Rode in for the first time since mid-August. It was a beautiful warm day and there were tons of cyclists out, much more than I'd seen all summer. In fact, I'd wondered where everyone was when I was riding in June/July/Aug after seeing lots of riders in May.

I was almost doored on the way home on the 2nd Avenue bike lane. A taxi pulled over and the passenger opened the door into the bike lane. The lane itself is next to the left curb, and the parked cars "protect" the lane from traffic. The taxi was in the parking lane, but there is no other buffer. I may be in the minority, but I think these new lanes are the worst thing to happen to cycling in NYC. The parked cars block the view of the left turning cars, the pedestrians use the lane as a walkway, doors swing open, there is no room to maneuver, every small obstacle means you have to slow down because you can't go around, you can't shift around a left turning car, they are always turning into you. I'd rather have no lane and have a sense of the traffic around me.

Add to this that on the way in this morning there were 10 different obstructions to the lane in a 34 block stretch. There are a lot of people that use the right non-bike-lane side of the street now to avoid all this.