Walking along 41st Ave in Long Island City on Friday at 4:20pm. Cars are working out great for you, NYC. This isnt even Manhattan, this is Queens 2 blocks from a subway station & bus lane.

As we were crossing the street, this driver pulled onto the curb ramp in front of us and then drove onto the sidewalk. As we started to walk past, the driver began (dangerously) backing up. I wish this was unusual, but NYC sidewalks are complete overrun with cars. #BanCars #LIC #Queens #NYC

I bought this about a month ago from a farm-to-table business that had been using it for deliveries. It was pretty beat up, but it was also a great deal. I replaced a bunch of broken spokes, trued the wheel, put on new rim tape, replaced the brakes (mechanical disc to cable-actuated hydraulics), replaced all the cables & housing, cold set the rear frame to be wider (it was bent in at some point?), tightened the floppy linkage arm, installed new kickstand feet, and reinstalled the very loose mid-drive motor. This was its maiden voyage, with the 11yo hopping on to see how it handled with weight.

I still need to add a box and rain cover for the kids, a rear rack, and also hook up a battery to see if the motor works. The gearing is EXTREMELY low, I'm not sure if the Nuvinci hub is broken or if it really is just set like that.

This was a block away from my kid's school in Long Island City (in Queens). The block was cordoned off because the power line was on fire. Always an eventful walk over there!

Of course the detour route had a truck completely blocking the sidewalk, which required walking in the street. That's arguably more dangerous than walking under a burning power line. 🤷

Convenient that it was literally right next to a fire station, though!

Austin Street in Forest Hills (Queens, NY) should really be car-free. It's not a very good through-route, as there's drivers doing stuff like pulling random u-turns, parallel parking, delivery trucks parking the travel lane(s), and just stopping. Here's a T intersection on Austin St with all-way stops. Ideally pedestrians should be prioritized, but it functions more like a free-for-all. You can see drivers illegally double-parked, doing u-turns in the intersection (nearly hitting pedestrians), parking illegally in the (paint-only) clear zone (blocking crosswalk visibility) on BOTH sides of the road, multiple drivers blocking crosswalks and curb ramps, and a motorcycle rider almost getting clipped by a wrong-way driver. Meanwhile, the sidewalks are SUPER narrow and crowded.

I did not stake this out or edit this clip; I just walked by, shot one minute of video, and left. It's constantly like this.

Biking on a long john/bakfiet cargo bike (a Cetma Margo) in the Queens Blvd protected bike lane, carrying home a loveseat. Set to Fleetwood Mac's Dreams (modeled after the Doggface viral meme, where he's riding a longboard).

June 2021