The Fashion Spot

I started biking last summer after a hiatus of, oh, half my lifetime.  Like anyone born-again, I always want to talk about it.

"Do you bike?" I would ask. "Do you have a bicycle? Let's go on bike rides!"

Midnight biking, rain biking, city biking and trail biking - a whole magical world was revealed in one single purchase. Half hour walks turned into ten minute cruises! My calves looked awesome! My cab budget remained untouched for months! I stopped waiting for buses!

If I needed to be somewhere, I could just go!

Meanwhile, the main response to my vehement bicycle-evangelism that I received from non-bikers was, in fact, the same response I myself had been giving just months before: "I don't know. Biking scares me. I don't think I know how any more, and certainly not in the city. Biking is dangerous here, right?"

But my bike salesman had been tall, dark and handsome. When I recited my usual litany, he smiled to reveal reams of paper-white teeth. "The nice thing about bicycles," he said, "Is that they're like learning how to ride a bicycle. Really. You don't forget."

And it's true. Really. You don't forget.

I picked out something shiny and blue, fitted it with a basket and a kickstand, and soared out of the store, high on childhood happiness.

Objective One: Don't Die

First of all, you want to be safe. No one wants their brains scattered on a sidewalk or their arm dangling limply at their side, and no one wants to be that oblivious biker making the rest of us look bad, wearing headphones and weaving through traffic. You want to follow the rules, for your own safety, the safety of pedestrians and drivers, and even for the general predictability and thus safety of bike riders everywhere.

I can see that I've worried you. The good news is, it's ridiculously easy to be safe. There are no new rules to remember, nothing that is inconsistent with your basic instincts. There are two basic scenarios with a bicycle:

1.) Are you riding your bike?

Because if so, you're a car. Think like a car. Be the car. You have the right to the full lane (although it's polite to stay to the right so that cars can easily pass you, if there's enough room for them to do so).  You need to stop at stop signs and red lights, and signal your turns (the most basic way to do this is simply by pointing where you intend to go).  You can't go the wrong way down a one-way street. In some zip codes, it's acceptable to ride your bike on the sidewalk, but a good general rule is to stick to the streets. When in doubt about anything - for example, it is actually illegal to drink alcohol and then bike - ask yourself "would I do that if I were driving a car?"

Another thing to keep in mind is that in an accident, a helmet can be the difference between a scratch on the arm and a scratch on the arm combined with, well, brain problems. Maybe life versus death problems. Unlike car-riding, on a bike you aren't surrounded by an impact-absorbing shield.  The upside to this, of course, is that it's what makes bike riding incredibly fun. Flying down a well-paved street with the summer breeze on your arms and the smell of the bakery down the road just can't be beat. But a helmet will protect the essential - you.

And a helmet doesn't mean you need to look like the dorkiest person on the street these days, either - they can be crazy cute, like helmets from Nutcase and Bern.

If you happen to be traveling outside the US, you may even be able to pick up one of YAKKAY's hat-disguised helmets in fabrics like tweed and corduroy:

Are you walking your bike?

Then you're a pedestrian. You can take advantage of crosswalks and wander wherever you like.

That's it. Really, that's all. Now you're a good, law-abiding bicyclist. High five!