Streetsblog New York City

Here’s the latest installment — and first-ever February edition — of Streetsblog’s Why I Ride series.

Photo copyright Dmitry Gudkov

Peter, 33, is a surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital. A lifelong New York area native, he only started bike commuting in May of last year. He lives on 1st Avenue and was encouraged by the expansion of the bike lane there. “Honestly, it was seeing that bike lane every day that made me want to try cycling.” Peter bought an inexpensive hybrid bike and initially just rode around for fun, exploring the city. He quickly realized it would be a useful commuting option (he normally took the bus and walked).

His commute is not very long, maybe a mile or two, but involves multiple destinations. “My day starts at Lenox Hill Hospital to round on my inpatients, then I bike down Park Ave over to my office in Midtown to see office patients. I sometimes go to another office in Washington Heights. I usually ride to 72nd Street and catch the train uptown. When it gets warmer, I’ll probably try biking the whole way.” A couple of rides in wet conditions made him realize the benefit of fenders; he also added a rack and pannier bags to carry his clothes. He said (with a hint of embarrassment) that his next purchase might be a kickstand. “I know it’s kind of frowned upon, but it would just be so convenient.”

Peter’s new cycling experience correlated with another big change: In September, he sold his car. “I lived in Dallas for a year and that was another story, but in New York, owning a car was just a huge luxury. It was costing me around $1,000 a month, I was always worried about parking, and I wasn’t getting much in return – except maybe a softball game or two at Jones Beach.” He has kept up his daily cycle commute even through the recent cold snap. “I wanted to see how long I could keep doing it. I’m too busy to take vacations but I take advantage of my< snowboarding gear to stay warm in the freezing winds. Goggles and snowboarding gloves are amazing! And during the summer, I just biked in scrubs.” He doesn’t yet know many other cyclists in the city and some friends have voiced doubts over the safety of riding in New York. He says his advice to someone thinking about bike commuting is: “Just try it. It’s really not as dangerous as you think.”

Here’s the latest installment — and first-ever January edition — of Streetsblog’s Why I Ride series.

Photo copyright Dmitry Gudkov

You never know who you’ll meet on a bike in New York. Yesterday it was famous illustrator/designer Bob Gill.

“It’s called a ‘butcher’s basket.’” he says in answer to my question. “It’s the biggest one I could find.”

I ask Mr. Gill, who rides his bike all over New York, why he chooses that mode of transport. He has the slightly exasperated bearing of someone giving an obvious answer to a stupid question: “It’s faster, it’s cheaper than a cab, I get exercise. It’s better in every way.” No argument here.

It turns out I photographed him on his 82nd birthday. Happy birthday, Mr. Gill –  May your butcher’s basket always be full!

Streetsblog will be offline Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and will be back publishing on Tuesday.

Enjoy this special Tuesday installment of Streetsblog’s Why I Ride series.

Photo copyright Dmitry Gudkov

Eldrid was born in Hawaii and moved to Queens after getting out of the Air Force in the 1960s. He bought his first New York bike, a light-weight 3-speed, shortly thereafter. A tinkerer and collector, he’s had two or three bikes in various states of repair at any given time since then. Cycling has become an increasingly important part of his life. At 73, he suffers from serious arthritis and can no longer walk long distances. “I used to swim a lot but now that’s hard too. Riding my bike is the only way for me to get any kind of intensive exercise.”

Nearly every day, he drives from his home in Jackson Heights to Flushing Meadows Corona Park, takes the bike out of the trunk, and pedals through the park. It is one of the few places in the city he feels comfortable riding. “I prefer to stay away from car traffic. Prospect Park, Central Park, they’re okay, but this is the only place that never allows cars.” He does ride in the street every once in a while, on the 34th Ave bike lane in Queens, but often finds it blocked by double-parked cars. “Then I just ride around, usually on the sidewalk.” Eldrid thinks that folding bikes, compact and portable, are a great option for the city. He also doesn’t believe in spending a lot of money on bikes. “I grew up poor, so I usually buy the cheapest thing and fix it up if I need to.” This was the case with the folding bike pictured here — Eldrid used parts from another bike to replace the suspension and the gears. “It’s a piece of junk,” he says. “But it’s keeping me alive.”

Photo copyright Dmitry Gudkov

I ran into Mary on her commute down the First Avenue bike lane. She works as an ESL instructor and has been bike commuting in New York since 1995. For the past 10 years she has been at her dream job — teaching English to delegates and staff at the United Nations English Language Programme. When I found this out, I naturally decided to set the portrait in front of the UN building. As we rode the few blocks north, we talked about her history with biking in the city. “I’m not this huge cycling person. I also take the subway and the bus, but for me the bike is the fastest, easiest way for me to get most places.”

Despite not being an avid cyclist, Mary did not find riding her bike in NYC as intimidating as many newcomers. “I actually think that New York is a less scary place to bike than some other places. The traffic moves relatively slowly, and as long as I’m moving with the flow I feel pretty safe. I’ve never been in any kind of accident. The one thing I always worry about is getting doored — I assume it will happen eventually, so I’m extra careful.”

Mary says she’s one of many UN employees who ride to work and make use of the underground bike parking offered in the main headquarters building. In the winter she generally opts for the bus, but the summer heat doesn’t deter her from riding in. “I do sweat a little on the bike, but I’m even worse on the subway or the bus.” She also now rides for fun in her free time; some of her favorite routes include going up the East River bike path or traversing the major bridges. Over the last few years she has encouraged a few friends to try New York cycling. “I think it helps people to see that it’s for regular people too — not just for really young people or crazy messengers.”

As we chatted at a red light, another cyclist pulled up. It turned out to be Mary’s physical therapist. By the time the light turned green, a dinner date was set.

Here’s the latest installment (after an extended hiatus) in Streetsblog’s Why I Ride series.

Photo copyright Dmitry Gudkov

Luis is a building super and handyman. After moving to New York from Chile in the 1980s he started riding a bike right away, commuting from his home on Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn. He now lives in the Lower East Side, closer to the properties he manages. The bike gets him around the neighborhood quickly and efficiently. “I work in many buildings around here,” he says. “Everybody knows me.” In fact he gives every impression of being a neighborhood fixture, pausing our conversation to shout multi-lingual greetings to familiar passersby (in this case, the greeting was a “Shalom!”).

He carries the tools and supplies he needs for the day in the bucket hanging from his handlebars. When I suggest he might look at installing a rack or basket, Luis waves his hand dismissively. He’s not interested in investing too much into the bike; like many long-time New York bike riders, he’s had his brush with bike theft. “I used to have a really nice bike — an expensive Peugeot. About five years ago somebody cut the lock and stole it.” He’s now gone the route of the beater mountain bike — comfortable and practical, but not flashy by any means.

Luis has mixed feelings about how the experience of riding a bike in New York has changed over the years. On the one hand, he’s seen the city become much more congested and difficult to navigate. At the same time, the proliferation of bike lanes has helped a great deal. Several years ago a work accident caused him to lose most of the vision in his right eye, so he rides more slowly than he used to. The separation from traffic makes him feel more safe.

Riding a bike may be the most practical mode of transport, in his case, but it’s one he also happens to enjoy.” It’s great exercise! Good for the legs.” It’s also clear even from our short conversation that being on the bike helps him stay connected to the neighborhood. As I thank Luis for his time, he grins and shows off some Russian: “Spasibo!” He pauses and adds, “Jesus loves you!”

Here’s the latest installment in Streetsblog’s Why I Ride series.

Photo copyright Dmitry Gudkov

Ed Lederman started riding a bike in New York in 1982. He had just arrived in the city with a dream of becoming a professional photographer and landed his first New York job: cleaning a photographer’s studio. Not long into this lean period, it occurred to him that he could save some money by riding a bike. Ed remembers an urban cycling scene dominated largely by messengers and other thrill-seeking types. Ed was among them: He fondly recalls one of his hobbies, spinning down a quiet Fifth Avenue at 4:30 in the morning, trying to ride a streak of timed green lights.

After a couple of months of sweeping floors, Ed graduated to photo assisting and, a few years later, he struck out on his own. In the past 25 years he has built a successful business as an in-demand New York City architectural and panoramic photographer. One thing that hasn’t changed is his love of navigating New York on a bicycle. His job often had him photographing buildings and construction projects and he usually took a taxi or the subway to the site. Occasionally he rode his bike to scout the location with his camera a day or two before the job. This proved convenient and cheap, and before long he found himself riding all over the city with cameras and a tripod strapped to his back.

When the 2008 economic crisis hit, business slowed down. Finding more time on his hands, Ed decided to launch a personal project: a New York “photo of the day” series. Very often he ventured out in search of the day’s photo on his bike. This was the perfect means to get around: fast enough to cover a good amount of ground, yet versatile enough to allow him to stop and set up a photo anytime. By this point he had been photographing New York professionally for years, yet he says that this new situation taught him to experience and document the city in a new light. The project continued for over 500 days, and the exposure from the series led to new assignments and a resurgence in his business.

Ed’s days of raising hell on Fifth Avenue are behind him; he prefers to ride in bike lanes and puts a premium on comfort over speed, taking in the city at a leisurely pace. After years of buying nice bikes and having them stolen, he finally gave in and bought a flea market beater, the Panasonic seen here. The theft deterrence plan is working so far – once or twice he forgot to bring a lock with him and returned to find his ride untouched. No doubt Ed will continue to explore and document the city he loves, and he will do much of it from the saddle of his bike.

Here’s the latest portrait in Streetsblog’s “Why I Ride” series.

Photo copyright Dmitry Gudkov

Henriette lives in lower Manhattan, works in film set design and uses her bike for just about everything – commuting, errands, and child transport. She owns a car too, but only really uses it for getting out of the city. I caught up with her as she was picking up her daughter Paloma from school in the East Village. Originally from East Germany, Henriette has called New York home for the last 19 years, for most of which she’s used a bike for transportation. Having had a couple of run-ins with car doors over the years, she has her guard up, even as the addition of bike lanes and increase in ridership have made her feel somewhat safer. With Paloma on the bike, she sticks to only riding in bike lanes or walking the bike on the sidewalk where necessary.

For years, Henriette rode a beloved old beater with coaster brakes. In fact, she traded up for this Biria just a couple of weeks ago. She was sad to part with the old bike, but loves the comfort and reliability of the new one. Paloma has spent most of her five-and-a-half years on the back of Henriette’s bike, graduating from a small child seat to the current rear banana seat configuration.

Photo copyright Dmitry Gudkov

Lisa is a city planner with Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration, an organization focused on developing small businesses and revitalizing the neighborhood. She grew up with bicycles – she remembers as a little kid being jealous of her older brothers because they had cooler bikes than her. It was when she moved to Philadelphia 10 years ago that she started using a bike as her main means of transport to school and work.

“In Philly, my bike was usually the fastest way to get somewhere – faster than public transit.” Even though a faster and cheaper transportation option was a no-brainer to her, she quickly encountered some entrenched cultural perceptions about bicycle riding. “There were a lot of kids on my block who would tease me when they’d see me riding my bike to work: ‘What, you can’t afford a car so you have to ride a bike?’ There’s a perception that a car is a sign of status. They couldn’t understand why someone would choose to ride a bike when they could drive instead.” One of the things that makes Lisa such an effective bike ambassador is that she really enjoys challenging such preconceived notions; she does so often and with good humor.

For the last two years, Lisa has lived and worked in Bed Stuy. Even though she generally doesn’t bike to work (she lives just three blocks away), she tends to use her bike for just about everything else. “I ride with friends, or to the store. I like to ride to the farmers market at Grand Army Plaza. If I’m going to a place I haven’t been before, the first thing I do is look up how to get there by bike.”

One of the missions of Bed Stuy Restoration is to make the area more hospitable to bicyclists. The sidewalk in front of Restoration Plaza on Fulton Ave (where this portrait was taken) was recently widened and re-paved, and will soon include new trees and bike racks. In addition, Restoration has been instrumental in building a new bike shelter at the corner of Fulton and Nostrand. This new piece of infrastructure, positioned next to a major transit hub, will allow people to leave their bike in a safe, covered location and connect to the MTA and the Long Island Railroad. Restoration will likely be actively involved in implementing bike-share stations in Bed-Stuy when the program launches next year.

Lisa’s work has her engaged with many local small businesses and community members, and after spending some time with her in Bed-Stuy, one gets the sense that she knows everyone in the neighborhood. In the 20 minutes or so that we spent chatting on the sidewalk, at least a half dozen people stopped and struck up conversations. She enthusiastically promotes cycling in a community where it is often not viewed as a viable form of transportation. This is another reason she rides: “Of course it’s healthy and I enjoy it, but also I’m a city planner so I kind of have to practice what I preach. It’s not about demonizing cars or telling people they shouldn’t drive. But it’s important that people have the widest possible range of transportation options open to them.”

Here’s the latest portrait in Streetsblog’s “Why I Ride” series.

Photo copyright Dmitry Gudkov

Julio has been working as a building superintendent for 15 years. During that time he has found that a bike is the best way to move between the 10 properties he supervises. He lives in Alphabet City and had at one point considered using his car for work, but found that gas prices and parking hassle and expense were just not worth it. He rides year round, preferring the bike over the subway even in winter: “The subway sometimes is too slow. And I have buildings all over the place.” The properties he manages are scattered from Midtown to Chinatown, so most of his trips are five miles or less. It’s an added bonus that he is not underground in case a tenant needs to call him.

Julio had a smaller, lighter bike that was recently stolen; he assumes the thieves had cut through the padlock (they made off with the chain). So he’s riding his backup cruiser bike, which he’s not thrilled with: “It’s too heavy! I usually like to bring my bike inside the building. Not so easy going up stairs with this one.” He’s now in the market for a new bike. A system of, say, public bikes stationed within easy walking distance of his buildings might also help with the lugging-up-stairs problem.

Here’s the latest portrait in Streetsblog’s “Why I Ride” series.

Photo copyright Dmitry Gudkov

Jono has worked as an assistant director for several television shows, including “Law and Order” and currently the CBS show “Blue Bloods.” A native New Yorker, he’s biked here off and on most of his life, but has been a regular commuter for the last 5 years. He tries to bike as much as possible from his home in Park Slope to studio and location shoots. He likes that it lets him get some exercise while leaving the car at home.

Reflecting on how his commute has evolved over the last few years, he acknowledges that the growth of cycling has made for a safer environment: “Five years ago, it was a lot more about dodging cars.” Though he feels safer on his bike today, he still leaves nothing to chance, as attested by his helmet and the recently acquired reflective vest. “I’ve got two kids at home now,” he explains. His kids ride too, but not on the street. “Only on the sidewalk. Though I’d let them ride here,” he says, gesturing at the protected bike lane on Kent Ave.

His rear rack and baskets allow him to pack everything he needs for the workday. “I’ve got my books, my computer, a change of clothes – that’s probably the most important thing, especially in the summer.” On this day he was riding from Park Slope to Broadway Stages in Greenpoint, where “Blue Bloods” is filming. For this trip, leaving the car at home is an easy choice. “I get there just as fast, and I don’t have to pay for parking.”