Cyclists are Different than Bikers!

"Don't people know the difference between people who race bikes and those crazy people trying to get down the West Side Highway trail to work? Or the clueless tourists in Central Park?"

"No. People who think cyclists and bike races are dangerous and ought to be outlawed or restricted don't differentiate between the two. That's one of the main problems."

Now, I am using my own terms for this distinction. They might use different ones. But the point is the same. There is a difference, and an important one, between cyclists and bikers, just like there is between runners and joggers. And I don't mean the time it takes for them to complete some distance, at least not totally. By that, I mean, you can be a runner and take 40 minutes for a 5k. It is a lot less likely, though possible, that you can be a six-minute miler and a jogger. Joggers run four abreast in such a way that it is impossible to get around them, or who needlessly spread across the whole roadway during a race, even though there is other, non-race, foot or bike traffic that might be going by.(notice I am emphasizing needless: in some of these races, they allow so many people on the course that there is no other place for people to go.)These are among other differences.

Such is the distinction I see between cyclists and bikers. When cyclists are in the parks racing, they are well-behaved and respectful. They make all attempts to avoid the idiot with the dog who steps out right in front of twenty of them. They keep to their part of the park. Unlike the bikers who are riding down the sidewalk, weaving erratically through the pedestrians while seeming to try cutting off as many people as possible.

Sure, cyclists can be rude or obnoxious, in the sense they might yell at you. What runner hasn't yelled at someone? What New Yorker hasn't yelled at someone? If yelling were a reason not to allow, or to severely restrict, racing, there would be little to no competition of any kind in the five borough area. Physical harm is what is at issue. And well-trained and serious cyclists are unlikely to cause this. And people should remember that.