Cal;
I quit riding a few years back because of horrible accidents friends were in. One lost a leg, another is just really messed up after many corrective surgeries. I'm not as quick as I once was. Both these friends were about 30 and under. Most of my old riding pals have quit. Some began swimming. One surfs several times a week.
Locally, when traffic is slow, motorcycles take over the bike lanes. These guys are doing 40-50 in the bicycle lane. It's pretty scary to have one come up behind you.
Riding with traffic is necessary for survival. If you can't do 30 mph for a few blocks, you're in trouble. Before the texting children who drive, other bike riders were the biggest problem for most riding in the city. Now it's phone users. I almost hit a bike rider (not a cyclists) the other day when he swerved into traffic from the bike lane. He got into the middle of two lanes. He was texting while riding his bike.
pkr
PKR,
I think you draw a correlation between distracted driving and increased danger. The nail on the head is the use of smart phones by dumb people.
My friend Brent had on a wrist brace, and when I asked what happended, I was told he was swiped by a car. "Did the driver stop?" I asked, and Brent told me, "No."
Another friend, a fashion photographer, was T-boned by a mail truck. Again the driver did not stop.
Witnessed a car hitting a cyclist one night. Jersey plates. Left him for dead.
I will repeat that I saw a woman laying on the ground bleeding from the head that was struck by a cyclist. In this case the cyclist stopped. There was a bike lane BTW.
A friend of mine I ran into while jogging home. Tim's friend was hit crossing the street by a large man riding a bike at a high rate of speed descending a hill. Tim's friend had a broken jaw, missing teeth, and his brain was bleeding.
"Maggie" my gal had a student that was struck down by a cyclist on the 59th Street Bridge. Was seriously hurt and was left for dead.
Interesting to note two years ago I almost was a news story. A cab driver was pulling out. Thought he was in drive when accually he was in reverse. The cab drove over the low nose of a new Camaro and somehow got hung up on some wrought iron fencing surrounding a tree, otherwise me and one of my neighbors from my building would of gotten hit or killed by an errant car that would of otherwise backed into the lobby of my building.
I don't want to be permanently injured, I want to retire in good health, and I want to be vibrant. Still agile enough that I jumped onto the hood of a turning Mercedes rather than having my knee taken out by a bumper. The driver stopped, and he had thought he had hit me. I thanked him for stopping because it was partially my fault. It was at night and I was wearing all black. I kinda did a modified push up off the hood while kicking my legs out.
If I take a risk I'm really thoughtful about the risk verses the rewards. A selfie is a cheap frill. If I'm going to risk my life it has to be worth more than that.
So on a September 11th, I think more that 7 years ago, (Statue of limitations), I was trespassing in Dutch Kills, a railyard. I had a pair of Rollieflexes in a Domke and went there with the sole intention to photograph an ariel view of Madhattan from this kinda abandoned railyard having scoped out the area previously.
As I mentioned I'm afraid of heights, but I climbed up this walkway that bridged several sets of tracks. On top basically I was standing on loose planks. I started shooting and I took notice of Police Helicopters on patrol in Madhattan. I would wait for them to clear out of my shot. Below was a panoramic view in the foreground of Newtown Creek that divides Brooklyn from Queens and Madhattan loomed in the horizon.
Then I heard a helicopter flying/hovering directly over me. I scrambled and threw a Tele Rollieflex in my Domke with the other Rollie. I basically was running for my life because I did not want to get arrested, and I scurried like a cockroach looking for cover. The chopper was orbiting looking for me, and I only ran when I figured I had their blind spot.
You should know that in my past I was a bicycle racer, both mountain and road, and that when I was 49 years old I ran the NYC Marathon off the couch without any training when a friend who was an elite runner overtained and was too sick to run offered me his bib to run in his place one day before the event. I ended up finishing the marathon in under 5 hours. The point here is that I am a very fit person, but I was perhaps 52 years old on that September 11th.
So I have to run across this bridge that more or less has gaps between railroad ties, and if I fell threw I could easily break a leg. I make it across and the only cover is alongside the railroad embankment under a canopy of trees. This thick rail road gravel is like quicksand because with every lateral step I have to ascend an avalanch of gravel that gives way with every step I take.
Eventually cat like I come upon a street overpass and figure a way to get to the street. Meanwhile the chopper is circling in wider orbits looking for me. It took a while to elude them. Interesting to note that they broke off, but that was a head fake and they resumed their search for me.
Anyways, here I am on a social media platform, talking about my acrophobia, and taking dumb risk for the sake of photography and a reputation.
Truth be told I gave up on trustpassing for a while in separate event was acually aprehended by three men in black wearing badges. I was released, but two weekends ago I was with Andre in the Bronx and we were shooting an abandoned railyard. LOL.
Cal
