I Love Riding in the City
NAME: CJ Arayata
LOCATION: Philadelphia, PA / Baltimore, MD
OCCUPATION: Psych Grad Student, Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia Intern
Where do you live and what’s it like riding in your city?
Half of the week I live in northeast Baltimore, MD and the riding here sucks. The roads that I have to travel on are busy, hilly and poorly maintained. Not to mention most streets in my area run diagonally or curve and meander every which way so without a map handy a wrong turn can’t easily be corrected as on a grid. I don’t ride nearly as much here as I would like, which is upsetting.
The other half I “live” in Philly. Riding here is great! It’s 99% flat unless you travel to West Philly, and even then it’s pretty manageable. The bike infrastructure is awesome and constantly improving: major north-south and east-west bicycle corridors and buffered bike lanes can get you practically anywhere, and on-street bike corrals have been popping up throughout to city to ease bike-parking issues at hot spots like grocery stores and bars.
What was your favorite city to ride in, and why?
Brisbane, Australia. Perfect weather, beautiful bike trails and paths that run along and over the Brisbane river, great public transport, and a very small CBD are some of the reasons. But the best part about it was that because there were so few urban cyclists there was no courier/fakenger distinction or related disdain that is so common in other cities. Everyone was welcome, and could just bond over their love of riding in the city.
Or just say whatever you want about riding in the city… Poetry anyone?
Life’s a piece of cake
With someone to pedal
And someone to brake!
Check out www.cranksgivingphilly.com
