It’s probably been about a year since I have posted on rocbike, so here’s a collection of the fun group rides I did in 2009.

In March I headed up to Monson, MA to join up with fellow ratrod bikers for a swap meet and cruise. Monson kinda sucked for cruising so we packed up and went across the border to Willamantic, CT, where we had lunch and continued to ride.

full photo set here

In June I was on vacation so I ended up bringing one of my custom vintage bikes up to Rochester to join up with the old cruising crew, with a lot of new faces since I left town. One of the nights we went way out on the canal trail.

full photo set here

There’s a few local guys that go on custom vintage rides in downtown Hartford, so that happened at least a few times this summer.

June:

full photo set here

August:

full photo set here

Also in August, a few of us joined up in New London for a custom-vintage ride.

full photo set here

In September, I was back on vacation, and I did a tour of NY state, starting with a stop in NYC. Me and my friend Otto cruised from Queens to Brooklyn.

full photo set here

After NYC I was back up in ROC for two more days of cruising with the ROC cruise crew.

Wednesday:

full photo set here

Thursday – we rode up the Genesee river trail to the pier at Charlotte:

full photo set here

And the last group ride I did this past year, a custom-vintage cruise in New Haven, in October:

full photo set here

Hoping that 2010 is as full of fun bike rides! Happy New Year!

According to an article in today’s New York Times, a recent survey of New York City residents found that lack of storage is one of the biggest things keeping New Yorkers off bicycles.

In a city of tight living quarters and unaccommodating corporate towers, the biggest cycling challenge can be finding a good place store one’s ride when it is not in use.

For James Rather, an urban planner whose Riverdale walk-up does not have a storage option, lugging his bike up three flights to his apartment every time he rides is a “constant hassle” and a sometime danger.

You can read the article at the Times site.

Via BikeHacks

The Cranes took our first family trip to NYC yesterday. While we strolled through Central Park, I took some photos of pedicabs. Enjoy:

From Cranes In Manhattan

From Cranes In Manhattan

From Cranes In Manhattan

From Cranes In Manhattan

The rest of my photos from our trip are here:

Cranes In Manhattan

From today’s NYT:

A cyclist speeds through the crosswalk at 34th Street and Broadway. (Todd Heisler/The New York Times)

By ROBERT SULLIVAN
Published: March 6, 2009

SOMETIMES, when I am biking, I remember the ’80s, and I shudder. I remember, in other words, when biking was an extreme sport, when, if you were a biker, you had a lot of locks and a lot more nerve.

Just the other day, when I was enjoying the bike lane down Clinton Street in my neighborhood, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, I stopped at a red light. And after the crossing guard smiled and chatted with me, after the cars pulled up alongside me and did not honk, I experienced a flashback from 1987: my regular trip from West 113th Street to Central Park, navigating honks and taunts, the mayhem that was then on Cathedral Parkway.

Read the rest of the article.

From the New York Times:

By JAN ELLEN SPIEGEL
Published: December 31, 2008

Photo: Wendy Carlson for The New York Times

After a summer of their dreams, bicycle store owners are facing a grim reality this winter.

Big increases in business this year led some shop owners to think that they were largely insulated from a slowing economy. But the economy has continued to spiral downward, taking bicycle sales and much else with it.

The question now is whether all the bicyclists who appeared last summer will be back next summer.

Read the rest of the article at the NYT site.

Bruce Wilbur pointed out this post from No Impact Man:

AN OPEN LETTER TO NY STATE SENATOR JEFF KLEIN, WHO YESTERDAY CALLED ME A F—ING ASSH-LE AFTER NEARLY HITTING ME WITH HIS MERCEDES:

You’re never going to believe it folks, but today I had another close call on my bike, but this time the driver was New York State Senator Jeff Klein of the 34th Senate District in the Bronx. What follows is an open letter to the Senator which I will deliver to him today.

I am asking Senator Klein to meet with me and the Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives, the New York City organization that advocates for bikers and pedestrians. Since the Senator has now had first hand experience, we’d like to talk to him about policies that would help keep bikes and cars from tangling with each other.

Bloggers and journalists, please feel free to repost the letter in its entirety (being sure, of course, to attribute it to Colin Beavan at NoImpactMan.com).

Readers, please email this post to every New Yorker you know.

New York State citizens, please register your thoughts on the incident I will describe below with Senator Klein and the leader of the New York State Democrats. I will give contact details below. Please also ask Senator Klein to honor my request to meet with him.

The rest of the letter and all the relevant contact information is at Colin Beavan’s No Impact Man site.

If you’re in a hurry, you can reach Senator Klein at:

718-822-2049 or jdklein@senate.state.ny.us

Back in April, I visited New York City to see my son’s orchestra perform at Lincoln Center. I took some photos of real live New York city cyclists, and here’s a sampling of what I saw.

Get that person an Xtracycle (or at least some panniers!).

The first beautiful day of Spring in Central Park.

Lots of pedicabs.

It cracks me up that this woman is on her cell phone.

And in this election season, here’s the one political pedicab that I saw.

If you’re interested in more pictures (not all cycling related), you can find them at my Flick page.

This officer was subsequently stripped of his badge and gun. The rest of story is at the New York Post site. (Thanks to Karen for the tip!)

I’m typing this in Blue Smoke, the barbeque joint above the Jazz Standard on E 27th St in Manhattan. I’m in town to interview saxophonist John Ellis for my show The Jazz Session.

This is the first time I’ve been in the city since becoming a regular bicycle rider, and thus the first time I’ve really looked at the city with cyclist’s eyes. Let me tell you, you’ve really gotta want it to ride here.

I’m amazed at the bike handling skills of the messengers I see, and amused at the lack of skills of the pseudo-messengers. Yes, it’s cool to have more folks on bikes, but some of these riders are asking to be killed.

I also got a good laugh out of several of the bike lanes, which are little more than additional parking spaces for cars and delivery vans. Not a new observation, to be sure. In fact, BSNYC has written about it several times.

All that said, I’d love to try riding a bike here. I almost brought my bike today, but decided not to add one more complication to the joy of driving here and navigating to the club. (Tip: OnStar is useless in Manhattan. At least mine was.)

I did spot one thing I’ve never seen mentioned — a cycling map of New York City. It was outside the Barnes and Noble in Union Square, on one wall of a covered bike rack. The map shows various “bicycle-friendly” routes through the city, and it also shows the location of quite a few bike shops. I forgot that I had my camera with me, or I would have taken a picture.

Anyway, my hat’s off to all the folks who make riding a bike here part of their regular day. Huzzah!