on the path

A few random thoughts by OTP:

I feel bad for the family of the deceased, and for the cyclist and his family.

I lived in NYC for over 10 years. I found the people there to be among the nicest, most respectful I've ever met.

If I stayed in NYC I more than likely would have crossed paths with the cyclist of discussion.

I have found that smaller towns have less culture and the typical resident isn't that well informed. Small towns can look charming, but spending an hour or 2 in them is plenty for me.

This country could use a lot less "media" and a lot more credible journalism.

Be careful out there. What we do is inherently dangerous.

Jed19

Anytime I am riding a stretch with people, horses, traffic etc, I trim my speed and become super vigilant. It has to do with adjusting to the conditions and situations where you find yourself. I think for this cyclist to put himself in a situation where he was said to be trying to avoid some other people, then plowing into the lady showed some kind of irresponsibility, or worse, negligence. We'll have to wait and see if this goes to court, but the bottom line is that you trim your speed to the conditions and peculiarities of where you are riding. 25mph might be appropriate at Central Park in the early wee hours, but that speed when the place is humming with people and activities is a tad irresponsible.

colnago62

I was watching the CBS morning show today and it turns out that the pedestrian who was hit was the wife of an employee of CBS. They also said that the witnesses reported that the cyclist swerved to avoid a group of pedestrians who stepped into the bike lane that he was traveling in. He swerved to avoid the group at the same time the lady who was struck stepped off the curb. Witnesses also said he screamed to notify the lady to watch out. CBS reported that he has not been charged but has retained a lawyer.

dralways

Cyclist whose 'speeding' crash with woman resulted in her death breaks his silence and calls the incident 'an unavoidable accident' as police continue to investigate | Daily Mail Online

Video of him in middle of the page.

Campag4life

To be proven. Hard to know. Bikes wizzing along at 25 mph next to cars driving the same speed and a group of ped's stepping out into the bike lane not seeing or hearing the bike coming.
Along with what you write and lets call it situational awareness which applies to not only the bike rider but to the pedestrians that stepped into the bike lane not seeing the cyclist...or perhaps not expecting to see someone ride so fast approaching them because of their situational awareness or expectations. An example is...I routinely ride a particular road through the town I live. If I ride it at 7am, I can ride through at 20mph which is the speed limit. Middle of the afternoon, I ride through at about 1/2 that speed because of all the ped's crossing the street.
It would be outrageous to ride that road at the speed limit in the middle of afternoon.

So there is letter of the law and there is common sense. Kind of like living in the Midwest and driving the speed limit just after an ice storm or snow fall. He may have been riding to the letter of the law or hard to prove he wasn't. But was he riding with common sense? Maybe not.
He does seem like a thoughtful guy however and a shame all around. An accident.

UnfilteredDregs

I may have misunderstood, so you acknowledge the possibility that this unfortunate incident may not be the fault of the cyclist?

Tpcorr

I don't know if this link has been posted yet.

Ticket blitz on cyclists as family mourn mom struck in Central Park | New York Post

bruce19

I guess it really depends who you are and what you find comfortable. I grew up in the shadow of NYC and never did like it much. For me it was all about population density. I don't like having to ride or drive in and out of people and waiting in lines for everything. I spent a lot of time around Cobleskill, NY and really loved the rural areas where people knew you and had personal relationships with you. This is a double edged sword of course. I now live in NE CT in a town that has more of it's land in farming than any other CT town. Absolutely love it here. There's as much "culture" here as most places unless by culture you mean million dollar condos/lofts or $10 drafts.

The best part of rural life is not having to drive out of town to find good cycling and motorcycling roads.

RollCNY

I know it is off topic, but in my experience, the "Downstate" NY folk tend to be cosmopolitan more than worldly, and the "Upstate" folk tend to be more worldly and far less cosmopolitan. I think that both groups of "NYers" have similarities whether they are in the city or in the countryside, but they present differently. The wide spread national belief that NYers overall are unfriendly, or arrogant, is misunderstanding of our veneer.

WhyFi

If you lived in NYC instead of in the shadow of NYC, you'd know that most NYCers DON'T spend any more time in lines that anyone else and they spend considerably less time driving than the vast majority of the country. Being packed in like sardines is for tourists. Real neighborhoods are built around walking, usually with a choice of grocers, restaurants and shops within a comfortable radius. When you live in such a neighborhood, you get to know many, many people and can develop any number of relationships as you see fit. I visited NYC last winter for a wedding and I stayed in my old neighborhood. It had been almost two years since I'd moved out, but every time I walked down the block, I was warmly received by old neighbors and acquaintances - even the bodega hangers-on inquired about the health and wellness of myself and my family. IOW, the reputation of being a big, cold, impersonal city is strictly the stuff of tourists that never venture out of the parts of Manhattan that any NYC resident does their best to avoid.

halfspeed

According to post #275 , his fastest speed ever over that stretch is 19.9 mph.

Bacciagalupe

It wasn't.

Central Park has become incredibly crowded, with a mix of fast cyclists, slow cyclists, runners, pedestrians, children and dogs. Even back in 2007, there were conflicts for space in Central Park (e.g. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/ny...leas.html?_r=0). Unfortunately there really isn't anywhere else for fast cyclists in Manhattan to ride. The West Side Greenway is also overwhelmed with slower and pedestrian traffic; Prospect Park is 8 miles from Midtown and has the same crowding issues; Palisades Park, which is a great facility for cyclists, is also 8 miles away from Midtown.

Plus, there is no indication whatsoever that he was going for a KOM. Much more likely is that he was doing a standard training ride, prepping for a race. Should we blame "competitive cycling" for this incident?

Strava did not make Marshall competitive; it did not encourage him to ride fast. Strava merely facilitates a pre-existing competitive impulse. It didn't cause the accident. What really caused this is a conflict between very different types of uses of a public park, in one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The answer is not to blame Strava, it is to figure out better ways to organize that space, and to improve cyclist and pedestrian safety.

RPK79

Sometimes pedestrians do stupid things.

1 Killed In Blue Line Light Rail Accident « CBS Minnesota

Sometimes cyclists do stupid things.

Road Cycling

I think I'll reserve judgement since I wasn't actually there.

WhyFi

Crazy talk.

bruce19

I didn't say nor did I mean to imply that New Yorkers were cold or unfriendly. I married a woman from Jackson Heights and spent some time living there in the early '70's. So, I know that people are as friendly there as anywhere. Just as I know people where I live actually do have "culture", whatever that means to each of us. As I tried to say, we each have our preferences and mine is an environment where the best riding is right outside my door. Just one man's opinion.

bruce19

And, reason enough to be banned from BF.

WhyFi

I have no problem with your riding preferences and I didn't even address them - I only addressed your horribly wrong notions about driving, waiting in line and the implication that people only get to know each other in a rural environment.

therhodeo

I wish they would ticket cyclist here for wearing earbuds. Runners too. Beyond stupid.

on the path

Sorry Bruce, no. There are many reasons I left NYC, but none of them had to do with culture. I never thought moving to a smaller town would provide anywhere near the same cultural experience as New York. I was not and am not surprised.

3alarmer

...my posting in this thread has never had this particular guy as its object, other than to point out that, as described in the popular press accounts,
it fits a particular stereotype of bicyclists that we might have some genuine interests as bicyclists in addressing. Possibly I was unclear, but I don't think so.

3alarmer

...I'm fine with blaming Cat 6 racing behavior in a place that is unsuited for it. If you are suggesting that Strava does not encourage such behavior, we differ.

kbarch

Not saying that the following was a factor in this case, I just want to rant.
What really concerns me is the way some people act like the park loop roads are not ROADS. I have been moto-official for races in the parks where people wander out onto the road, crossing whenever they feel like, ignoring the marshals, only to yell obscenities at us for disturbing their enjoyment of the park. It's not just a wide winding curve through the park, it's a ROAD. There are signs posted warning people of the event. There are marshals blowing whistles as the race approaches. Still, some people refuse to look before they cross, and just because they are within the borders of a park, they ignore the likelihood that something that could run them over might be traveling on the roads. When there are no races, no marshals, no signs, of course it's ten times worse. Half the time they act like it's just a black swath of lawn. If vehicles heavy and fast enough to hurt people weren't intended to use them, they wouldn't be so broad, striped or paved.
/rant

on the path

This is not without merit. Very good points..

Bacciagalupe

1) Cyclists were hammering in Central Park for years (if not decades) before Strava was invented.

2) Marshall was a member of CRCA, which is a racing club in NYC. Obviously, that means he needs to train at speeds faster than 12mph.

He didn't need Strava to encourage him to go fast in Central Park. He was going to do that anyway.

ls01

What behavior are you speaking of? Riding a bike is apparently all he is guilty of. Oh, and having a Strava account. He wasnt speeding. he didnt run a light. He had brakes on his aero bars. Some pedestrians walked out in front of him and he swerved to avoid them. Which caused him to hit the woman who died. Why arent you ranting about Jaywalking? Why isnt anyone calling for the heads of the pedestrians who caused him to swerve into this woman? Why arent the cops handing out Jay walking tickets? Why are we still discussing an incident that was reported by a hatchet job of an article by a rag. The "article" should come with a disclaimer, loosely based upon events that may or may not have actually happened.