Tag Archives: bikenyc

Biking in the Dark – choosing some good lights!!

Posted on by

By Meg Ausen


WE Bike NYC rides Cranksgiving!

Bike Lights – What’s the best for me?
As we lose more and more daylight during winter, our chances of riding in the dark increase greatly. If you haven’t already done so, now is definitely the time to check your bike lights and if needed get some new ones. Not only is it for your safety, but it is New York City law that bicyclists use a white headlight and a red taillight from dusk until dawn. Where to start? We’ve compiled some ideas below. Ultimately, you need to figure out what will be the best light for you based off of the types of roads you are riding, the amount of time you are riding in the dark, and your budget. As with most accessories related to our bicycles, ‘you get what you pay for’ applies to lights.

How bright of a light do I need – what’s a Lumen?

Brighter is always better. Most bike lights have different beam pattern settings allowing for a steady stream of light or a blinking strobe, providing cyclists different ways to be seen (both from oncoming traffic and from behind) and to see the path in front of them. Some claim that while a flashing light better grabs the attention of a driver to alert them that you are on the road, a steady stream of light can prove more useful to drivers for judging the distance they are from you and your bike. Remember to be mindful of how bright your front lights are to oncoming cyclists or pedestrians – a steady stream of light can be less aggravating then a strobe. Consider the roads you bike on when setting your beam pattern – if commuting primarily on streets with streetlights, choosing a front light with a narrow-focus beam should be sufficient. If you often ride along darker roads or trails, you will definitely want a wide-focus beam for better peripheral vision.

Nowadays, many light manufacturers measure by lumens. A lumen is a unit of measurement which quantifies the amount of light falling on the object you want to be illuminated. Lumens are measured at a uniform distance and describe the light intensity of each lighting unit. For example, one lumen is equivalent to the light of a candle one foot away. Most bike lights have a lumen rating (check the packaging or specs if purchasing online).

Check out this website for a visual of what different lumen intensities look like for front lights.

Front Lights: to be seen or to see? That is the Question

Actually, it’s best to both be seen by traffic and to be able to clearly see the road in front of you. As reviewed here, you can have both with lights like the Cygolite Dash 350. Basically, what this light does is combines a strobe with a steady beam, offering riders the best of both worlds. Priced at around $50, it also won’t break your budget and is rechargeable via a USB port. Here’s another useful website which offers a comparison of ranked lights based on cost, brightness, beam quality, battery life and portability.

Other great head lights:

Tail lights

The same website referenced above has reviewed and voted the Cygolite Hotshot Micro 30 as the best taillight that isn’t going to break your wallet. Testers sitting in the driver’s seat of a car found this light to be very visible due to its attention-getting flashing pattern and bright LED light. This light sells for around $30.

Other great taillights:

Other Factors to Consider when choosing lights

If you are using a rechargeable light, keep in mind the length of your commute and total riding time any given day. Take into consideration the battery life of your light so that you are always charged up and ready to go. Many lights have low-power modes which will extend the battery’s life between charging or for the battery-powered options, extend the life before your batteries go kaput. Strobe modes also tend to use less battery power than a constant beam of light.

If you have space, keep a set of emergency lights with you. These don’t need to be a second set of super bright lights described above, just some simple lights that will get you home if you have nothing else (think the free lights from Bike New York).

Other forms of Visibility

In addition to lights mounted to your bicycle, investing in reflective gear is always encouraged to make yourself more visible.

Have any bike light tips, questions, or just want to chat about bike stuff? Head over to our Female Bike Forum on Facebook!

**Products listed in this article are not endorsed by WE Bike NYC. Reviews were identified through Internet research.

WE Bike NYC helps NYC DOT Finish 1000th Bike Infrastructure Mile!!

Posted on by

By Meg Ausen

WE were so happy to be part of the NYC DOT press conference on September 22 celebrating the 1,000th mile of bike lanes in New York City! WE Bike NYC director Casey Ashenhurst (left) and volunteer Meg Ausen represented WE Bike NYC at the event, assisting New York City council members and bicycle advocates paint the 1000th mile in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. WE know that having a reliable and safe bike infrastructure in place is a huge indicator for increasing female ridership (check out Women Bike’s report on this if you’re curious), which WE are definitely for. WE look forward to see this network continue to grow, especially in the outer boroughs, as well as the next 500 miles of bike lanes! Learn more about the announcement here!!

DOT 1

NYC Century Takeaways from WE Bike NYC

Posted on by

century

Did you hear about or ride the NYC Century that happened in September? Have any questions or takeaways? One WE Bike volunteer Elyse Bejasa shares her thoughts on the urban century.

Thank you to Transportation Alternativesfor hosting the 2015 NYC Century on September 13th!! WE woke up early on a Sunday to explore the city with hundreds of other cyclists, taking well-timed breaks to refuel and riding through new areas. The tour, which has 4 options for distance, was a great opportunity for us to do an urban century, which many of us had never done before.

While some of us started in Central Park, my decision to start in Prospect Park was a no-brainer: I live about 5 minutes away. Still, it was hard to wake up at 4:30 am on a Sunday to get ready. My dog definitely gave me a look of “why are we awake at this hour??” But alas, I dragged myself out of bed, got dressed, turned on my bike lights, and met up with some fellow 100-milers in the Park.

A century is no easy feat, but TA made it easier with routes marked for each distance, helpful marshals, and DELICIOUS food at every rest stop. I think I ate 4 or 5 plums and all the watermelon I set my eyes on. And that hummus??

Riding an organized century was a different experience from other centuries that I have done. The biggest difference was that everything was routed ahead of time. It was very helpful to not have to constantly think about what turns to take, what the general route was, and where WE should stop next to take a break. It meant that I could concentrate on what was ahead of me: lots and lots of miles.

I was also lucky that I got to ride with a group of fellow WE Bikers who pace well with me. As much as WE all enjoy riding together as a group, it’s important to understand your individual needs when doing a long ride like a century. How often do you want to stop? Do you need to take long breaks between rest stops? Can you ride at a fairly similar and steady pace together? Luckily, my answers were YES and I’m glad I was riding alongside these ladies! Otherwise, I don’t know if I would have had as much fun.

I hadn’t originally planned on doing the NYC Century, but I’m so glad I did. Next up, riding the 40 mile route of the Tour de Bronx with WE Bike NYC!!

Explore NYC with these Ride Ideas!

Posted on by

Long Rides Around NYC

With the New York City Century coming up, WE are working to make sure our legs are up for the challenge and are preparing by doing some longer rides. Most cyclists point to 9W and River Road/Henry Hudson Drive when asked about their favorite 30+ mile ride, (WE’re doing that this month also!) but there are plenty of options for long rides within New York City. WE asked one of our ride leaders, Elyse Bejasa, to tell us about a few of her favorites.

Of course, the length of the route depends on where you start your journey so you may end up doing more miles that day, but these are great ways to get those legs ready for the Century!

Please note that the routes listed below are suggestions and you should always consult a map before a ride.

Shore Parkway to the Beach
Right along the Belt Parkway is the Shore Parkway, a long stretch of a bike and pedestrian path that follows the coast line. The bike path takes you from Bay Ridge all the way to Coney Island, then picks up again and goes all the way farther east into Queens. Starting from Grand Army Plaza, this route is about 30 miles long. There are restrooms and water fountains to refill water bottles at Jacob Riis and Canarsie Pier.

Gotham Loop
One popular ride WE did last year was the Gotham Loop, which takes you along the outer edge of Manhattan, mostly on bike paths. It’s about 30 miles the whole way around the island and there are plenty of places to stop, take in some views, and use facilities as necessary. Additional information here.

Queens Parks Tour
I’ve only done this in pieces, but would love to try it all in one shot one day. Queens has some great parks that span out all over the borough. This route, which is about 27.5 miles with a start and finish at Astoria Park, takes you through 4 of them. Expect to be on local roads between parks, but on some nice shaded bike paths while in the parks themselves.

Have other recommendations? Let us know in the Female Bike Forum by WE Bike NYC!

DONOR THANK YOU: Trello

Posted on by

#WEBiketoDC has come and gone, but there is still more to come.

What started as a conversation, turned into a BIG PROJECT with a lot of moving parts, which all had to fit together just right for our trip to happen. How did WE do it?

Well, with a dedicated project manager corralling our efforts, plus all our donors, sponsors, and a super awesome Internet-based tool called Trello.

Trello is a collaborative project-management tool that WE Bike NYC has been using for the past year to help us stay organized. As we’ve grown, both in our reach and volunteer base, we found that email threads and facebook pings weren’t cutting it anymore. We needed something to help us keep track of what needed to get done, and that could scale from planning a simple social ride for ice cream, to working on bigger projects like our Annie Londonderry Ride, our annual WE Party fundraiser, and our biggest venture yet, #WEbiketodc.

Trello is intuitive and visual, and even though it’s pretty straightforward when getting started, its version for businesses and non-profits is also packed with awesome features that make it a very robust and rich tool. The support team is fantastic, and was happy to help us out in making our experience the best that it can be.

Screen Shot 2014-02-26 at 5.42.37 PM

Thank you Trello! WE would have had a hard time doing it without you!

5 Things I Have Learned So Far

Posted on by

WE Bike NYC is organizing ten women from five organizations to ride 262 miles on bicycles from New York City to Washington, DC to represent their communities at the nation’s largest annual bicycle advocacy event, the National Bike Summit on March 3, 2014. WE are so pleased to be supported by WomanTours, Bicycle Times Magazine, Pearl Izumi, Velojoy, Bike New York, InTandem, and Transportation Alternatives. For more about the ride, check out our fundraising page HERE!

Kristina uses this post to bring us in on the some of the cerebral planning that she’s putting into this ride.

This trip to DC will be my first major bike tour, my largest athletic undertaking, and an overall BIG DEAL. You don’t go from biking 54 miles on a three speed cruiser to riding 260+ miles on a %#(@(*$ ^$*@($)@ road bike without learning a few things about yourself and the prep process.

1) Training is not just about building fitness – It’s also about trying out different clothing combinations to fight against the cold, what to not drink/eat the night before, and how to not lose your cool when your friend is flying up a hill in front of you. You don’t learn anything like that on a stationary bike. Spinning classes that say otherwise are a lie (and serve their own lovely purpose).photo 1 (2)

Climate control builds muscle but not necessarily character

2) Fit is important, but is not stagnant – When I bought my new bike, I had the seat dropped down as far as it could go. Because I have short legs and that’s what short legged people do. So when I developed this weird overuse pain on the top of my thigh, I took it back to the shop and we raised it substantially. The pain went away and everything felt great. Until mile 20 something, when I stopped being able to reach the ground with any kind of stability. So I will bring it back and we will try again until we get it right.

3) DRINK WATER! – I know I covered this one in my story of my botched century ride, but it begs repeating. That dead pain my legs after 90 minutes of riding on the equivalent of a moderately sized Big Gulp should not be a lesson I don’t need to keep re-learning.

4) Biking is my therapy, not a thing that should send me to therapy – I don’t think this one needs explaining nor am I able to without sounding like I am in need of actual mental health services. I tried this weekend and nothing came out of my mouth the way it was worded in my head. Granted, it was during my violation of Lesson #3 so I may not have made any sense. Once I left the friend I was riding with, I was starting to work through it and…

5) Falling is inevitable – On Sunday, I lost control of my bike coming up on a red light and connected with a cab barreling down the street. While the experience was terrifying, I managed to walk away banged but not broken.  Walking home, sobbing heavily, I rehearsed my speech to my #webiketodc teammates, friends, and family to express my regrets about not being able to continue this project. A friend took me to the doctor and other than bruises speckled all over my body, I was OK. I laughed my way through the weird yoga positions they had to bend me into for the x-rays. I had a really nice “holy cow, I made it through that” dinner, talked it through with Liz, watched “Walking Dead”, and have now spent my sick day figuring out what went wrong and how to fix it. The speech is gone from my head. Let’s blame it on a combination of optimism and the light concussion. photo

I’ll forego this layer when it gets warm enough that I don’t need two pairs of pants.

5 Reasons to Winter Bike

Posted on by

WE Bike NYC is organizing ten women from five organizations to ride 262 miles on bicycles from New York City to Washington, DC to represent their communities at the nation’s largest annual bicycle advocacy event, the National Bike Summit on March 3, 2014. WE are so pleased to be supported by WomanTours, Bicycle Times Magazine, Pearl Izumi, Velojoy, and InTandem, and Transportation Alternatives. For more about the ride, check out our fundraising page HERE!

Now that you have gotten to know who we are, learn more about us and our process. WE will be rolling out a series of guest posts from our riders and sponsors.

5reasonstowinterbike_web

SPONSOR HIGHLIGHT: Transportation Alternatives

Posted on by

Transportation Alternatives has been advocating for safer New York streets since 1973. In the film by Luke Ohlsen, we learn why and how three brave New Yorkers tough it out and ride through the winter.

WE Bike NYC is organizing ten women from five organizations to ride 262 miles on bicycles from New York City to Washington, DC to represent their communities at the nation’s largest annual bicycle advocacy event, the National Bike Summit on March 3, 2014. WE are so pleased to be supported by WomanTours, Bicycle Times Magazine, Pearl Izumi, Velojoy, and InTandem, and Transportation Alternatives. For more about the ride, check out our fundraising page HERE!

Now that you have gotten to know who we are, learn more about us and our process. WE will be rolling out a series of guest posts from our riders and sponsors.

Transportation Alternatives has been supporting WE Bike NYC from the beginning. We are more than grateful that they are also sponsoring us as #WEBIKETODC.

 

The Wall

Posted on by

WE Bike NYC is organizing ten women from five organizations to ride 262 miles on bicycles from New York City to Washington, DC to represent their communities at the nation’s largest annual bicycle advocacy event, the National Bike Summit on March 3, 2014. WE are so pleased to be supported by WomanTours, Bicycle Times Magazine, Pearl Izumi, Velojoy, and InTandem, and Transportation Alternatives. For more about the ride, check out our fundraising page HERE!

Now that you have gotten to know who we are, learn more about us and our process. WE will be rolling out a series of guest posts from our riders and sponsors.

On this post, Casey shares a humorous tale of what happens when you combine the joys of adolescence and long distance bicycle touring…

casey and anna

The first time I ever rode my bike a really serious distance was when I went on my first tour at 14. As an awkward adolescent middle schooler, I went with a friend (Anna) and her family to Canada for a large supported tour. While I hadn’t done anything like it before, Anna’s family had taken bike trips as their vacations for as long as she could remember, so they were all old pros. But I was young and in pretty good shape from playing sports in school, so with little (no) training, off I went. The tour looped around the peninsula near Niagara Falls, averaging anywhere from 55-70 miles a day. We slept in tents in fields of local high schools, would break camp and stow our gear in a giant semi truck, and ride from early in the morning til mid-afternoon.

I managed to get through the first half of the tour with only minor incidents: one spill on the rail trail gave me some gnarly road rash that was remedied by sticking a maxi-pad to the inside of my shorts to cover the wound until it could be dressed properly. (There was pretty much nothing I could think of that would have been more embarrassing than that at the tender age of 14.) And, while messing around with friends trying to ride with no hands, I rode off the road, between a telephone pole and a tree, only to flop over into a bush full of burrs that I would be picking out of my hair for the rest of the tour.

Our rest day was in Niagara Falls, with wax museums, haunted houses, and tourist attractions galore, and with 3 days left in the tour to go, I was feeling pretty good about things. We awoke the next morning ready to ride, and were about 5 miles in when the weather started getting gross. What started as drizzling and breezy turned into downpour and a fierce headwind that lasted throughout the day. This is when I would hit the wall.

I have a distinct memory of climbing a hill, my shoes soaked, barely able to see from the rain blowing in my face, my muscles aching, and feeling like I was spinning and spinning the pedals and barely moving at all. I finally came to the crest of the hill and started down, which should have been pleasant but wasn’t, due to the headwind and the rain. I coasted into the last rest stop of the day at the bottom of the hill, found a patch of grass, dismounted, dropped the bike on the ground (Anna’s mom to this day says that I threw it, but that seems dramatic), and said I was done.

Where was the SAG wagon? I was ready to get to the next place we were sleeping, have a hot shower, and curl up in my nice dry tent. I did not want to ride the bike any more. I did not want any water. I did not want a snack. I was over it. I was DONE.

To their credit, Anna’s parents handled it really well. They reassured me that I had been doing a good job, even though I was kind of being a baby at that moment. They said that it was totally up to me if I wanted to take the SAG wagon the rest of the way, and that no one would think I was lame if I did that. And they told me how much farther it was, and how long they thought it would take to get there if we rode. They got me to eat a snack and have some water. And by the time they were ready to go the last leg, I was too.

Everyone hits walls. And sometimes, it does mean that you take the SAG wagon the rest of the way, which is ok. But sometimes, you need a pep talk, a snack, and some water to get you going again.