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Riding The Big Apple...

712 views 16 replies 5 participants last post by  2ndGen 
#1 ·
Alley Cat Races...I'm sure most of you guys have seen this video already, but damn.

There's nothing like riding in The City with moving obstacles.

It's such a rush.

I'm not an advocate for illegal riding (disobeying traffic laws and putting pedestrians at risk) at all and I obey laws when I ride and don't risk anybody.

It's such a thrill man.

Anybody ride these races or hammered it through city traffic like this?

 
#4 ·
I've done it.
Loved it.

And, it's legal to ride like that provided that you stay to the far right side of the road and obey the traffic signals.

Their actually making more and more dedicated bike lanes and routes in the city
(it'd be great if we can get the congestion down and more people rode bikes).
 
#5 ·
2ndGen said:
I've done it.
Loved it.

And, it's legal to ride like that provided that you stay to the far right side of the road and obey the traffic signals.

Their actually making more and more dedicated bike lanes and routes in the city
(it'd be great if we can get the congestion down and more people rode bikes).
as long as we ignore the zigzagging through peds, the riding against traffic, the cutting off of other vehicles, the tail gating. Yeah sure, then it's all legal :rolleyes:
 
#6 ·
den bakker said:
as long as we ignore the zigzagging through peds, the riding against traffic, the cutting off of other vehicles, the tail gating. Yeah sure, then it's all legal :rolleyes:
In NYC, the peds are notorious for crossing against the light.
Even if you have the right of way, they will cross the street.

Riding against the traffic?
Did they ride against the traffic in that particular video?

Cutting off other vehicles?

Law here says that bikers have the right of way over cars when they are on the "right" side of the road (if they are on not, then they don't).

Tailgating? Sometimes, they just can't get past the cars. What are they to do? Pull over and walk?

Survival of the fittest baby...it reminds me of that saying (not said to you):

"Go hard or go home!"

The streets of New York are like the lawless towns of the old west.
There are laws, but neither the peds nor the cars obey them.

All are equally wrong in that video. You'll find cars and peds that disobey the law
(if one stops focusing just on the bikers faults).

:)

 
#7 ·
No offense. I don't consider that as racing because you are endangering yourself and other people. Also, I like to live another day to race....not to end my life in it...:) Now, let's look at the physical aspect of it. How long these guys were at threshold power, if at all? They can't go all out because the speed would be too fast to get around cars and people safely.
 
#9 ·
Orbea_Carbon_Force said:
No offense. I don't consider that as racing because you are endangering yourself and other people. Also, I like to live another day to race....not to end my life in it...:) Now, let's look at the physical aspect of it. How long these guys were at threshold power, if at all? They can't go all out because the speed would be too fast to get around cars and people safely.
No offense taken. :)

There are "different" types of racing (not just legal races on a clear road or on a track).

As far as endangering one's self, I guess you can say that one is placing themselves at more risk, but even in sanctioned races, the risk is greater than in just riding a bike to a store. There is always risk potential to get hurt...some just are riskier.

As for endangering others, more people get hit by cars in NYC than by bikes.
And cars are always legal.

And going all out is "relative". Again, different races with different types of riding.
To apply a track race to a street race is comparing apples to oranges, right?
What is the definition for going all out in an Alley Cat Race?

Making it from upper Manhattan to Brooklyn in less than 10 minutes?
(if you lived here, you'd know how great a feat that was...impossible by car or train or bus).

No worries...I always appreciate a different point of view OBF.

:)
 
#12 ·
What? 10 minutes from Brooklyn to upper Manhattan??? :) My all time or consistent time from outer Brooklyn to 85th street west side, where I work, is 1 hour. :) 18 miles. This involves doing 20sec power interval at each stop lights. And some sprint works in between lights. :) I do that usually on Sat and Sun mornings with little cars and traffics.
 
#14 ·
riding against traffic at 1minute and 14 (guy in red jersey) and at 6minutes and 28.
2 minutes into the movie the traffic light is clearly red when they ride through the crowd of pedestrians crossing the road.
But I'm glad you agree at the end of your post they do not ride legally.


2ndGen said:
In NYC, the peds are notorious for crossing against the light.
Even if you have the right of way, they will cross the street.

Riding against the traffic?
Did they ride against the traffic in that particular video?

Cutting off other vehicles?

Law here says that bikers have the right of way over cars when they are on the "right" side of the road (if they are on not, then they don't).

Tailgating? Sometimes, they just can't get past the cars. What are they to do? Pull over and walk?

Survival of the fittest baby...it reminds me of that saying (not said to you):

"Go hard or go home!"

The streets of New York are like the lawless towns of the old west.
There are laws, but neither the peds nor the cars obey them.

All are equally wrong in that video. You'll find cars and peds that disobey the law
(if one stops focusing just on the bikers faults).

:)
 
#15 · (Edited)
Orbea_Carbon_Force said:
What? 10 minutes from Brooklyn to upper Manhattan??? :) My all time or consistent time from outer Brooklyn to 85th street west side, where I work, is 1 hour. :) 18 miles. This involves doing 20sec power interval at each stop lights. And some sprint works in between lights. :) I do that usually on Sat and Sun mornings with little cars and traffics.
It's only about 6 miles from Central Park to The BKLN Bridge, right?

These guys ride 8 hours a day every day.

Is it impossible to ride 6 miles to the BKLN Bridge in 10 minutes from what seemed to be 72nd Street in Central Park?

I know the video was cut, at a point or two. I took that time by the length of the video.

I've ridden down Broadway from 181st Street (coming off of The GWB) and gotten down to 151st street (on a MTB with Knobbies) in a few minutes with no problem (of course, witout stopping at lights).

I know that one could ride for a bunch of lights without them changing (as the North/South traffic patter gets priority over the crosstown pattern).

I can do 4 average Northern/Southern direction blocks a minute without having to stop.
I imagine these messengers can gobble up way more blocks than I can.
I doubt these guys stopped for lights :lol: and correct me if I'm wrong,
coming up from BKLN to NYC is mostly uphill,
while running down from NYC to BKLN is downhill coasting, right?

(You'd know better than me, but when I rode BDWY, that's how I remembered it)

To make 6 miles in 10 minutes, how fast would they have to go?

They'd only have to make .6 miles (just over half a mile) per minute or 36 miles an hour almost non-stop.

Is that possible for conditioned daily riders like NYC bike messengers?

(I'm asking honestly because I just don't know)
 
#17 ·
den bakker said:
riding against traffic at 1minute and 14 (guy in red jersey) and at 6minutes and 28.
2 minutes into the movie the traffic light is clearly red when they ride through the crowd of pedestrians crossing the road.
But I'm glad you agree at the end of your post they do not ride legally.
Yeah, I'm definitely against that stuff.
There are ways to navigate the streets without endangering others.
Peds that cross against the walk are just as dumb as those guys who rode against traffic.
Riding against lights, again, I'd never do that.
These guys however do it everyday.

I knew a bike messenger and the stories he'd tell me would put butterflies in your stomach!

:lol:

But I'm totally against all the illegal stuff they did.
Again, you can ride through that clutter and do it without putting others at risk.

:)
 
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