Out of Darkness

We're into June and the longest daylight days of the year are now upon us.  Warmer temperatures give a clear indicator that bicycling season is in full swing!

Bike Month happened in May, marking the start of the high riding season.  If you haven't gotten out yet on your two wheeled pedalmobile, there is still plenty of time to put some rides into your days.  Daylight begins at 5am and goes almost until 9pm at night.

The Five Boro Bike Tour passed through Bay Ridge on a sleepy Sunday last month (May 6) and the Tour de Brooklyn was last weekend (May 28) .

Not to worry because the Brooklyn Waterfront Epic Ride will pass through on Saturday, July 28.  We can envision the terrified residents of Shore Road cowering in their apartments and looking down upon the melee below as Kurtz whispers, "The horror!  The horror!"



Unfortunately, Bay Ridge will not be receiving any of NYC"s new bike share stations.  Those are currently only planned for areas of Manhattan below Central Park, northern Brooklyn above Atlantic Avenue and a bit into Long Island City.

We have to wonder if the share system will ever make its way into South Brooklyn.  The 38th parallel of bicycling spite begins in the region between 23rd and 38th Streets, along the border of Greenwood Cemetery and the MTA Bus Depot.  The 5th Avenue bicycle lane abruptly halts at 23rd Street and the DMZ-like void of bicycle lanes south of Greenwood forms the black hole defining the attitude our community boards and elected officials would have us believe about bicycling in South Brooklyn: fuhgetaboutit.

But still, the 2012 bicycling map for NYC indicates more dotted lines of hope with new lanes projected for:

• Ridge Boulevard
• Ft Hamilton Parkway
• 92nd Street
• 100th Street
• 101st Street
• 14th Avenue
• Bath Avenue
• and even Bay Ridge Parkway still remains in the future

An excellent article was printed in New York, predicting the incredible convenience that the bike share program will bring to crosstown traffic in Manhattan.  Imagine what it could do for Bay Ridge:

• Ride a bike up to the Brooklyn Army Terminal and catch the ferry
• Ride to or from the subway or express bus to near your home
• Ride to a restaurant on the opposite end of 3rd ave or 5th ave, which you never visit because the parking is too bad
• Ride to the VA hospital or Ft Hamilton
• Ride to a softball game or go play some pickup basketball
• Ride to the pier to go fishing
• Ride to get a slice of pizza

Bay Ridge has lost bus lines and has infrequent service on the subway on weekends and during off hours.  Why not ride a bit?

NYC Bike Share Locations

 

With the program’s first 420 proposed locations unveiled on Friday, proponents say New York has taken a step toward a watershed moment in the transportation history of the city: Every few blocks throughout Midtown and Lower Manhattan, in splotches of northern Brooklyn and along a small slice of Queens, New Yorkers will have access to a new alternative for public travel

Read Full Story

Beyond Bay Ridge: The New Fresh Creek Bridge

Fresh Creek Bridge open for bicycles along the Greenway!

You may recall from our Real Rider Route #5 that there is substantial construction along the Belt Parkway. A new bridge is being built over Fresh Creek and it includes a brand new bicycle lane. BRBR cruised over it today and can report that it is open for use. Construction crews were putting some of the final parts of the fencing into place on Saturday afternoon. We are guessing that it will also open to eastbound Belt Parkway traffic very soon.

The bicycle and pedestrian lane is wide and generous and separated from the Parkway traffic by a stepped concrete barrier. Chainlink fence sits atop the barrier to a height of about 6'. The water side is only an 8' high chainlink fence.

Very straightforward and the chainlink side allows a view straight down to the water inlet below.

While riding a bicycle, the barriers also keep that Formula-1-in-Monaco feeling that we have grown to appreciate.


Ayrton Senna qualifying at Monaco, 1986

For the Runners and Walkers

This morning's revelation: When it is dark outside, don't wear all black!

Find the presunrise walker in this photo, wearing black pants, coat and hat while walking in the bicycle lane opposite the direction of traffic. Hint: look right in the middle of the photo.

Daylight savings time ended a few weeks ago and sunlit hours are growing shorter as the winter solstice approaches. If you are like BRBR and working during the day, this means all your morning and evening workouts are done in the dark from now until April.

Bay Ridge runners use the neighborhood bicycle lanes all the time. BRBR has run there, too, so we get it. The sidewalks are not always well lit and the concrete and asphalt pavers can be irregular and inconsistent.

BRBR isn't going to play crazy bike dude and rant to get non-cyclists out of the lane. But realize that there is a chance that some A personality nutter like yourself (but on a bicycle) is going to plow right into you. And trust us, it is going to hurt. We went head-on into a skateboarder going the wrong way around a blind turn earlier this year on Shore Road. It wasn't fun for anyone. And this happened in daylight.

So the odds of mutual pain and suffering are only increased when you run in the dark in the bicycle lane and:

A) Wear black or other dark clothes so you cannot be seen,

B) Run or walk opposite the direction of the bicycle lane, coming towards each other faster and reducing reaction time (note that better fitness only equals faster collision),

C) Run or walk (or bicycle) with head down in an asphalt stare, unaware of what is coming.

It"s New York. People wear black, we understand this. No need to fully change fashion to a colorful West Coaster going to a new age seminar. But take a few tips from above and lessen the chances of a physically impacting wake up before the sun rises.

This runner was wearing a reflective Run for Your Life jacket but otherwise black from top to bottom; at least a cyclist has a chance to her with the reflective patch.

These runners from Ft Hamilton do it right: the Army warm-ups are light clothes with some reflective panels. They even had a flashlight. The pennant is also a nice touch, but probably not needed for everyday runners.

Improvements Up North: Grand Army Plaza

So what is happening in Brooklyn, outside of Bay Ridge? Here's a quick update from the Architect's Newspaper on the redesign of Grand Army Plaza at Prospect Park.

Did you know that Grand Army Plaza was intended to a part of the park? BRBR didn't know this either. Hard to believe with the amount of traffic passing through, but a nice transition from our prior post on cars' takeover of pedestrian space.



The new Grand Army Plaza.


Original Olmsted Plan

The Pedestrian Loses the Way

Another streets article in this weeks' New York Times, this one by Christopher Gray, discussing how pedestrian occupation of " 'The Street' meant the entire open area, from building line to building line" and attitudes towards pedestrians have changed with the advent of streetcars, bicycles, automobiles, and on-street parking.

Read the full article here.


Columbus Circle


Bay Ridge, 5th Ave and 57th St. Image for sale on ebay.

Life in the Slow Lane

Do yourself a favor and follow this link to read the eloquent article written by architecture critic Michael Kimmelman on the simple pleasures of riding a bicycle in NYC. How good is it? Both mom and dad independently emailed the article to BRBR, asking if we'd read it yet; now that's no small planetary alignment.

"It’s too bad that so many New Yorkers still complain about the bike lanes’ contribution to the inconvenience of urban driving instead of promoting them for their obvious role in helping solve the city’s transportation miseries, and for their aesthetic possibilities. I don’t mean they’re great to look at. I mean that for users they offer a different way of taking in the city, its streets and architecture, the fine-grained fabric of its neighborhoods. Decades ago the architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown wrote about how we see cities differently at different speeds. Las Vegas was their example, and they wrote about driving versus walking (skipping over the bicycle). But the point stands. On a bike time bends. Space expands and contracts."



There might have been something in the air last weekend. BRBR had a similar pleasant time-space experience last Friday night (while cycling). About 10pm, riding back to Bay Ridge from the Affinity Cycle Shop: roads were empty, air was cool, and it was like easy flying. 40 minutes on the dot from Affinity to the Verrazano.

Tip: 6th Ave through Park Slope late at night is fantastic.


View Late Night Ride in a larger map