Poleriders

Wow. Two great tastes that taste great together - biking and pole-dancing.

I can't post pictures here because then my blog would have to have an adult content warning, but talk about utilizing pedal-power.

"PoleRider is the first and only bicycle rickshaw powered mobile dance pole; a new invention that merges pole dancing and bicycles.

Our mission is to raise awareness of the immense potential of pedal power and the imagination and to unite two great things that are even better together: bicycles and pole dancers! If you are driving, remember to look out for bicycles. One of them might be PoleRider!"

For more info go to Poleriders

As seen in ... Brooklyn Heights

I have no idea what these guys are doing, but this seems like a really inefficient way to move a car.

And The Winner Is ...

Ian Mahaffy and Maarten De Greeve,
originally uploaded by — default.

The Hoop by Ian Mahaffy and Maarten De Greeve, designers based in Copenhagen.
It's rather ironic that I finally managed to post about this yesterday - and today they announce the winner, especially since I just discovered that they were supposed to pick a winner three weeks ago.
Oh well, I guess that blows my rep as the place to get timely news....

The reaction to the announcement has been surprisingly cantankerous. Some of the comments have been downright rude.

“Evoke an abstracted bicycle tire”: what a lame brained
rational. What ever hapened to some small modicum
of functionality.

— a.may

My favorite?

"Well, if they’re pretty enough, maybe the bike thieves will start stealing the racks instead of the bikes."

— KWillets

They say they are going to install at least 5,000 of these over the next few years. I'm going to go the glass-half-full route and just be grateful for small favors. After all, they could have decided to spend that money for more parking meters.

Nice Rack

The Department of Transportation along with the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, Google and Transportation Alternatives are sponsoring a NYC bike rack design competition.

The finalists are on view at Astor place if you'd like to give them a test park.





"From bus stop shelters to parking meters to street lights, the streets of New York City are a diverse landscape of urban forms. One increasingly ubiquitous element is the CityRack, with thousands on sidewalks in the five boroughs. These simple racks have served us well for the past 10 years. But as we look to make even greater strides in increasing the number of cyclists we need something more. We need something that is functional while simultaneously capturing the attention and imagination of New Yorkers. To supplement our CityRacks, we also seek to promote off-street parking inside buildings to make it even easier for New Yorkers to take up the two-wheel commute."

Janette Sadik-Khan, Commissioner, New York City Department of Transportation





I know no one wants to be a guinea pig, but as the official site says,
"If the racks are broken or missing this indicates the designs as submitted might not be tough enough for NYC. Vandals are lame, but it’s better to know the pitfalls before we start to mass produce new racks."

So lock it up - and vote for your favorite at nycityracks

Vote

...or shut up.

As seen in ... Greenpoint

There's nothing like biking down closed streets.

If you missed it, today was the 'Get to the 'Point' 5K run through Greenpoint.

I don't run, but I love all the streets closed to traffic.

For a real kick, try riding the NYC Marathon route before the runners go. It's totally under the radar, but super fun.
No, you don't get to ride across the Verrazano Bridge, but the rest of the route gets closed off pretty early in the morning of the race.

The Night The Lights Didn't Go Out On Broadway

Paul Newman who?

The last time the lights went out on Broadway was just after 9/11 and like many people, I was stuck in another borough, so I've never seen the marquees go dark.

I was back working at 'no wheels allowed' (not even no wheels please), and I was already in craptastic midtown so I figured I'd head over to 44th St. to watch Broadway's tribute to fallen star Paul Newman.

I picked out a good spot. I know it was good because 2 minutes later a Fox News crew almost boxed me out of it, and I got ready to be moved by the sight of the lights going out.



So we stood there - me and the Fox News crew, 8 o'clock came, The Schubert went black, the Marquis flicked the switch for about 5 seconds, they both came back on, the Fox folks and I turned and looked at each other and shook our heads. The Saint James and The Majestic just didn't even bother at all.

So much for honoring Paul Newman.



They asked me if I wanted to be interviewed, but I decided that saying that the tribute was shitty on national tv was probably inappropriate.

Shame on You Brooklyn Marriott

I know I'm always harping on this, but come on!

According to the Marriott web site, the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge boasts "1,100 indoor parking spots" - so why don't you use them instead of allowing the bike lane that is the most direct access to the Brooklyn Bridge for cyclists to be abused?

In a neighborhood already overrun by 'special' parking permits for the local, state and federal courts, do we really need 'protected' livery cab parking?

On the other hand ...



With bike lanes like this, who wants to ride in them anyway?

As seen in ... The West Village

How cool is this?

The mom who rides this contraption with her two kids told me you can't get the jump seat that sits on the top tube anymore because of the danger that the kid will get a foot stuck in the front spokes, but the older one - who rides in back, still has both feet, so he seems to have done just fine.
I don't know what that extension is called that's attached to the back, that's what got me interested to begin with, but the little footrests on the downtube are my favorite part.