Pedestrians beware

I was watching the NYC Half Marathon this morning and rollerblading past Chelsea Piers when I saw a woman walking two huge dogs (by "huge dog" I mean "small horse") in the race. I mean the runners were on the West Side Highway. So was she. Next to the runners. With her two small horses. Anyone who has ever run or ridden by a dog knows that these animals tend to lunge toward fast-moving objects near their heads, so walking dogs in a race is right up there together with not saying no to drugs.

I thought Horse Walker might just be oblivious to the race, so I called out, "You're in the race!" To which she responded, "I'm crossing the street." (Whatever she was doing, there was no crossing apparent.) And then she retorted, "Mind your own business, please." Now, I'm not a nosy person, but when you're doing something that spectacularly idiotic, it becomes everyone's business.

Most pedestrians are pretty careful around cars, but when it comes to bike paths, they inexplicably treat them like sidewalks. Bike paths ARE NOT sidewalks. Think about it this way: if there was no bike path, cyclists and skaters and joggers would be riding / running in the road, alongside cars. So unless you're prepared to walk your dogs -- or push your stroller -- in traffic, stay off the bike path.

Ironman, here I come

I learned how to ride a bike this weekend. I don't mean I learned how to race, or how to clip in with cycling shoes, or how to work the gears on a mountain bike. I mean I learned how to not fall over while making the bike go forward -- what the rest of the world learns at approximately the age of five. I think I was the only adult Chinese person on the planet who didn't know how to ride a bike.

No one actually believes me when I tell them I can't ride a bike because, after all, I spin. A lot. When I take spinning classes with teachers who don't know me, they inevitably come up to me after class to ask which group I ride with. (I do hill climbs particularly nicely, thank you very much, Versus.)

The last time I tried learning how to ride a bike, my friend rented a bike and took me down to the pier by Chelsea Piers. I tried pedaling (and falling over) several times before getting impatient and strapping on my rollerblades -- a far more successful endeavor. The icing on the cake was when a man in a wheelchair -- he'd been observing me fall repeatedly -- offered some tips. You know you're doing a terrific job riding a bike when you need advice from someone who can't walk.

A couple years ago I signed up for the Nautica-New York City Triathlon, hoping that the race (by which I mean the exorbitant race fee) would force me to learn how to ride. I ended up losing the entrance fee. Finally, sidelined by plantar fasciitis, I decided it was now or never.

I looked up Terry Chin, who's been written up multiple times in The New York Times for his riding lessons for adults. Saturday morning, I met up with my class. Aside from the fact that Terry really gets a kick out of making fun of you -- *exactly* what an adult who doesn't know how to ride a bike is looking for -- the two-hour lesson ended with me (and most of the rest of the class) riding out of Riverside Park.

Sunday, I decided to attempt Central Park, which was possibly not the best idea for my second day on a bike, but I figured, why not aim high? After several false starts (and many startled pedestrians), I was up and running (so to speak). Voila:

You may be wondering why exactly I require a helmet to ride at the bone-chilling speed of five miles an hour, but in the words of my colleague, "It's better to look like a fruit than end up a vegetable."