Get ICE Off Our Streets
In this case, we're not just talking about DHS goons, but also the sheets of the stuff that persist in bike lanes and around Citi bike docks weeks after any path for cars has been plowed.
Leg Day is a newsletter about the pursuit of joy as a city cyclist. I write about the mundane oddities one encounters while moving around on two wheels, the infrastructure we rely on to stay safe in our car-addicted society, inspiring cyclists I’ve met, and bike events you simply must attend.
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On Saturday, around 1,000 cyclists, activists, and community members gathered in Foley Square for a memorial ride for Alex Pretti, a cyclist who was killed by CBP agents while monitoring ICE activity in Minneapolis last Month. Our ride, one of 200 that happened across the world that day, began right next to 26 Federal Plaza, where ICE holds people it has disappeared in dehumanizing conditions, and snaked through downtown. We passed in front of the Public Theater, where a bunch of famous actors and politicians were participating in an 8-hour “people’s filibuster.” And we rode along Canal St, where ICE harassed and arrested over a dozen street vendors in October, but were thwarted by a mass of protesters when they tried to do the same thing in November.
I made my way over from Brooklyn with a few friends from Bikepocing, and was happy to immediately run into a bunch of people I recognized. I clocked folks I had met years ago at non-binary bike club, the NYC Bike Zeen guy, a few fixie heads who smoked me beyond comprehension the one time I attempted an alley cat, and a couple of mechanics from my favorite bike shop. Indeed, the list of organizations listed as event partners is really a who’s who of good vibe cycling groups.
The big social groups like Bike and Brew and Social Cycling NYC, the organizers of which put out a statement saying they were going to more actively take political stances moving forward, were represented, of course. But there were also bike publications like Spokes Stack, safe streets advocates like Times Up and Transportation Alternatives, bike-aligned food and bev companies like Dank and Principles, and even racing teams like Bad Pony, Good Guys, and Angels. Like the Half Century ride we planned last year, it was a coalition that proved New York’s cycling scene isn’t as divergent and unorganizable as it sometimes seems. Here’s hoping the next time we gather, there are even more of us.
Special thanks to Stephen for sharing his images from the ride. You can follow him on Instagram @Sir.Scuba.Steve.
January was a bad month to be a Citi Bike user. Starting on the 5th, the price of non-member trips on the company’s electric and acoustic bikes increased to 41 cents a minute (about an 8 percent increase), and the fee cap for trips under 45 minutes is now $5.40. Being a member still saves you money on e-bike unlock fees and those short acoustic bike trips, but the cost of joining the club has also gone up. Effective January 28th, a full-price Citi Bike membership costs $239, a $20 increase. The fact that these fee hikes happened the same week the company had to shut down service because of the snow is enraging, especially because, a week later, Citi Bike’s operator Lyft still hasn’t actually shoveled out most of it’s docks. A reporter from the New York Post (which I will not link to), got Lyft to confirm it had only cleared about 500 of CitiBike’s 2,925 active stations by Tuesday, meaning 83% of the docks are still extremely difficult to use. When I unlocked a bike earlier this week, I had to throw it over my shoulder and summit the mound of iced over snow that had been packed behind the rack by multiple passes of DOT plows. Thankfully, I am very very strong.
I can hear people rolling their eyes at this kind of observation. After all, who the hell is riding Citi Bike in this weather anyway? A lot of people, actually! The transportation operator reported 24,328 rides on Tuesday, January 27th, the day after the snow actively stopped falling. If you recall, that was a particularly cold day, with an absolutely brutal wind chill that made it feel like 10 degrees. That’s less than the average number of rides per day recorded during our relatively balmy December, but it’s still pretty impressive. It’s more evidence that I think the city should take a more active role in making Citi Bike function even better as a pillar of its transportation strategy, instead of putting in rules that make it more likely any cyclist can get pulled over by the police for behaving in ways that don’t actually endanger anyone.
It’s been almost a month since Mayor Mamdani had city workers smooth out the Manhattan-side exit to the Williamsburg Bridge. The christened “Zohramp” got a lot of attention and plenty of praise, but also some kind of odd criticism online. I saw someone I follow on Instagram argue that the previous design, basically an immediate 4-inch drop, forced people to bike more safely out of a learned appreciation for its potential danger. I almost responded asking whether fear was a desirable reaction to basic infrastructure, but I stopped myself. Honestly, I think it’s more glaring that workers left the tall concrete barriers that are around the small opening to the ramp untouched. Those certainly frame people going through it nicely, but they also create a choke point that makes two-way travel on and off the bridge awkward.
Yes, I’m well aware that you’re not supposed to get on the bridge via that ramp. But I think the sanctioned path is even more dangerous than the removed bump. If you’re a rule follower, you have to go past the bump through an active, always packed crosswalk, make a tight left turn up an incline, ride for a few feet through another crosswalk, and then turn right onto the bridge path. It makes very little sense! Mr. Mamdani! Tear down these walls!
Oh, and also, make due on your promise to stop sicking the NYPD on cyclists?
The NYC BMA is hosting a goldsprints competition on Friday as a fundraiser for two cyclists recovering from surgery. Riders will set up on adjacent indoor rollers and try to spin further than their competitor in a fixed amount of time. I’m assuming the event will be a single-elimination bracket kind of tournament, but you can find out for sure by actually showing up. Participation will earn you points in its Borolympics series and makes you eligible to win some serious prizes from shops like King Kog and Two Seas, component companies like Thompson, and boutique bag manufacturer MER Bags.
For more information about events happening in New York this week and beyond, upgrade your Leg Day subscription. All paid subscribers get access to the Leg Day events calendar, which is filled with information about group rides, exciting races, free skill development classes, and other one-off happenings I think you should know about. It’s also the first place I’ll drop information about subscriber-only rides … including the one I’ve planned for February. Keep it secret, keep it safe.
Loose Links
“Your body is not a product that you buy on Amazon.” Really enjoyed this interview with a physician in She’s a Beast, a fitness newsletter that’s actually interested in getting its readers swole rather than highlighting a new euphemisms for restrictive dieting.
Do you have the legs to race the NYC subway? Jess Joseph at New York Groove and Matt Johnson of Spokes Stack interviewed the guy who races NYC transit lines on the same week. Coincidence? Yeah, almost certainly.
A computer mount that hides your AirTag. For someone who thinks the Knog Scout Bike Alarm is too conspicuous.
Ronnie lives a good life. This interview softened me on Ronnie Romance, though I still wish he would call himself literally anything else. His real name is Benedict! Why would you want to change that?
Some actually good winter cycling tips. Courtesy of relatively new CADE Media hire Benny.