Cycling in the Park...

[paredown]

I had occasion to drive into the city on Sunday, and took myself off to Central Park to sit and read while my lovely wife had a client meeting.

I had never just sat on a bench close to the road and watched the mass of humanity pass by--and I came away quite pleased...

Aside from the usual suspects (boy racers and tri guys) there were a lot of families on rentals! Some were tourists/Euros--but more than a few were Americans, and some were even kids. And roller blades are not completely dead--there are a few keepers of the flame...

Some were on Citi bikes obviously, but clearly there are more rental companies at work. Someone is renting yellow Cannondales, there are more than a few tandems, and someone else has a large fleet (dark gray--although I couldn't ID the brand).

I was sitting for quite a while--and it really was a lot of people, ranging from obvious tourists, people who had not ridden a bike for a while and a surprising number of non-Lycra wearing but obviously pretty experienced cyclists.

My favorite though--a largish guy (and I'm guessing disabled) on an electric bike, towing a Burley trailer adorned with flags from which emanated boom box funk as he serenely cruised along--what a way to spend a Sunday in the park...

[pjbaz]

I go into the city a few times a year and sometimes hit the park. I've only ridden there one time but just a slow loop before heading down the Westside to a bar lol.

I've also run the loop and the problem I see with the rentals, citibikes, etc. is that people have no clue what's safe to do and randomly swerve, stop or block areas they're not supposed to be.

I agree it's great to see so many people on bikes, though.

[Seamus]

Fully car-free Central Park has just been instituted so hopefully more room to navigate amongst the various groups using the loop.