenter commented thusly:

Anonymous said...

It would be nice if these "days off" were scheduled well in advance. As it is, they are just sprung on us last minute, leaving me to believe that the author doesn't care that much about this job. I would have thought he would take a few days off after the Fondon't, to recover, not take days off prior to the event. If you haven't put in the "fitness miles" by now, it too late.

May 17, 2016 at 4:32 PM

What?  I don't care much about this job, really?  I've been curating The World's Greatest Bike Blog for Nine (9) Goddamn Years!  They're going to teach classes about this blog in universities one day.  (That class will be called "Futility in the Digital Age.")  How dare you impugn my commitment to this blog, which has been nothing less than unwavering.  You don't think someone of my tremendous talent and intellect couldn't easily have forsaken this blog years ago for something more remunerative?  I have a BA in English from SUNY Albany, with a minor in Religious Studies!  With credentials like that I could easily drop this whole thing tomorrow and find high-paying work as a neurosurgeon, intergalactic space lawyer, or hedge fund manager.  (Granted, I'm not sure what a hedge fund manager does, but I think it has something to do with landscaping.)  And the idea that a cyclist of my caliber and experience needs this time to put in "fitness miles" for a jaunt I ride regularly is laughable.  LAUGHABLE!  Did it ever occur to you that maybe I need this time?  That maybe as a sophisticated urbanite with a rich and nuanced life I have to attend to something extremely important, even more so than this blog?

I mean I don't, not by a long shot, but that doesn't excuse your impudence.

Speaking of unwavering dedication to your job, the NYPD loves "crackdowns," and the latest one is on drivers who endanger cyclists--and if my commute yesterday is any indication, it involves parking a shitload of police cars in the bike lane all day to write a handful of tickets:

While I'm always pleased to see drivers with Jersey plates getting tickets, I'd also argue blocking a busy bike route (this is right by the Manhattan Bridge entrance, a major bicycle thoroughfare) for a full block might cause more problems than it solves:

The "unintended consequences" effect (or maybe they are intended) was even more pronounced as I made my way home last night, when instead of having to circumvent one douchebag on a heavily-trafficked avenue I had to circumvent said douchebag as well as the police car taking up the entire adjacent lane:

Also the usual NYPD bike lane blocking seems to remain in effect despite the crackdown, particularly in the bike lane in Union Square East, where a police car has been stationed since roughly the invention of the velocipede.

Of course common sense would dictate that the NYPD might consider conducting this crackdown on foot, but common sense is keeping its mouth shut ever since it received a little visit from Pat Lynch.

Lastly, the BSNYC Gran Fondon't is shaping up, because look at my inbox:

If you emailed you can expect a reply with details by tomorrow-ish.

I'd say goodbye now, but I was never here in the first place.

See you back here Monday, May 23rd.  (Unless I realize I forgot something else.)



--Wildcat Rock Machine

from Bike Snob NYC http://ift.tt/1sy3ixp