Julius on the Pulaski Bridge

Julius lives in Astoria and commutes to Long Island City and Downtown Brooklyn. One of his favorite parts of the ride is the view from the Pulaski Bridge – and can you blame him?

“I’ve been commuting on a “Frankenstein” BMX I built from bike corpses found on the streets since high school, but nothing too far. Then I stopped when it was stolen right after college. No bikes for a while till 2012 when I got tired of taking the subway and gas prices reached $4 a gallon, so I got a road bike last year for commuting; then it morphed into a whole new thing for me. Commuting to work for 15 miles wasn’t enough, so I ended up joining NYCC to ride 50+ miles on weekends, 3 laps in Central Park in the morning before work and ended up doing two Century ride events in 2012. Next frontier: Bicycle racing.

Commuting by bicycle has definitely made NYC smaller and more familiar to me. I see NYC from a different perspective than I did on the subway or by car. Lots of art in the city. You find more interesting places like shops, views of the city and people. I once had to bike from Astoria to Bay Ridge and it’s like traveling to 20 different countries, it’s absolutely amazing to me how New York is so culturally diverse block by block and I believe you can only enjoy this riding your bicycle. It’s fast enough to travel but not too fast to miss the sights.

I’ve definitely learned the NYC mentality as well. Regardless of what medium “they” are using, New Yorkers seem to think “they” have the right of way. Be it bikes, cars or on foot, New Yorkers are always right in “their” minds. I’ve found a compromise of respect with the people in the city. Respect cars and they will respect you; same with pedestrians and other cyclists.”