Warning Issued To Bicyclists In NYC
 

Gang Attacking Riders Along The Hudson

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/09/...ng-the-hudson/

if you dont know how to handle yourself and lack street smarts, steer clear

Here are two relevant posts in my local northern New Jersey craigslist from someone who was actually assaulted and mugged:
That is just a ******y comment to make.

From the article you posted, as it seems you didn't read it:
Are you really on defense for being clotheslined from a rope when you cycle? I know I have a 800 lumen light, but that it only lasts 2 hours on maximum, so I like it lower it to 200 lumen whenever I can to save battery. I think alot of us could be knocked off and beaten in those circumstances.

No one rides expecting elaborate ambushes like that. I doubt you even read that article or you are extremely egoistic and unrealistic in thinking that because you have street smarts you are like Superman and immune from multiple attackers who pick their location and set up a trap like that.

might want to repost in advocacy and safety or have a MOD move it? the northeast forum doesn't get as many viewers

oh shut up

good thinking, thanks. will repost

@anthonybkny:
What, you can not explain to us who are not "Brooklyn tough", how street smarts can avoid multiple attackers who cherry-pick their location?

Please explain it to us plebians who should "steer clear" of NYC according to you.

Do cyclists from New Jersey look that much different from New York cyclists that they can target the former?

@indyfabz:
The poster on the Craigslist ad I quoted is from Fort Lee, NJ which is very close to New York City. I am not familiar with the local streets that much, because I live an hour from NYC(by car) and don't travel there much. I think he is implying they target a route that riders from New Jersey frequent to get into and/or out of NYC.

This is horrible. Thanks to OP for bringing this to our attention. The victim was lucky to be alive. All those cameras and pepper-sprays could not have helped in such situations. We all want to see the around-the-Manhattan-Island bike path complete, but it's a question whether we'll be able to ride on every part of it safely from criminals, even if we make it safe from vehicles drivers.

I avoided an attack around the same time.I was riding just around where the attack took place and saw ahead of me a few thugs trying to block the path with their bikes in front of me.I didn't slow down and flew through a hole in their blockade without looking back.I was curious if there were other incidents and now I know.Perhaps because of my escape they invented the clothesline method because my incident took place a few days before.I have since ridden that route at night with no incidents but after hearing about this attack I think I'll take the streets above 125th st.

Eight or ten years ago I was riding the Greenway. About even with the lower 100's, I was 100 yards behind another rider when some kids on the other side of a chain link fence started shouting and throwing cans and rocks at him. Looked like everything missed him, and lucky for me the kids were out of ammo when I rode by a few seconds later.

Just another reason to have a concealed weapon. I bet they wouldn't pull this crap again if they feared getting shot (which they probably already are afraid of).

if I need a gun or knife to ride a bike in that area, then I wouldn't ride a bike in that area

Did the Greenway already existed back then?

More scary would be the thugs have guns.

well duh lol

40 years ago when I was a boy and growing up in Washington Heights it was common knowledge that the area near the river and more precisely the lighthouse belonged to the gangs.People didn't venture down there.Too dangerous.After living abroad for 20 years and returning to New York 7 years ago I was delighted to discover that the riverside had been reclaimed by the citizenry and turned into a shangri- la for bikers and all New Yorkers.Living in Inwood now I do not take lightly this return to the middle ages and would be happy to participate in any plan to reclaim the greenway.Any ideas?Patrols?

The least that can be done is to improve the lighting. If the city can add some public activities/events/facilities which may help popularize the area like the other parts of the Greenway it should help.

Until now, this seemed to be a "grown-up" forum. Why did such a horrible series of incidents trigger so many childish posts?

Sue NYC because its thugs are targeting New Jersey riders? Really?

The fact that the two victims that we have heard from were both from New Jersey is just a coincidence. There is no way that anybody can be "targeting" riders from New Jersey -- I'm pretty sure that these riders weren't doing the old Joe Piscopo "I'm from Joisey; are you from Joisey?" bit.

Anyway, if the lighting isn't good at night on that section of the Greenway, then all riders would be better served taking the regular streets. There is a bike lane on St. Nicholas Ave. from where it crosses Broadway at 168th St. all the way down to where it hits 7th Ave. at 116th St. And upper Broadway itself (though it doesn't have a bike lane) is a fine street to ride on.

The best of all is Riverside Drive: if you get on at 165th St., then it's a great, mostly downhill ride all the way to that avenue's end at 72nd St. (But I would do that one only going south, because of the hill.)

All of these options are better than the Greenway at any time of day, and certainly at night if lighting is a problem.

THe hill north on 165th to Ft Washington is still easier than the hill on the greenway. To avoid it one could take 155th to The other Riverside, then 162 to Ft Washington. There are still hill and not sure if that way is safe at night.

There are some deserted stretches in that area.
There was a time when I would switch to Riverside Drive but once the entire Greenway was finished, I stayed on it to the GW.
I may go back to Riverside Drive....north and south.

I've ridden this route before. Luckily i'm from the NY side and I usually ride with a group or posse. Hehe. We are usually rolling 6-7 riders. Guess that's a good thing. ;)

This is sobering. I go up to Inwood almost weekly. I often go up via the Greenway, but when I come down at around 11pm, I take the streets, Broadway and St. Nicholas, eventually through Central Park. I'm usually not one to worry about that sort of thing, but I thought better of taking the Greenway after dark. I thought it was just an excess of caution, but I guess now I know better. The Greenway during the day is fine, but I can see how that stretch would be dark, narrow, and isolated. If something goes wrong, there's no way out, and no one can hear you scream.

I've taken the Greenway down from 125th St. a couple of times, and I don't think I'll do that again. The first part is just unpleasant. I didn't feel unsafe, but it's dark and hard to see, even with headlights (and bicycles coming the other way without headlights appearing out of nowhere don't help), and going the other way, headlights from the highway are right in your face. And if someone decided to f*** with you, there's nowhere to go and no one to help. Once you get to Riverside Park, it's fine.

Once it starts to get dark by 6pm (right about now I suppose), I guess I'll have to find a new route up to Inwood. My other route takes me along the Harlem River Drive, but I think that's best avoided after dark too.

I had stopped thinking that ANY place was unsafe in the city, but I guess not. I ride the greenway all the time, but only once late enough that I needed lights, and it was still not fully dark. It didn't feel at all threatening.

For that matter, I've only started riding at night in the last year when I discovered high powered LED lighting!

For me the most enjoyable time to ride the Greenway (not as up as to the above Washington Heights area) is in the evening after it gets dark. Few people on the path, quiet, breezy wind without the sun shining to your face, and occasionally can see some cyclists' fancy wheel lights :)

+1 on self-defense, but better not bring a handgun into NYC without the proper credentials or you may face mandatory sentencing.

NYC is safer than ever but its a big place and there are place that should be avoided after dark. Apparently the green way is one of those places but there are many well-lit and low traffic alternatives, such as Riverside Dr, West End Ave, Columbus Ave, St Nicholas Ave and 9th Ave. Anyone can get a free NYC cycling map from an LBS and identify suitable options for returning home to NJ.

No more stop and frisk-right?
Now the cops are supposed to have stronger probably cause?
Normal folks can't be adequately armed, so all you can do is avoid this area-cede it to the thugs.
Oh well.
Folks can be armed in NOLA,but same story-plenty of places you shouldn't go at night.

I would say that there are very few places in the whole City that one could honestly call "unsafe". A dark stretch of the remote Greenway at night would probably be one of them. It's really hard to think of any others.

Regarding riding at night: I generally don't do it -- but not because of fear. I try to hit the hottest points of any day when I am riding for pleasure; so that means that I rarely ride at night. For me, nighttime riding happens mainly in winter, when the sun goes down before I get home from work, and sometimes when I leave to go to work before sunrise; it happens also when I occasionally stay late at work.

But I am curious about your comment that you started riding at night only when you discovered high-powered lighting. I have lights on my helmet that I turn on at night; but these lights are for me to be seen; not for me to see. I haven't found locations where the streetlights aren't enough for me to see. (Well, except for that portion of the Greenway where the attacks took place.) Where do you ride in the City where the streetlights aren't sufficient?

When I was a kid, there were places at the City line where the streetlights ended. One time I got caught out in Nassau County after the sun had gone all the way down (I think I was on Union Tpke. or Hillside Ave.; I don't remember), and I had to ride in darkness until I got back into the City under the lights. Ever since then it's been my observation that we don't really have "darkness" in the City.

When some of you say there are few unsafe places in the "city", I take it that you were referring to Manhattan and not NYC? I'm fairly comfortable with Manhattan except for Harlem northward, but the other boroughs are much more unsafe.