I Love Riding in the City
NAME: Ryan Alexander
LOCATION: Fort Lauderdale, FL
OCCUPATION: Barista, Musician
Where do you live and what’s it like riding in your city?
I live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This place seems to be a place where culture comes, screams really loud for a year or two, and then lays down and dies. It’s not that the city has no culture. Rather, it’s the idea that the existing culture has had no competition for a really long time. Old money and old town industry are only getting older. Central to the idea of old money is the idea that the more money you have the nicer the car is and the bigger the house and the hotter and younger the wife.
Fort Lauderdale is an aging urban sprawl very much overrun by BMWs, Jaguars, Mercedes and the entitled owners that make their way through town in them.
Fort Lauderdale is a really dangerous town to ride in. Pedestrians yield to vehicles ten out of ten times. Everyone is wheeling and dealing behind the wheel via texting and gabbing. So people just drive. It’s easier than biking. It’s more convenient. It’s safer. It’s not frowned upon.
Why do you love riding in the city?
I love the challenge of riding in the city. Brakes give you the ability to race to the white lines of the intersection and stop if necessary. Not having brakes presents the challenge of riding in a state where you are constantly aware of what traffic and pedestrians are doing. Blowing yellowish/reddish lights is also a blast. I also love seeing all the guys that ride around stolen BMX bikes and beach cruisers. Makes me laugh.
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