Here’s an interesting little article from New York Magazine making the e-mail rounds in NYC.
Who Owns Central Park?
It’s about the congestion of runners, cyclists, walkers et al, in Central Park. While the current situation in the park is probably not something any non-New Yorker would be interested in, this article does address some of the personality conflicts between those who hit the pavement on two feet versus two wheels (or four, if you count dogs). By the end of the article I got the impression that there are a lot of asshole cyclists using the park, but nobody’s perfect.
As for myself, I’ve never had a run-in with an athlete/cyclist. I stay on my side of the road, they stay on theirs, and that seems to work fine. But if you go into the park in the early morning, you do indeed hear the swoosh of cyclists, in packs, flying at top speed through red lights. Generally, they are not a relaxed group. And I’ve indeed heard them screaming at perceived idiots as they flew by. To be fair, there are a lot of idiots in the park. Some of them wear running shoes, and some of them ride bikes. And why any dog owner is dumb enough to take their pet off-leash in heavy road traffic is beyond me. Just because something is legal doesn’t make it the right thing to do. Of course, being a larval triathlete, I understand each side, and I’m happy at least swimmers aren’t affected. Then again, I’ve had a few poolside glaring matches with fast swimmers in lanes marked ‘slow’, so I guess hate lives everywhere.
But about sharing the park. For me, the problem is there’s too many narcissistic ‘type-A’s’ (I hate that description, remind me not to use it again) getting exercise in the park, and it’s gotten out of control. Adrian Benepe, the NYC park commissioner, put it well: “People need to behave more like members of a shared society and less narcissistically”.
THAT’s an understatement. Anyway, enjoy the article, and be glad you don't have to deal with this...
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4 comments:
It's almost worth heading down there to see a scuffle between some runner and a roadie. Just be safe, Cranks.
As someone who swings both ways, I can see both points of view. And I've seen those Central Park riders on a run with YOU, and they WERE arrogant assholes. But still... I think what people don't understand about cyclists is how HARD it is to clip in, gain speed and maintain said speed. Sometimes you get going and when you stop, you're in WAY harder a gear than you can push... but you still have to pedal to downshift. Motorists think that bikes are stationary objects and cut me off all the time. Pedestrians think you can stop on a dime. And no one seems to understand why you have to go out into traffic rather than ride through a glass-filled 6" deep pothole surrounded by sand and nails on the shoulder of the road. I've been an asshole many times on my bike because of all the obstacles that OTHER IDIOTS force me to ride through. Which is why bike lanes should be on every road in the whole entire world and traffic lights should be abolished.
Thanks for the article.
Actually, we have trails with bicycles and runners ... sharing?!!
say out here in Minnesota.
More than half the bikers in the last week have said "On your left" as they went speeeeding by.
And we wave and say thanks.
So how hard can that be for everybody to do.
That has got to be frustrating. Unless I'm doing work at pace or on a track, I am not type A. However, the dang let your little dog trip me while I'm going all out drives me insane (then again, I almost broke my leg on a yappy-ass tiny dog while running once). Oh, I am a dog lover, just not ankle biters while running. At least be big enough to hold your own. haha!
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