Opinion

New York’s runners, cyclists in a battle of the roads

There’s a war under way in this city. No, not between Anthony Weiner, Bill de Blasio and Christine Quinn, or Alex Rodriguez and Major League Baseball. This one may be more bitter: It’s between runners and cyclists who vie for the limited pavement in the Asphalt Jungle.

True, the battle of the outdoor exercisers has been going on for years. But this turf war has escalated in the weeks since the city launched the world’s largest bike-sharing program. Simultaneously loved and loathed, CitiBikes has catapulted an invading fleet of 6,000 additional bicycles onto New York City’s roadways, park paths and sidewalks. It’s not too late to negotiate a truce.

Full disclosure: I’m one of the runners. I’ve trained successfully for two marathons and currently am training for a third, mostly on the streets and parks of Manhattan. I’ve logged countless miles, sustained blisters the size of NYC cockroaches and, alas, endured the seething stares and blaring bells of cyclists who believe I strayed a little too far into their bike lanes.

Take last week. I blissfully made my way onto the Manhattan Bridge, Jay-Z blasting in my headphones, New York skyline at my back. And then: bliss interruptus. I’d not gone 30 feet when a biker barreled toward me, veins popping out of his neck, waving his finger like a teacher scolding a defiant student. You’d have thought I insulted his mother, or maybe stolen his new, padded seat cushion.

It turns out there is an entirely different lane for pedestrians, and I wasn’t in it. I plead ignorance — and blame poor city signage. In the words of one George Costanza, “Was that wrong?” Still, either I had just encountered the angriest biker in the five boroughs — or this display of raw emotion wasn’t solely about me.

So I asked a cycling friend of mine what gives. He told me bikers get frustrated by pretty much everyone: drivers, other bikers and, yes, runners, many of whom will try to escape a crowded walkway by stepping into the bike lanes. This, I am told, can be both frustrating and dangerous.

But the feeling’s mutual. Nothing is more frightening than a speeding cyclist on approach, fighting for the same stretch of narrow pavement (hold breath; brace for impact!) or the just-as-scary “sneak attack” from behind. But cyclists have metal bikes and thick helmets for protection; all we have are bottles of lukewarm water and maybe an iPod Nano. It’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight.

That feeling of vulnerability among some of my fellow road warriors makes last summer’s “thumbtack massacre” against cyclists a bit more understandable (although I am by no means condoning it). Last July someone sprinkled prickly thumbtacks over Central Park’s Harlem Hill, effectively flattening tires on more than a dozen bicycles. One cyclist told The Post, “I really don’t want to point fingers, but some think it could have been a disgruntled runner . . . There is kind of a rivalry in the park between cyclists and runners.”

A runner responded: “Cyclists are very self-entitled. They come cruising by and almost hit you, and if you say something, they say something back.” Now, take that long-established mutual rivalry and throw in thousands of new CitiBikes. Worse, sitting atop the cobalt blue frames and extra-large bike seats are riders who likely do not have vast experience navigating the New York City battlefield.

Because really, the only thing that gets a runner’s heart racing quite like a speeding biker in spandex is an army of biking tourists cruising around Manhattan, lost and staring anxiously at the maps in their hands. Here are some ideas to lower the DefCon level:

  • Mayor Bloomberg could instruct the Department of Transportation to install better signage.
  • The NYPD should remain diligent in ticketing cyclists who disobey the rules. Anyone signing up for CitiBikes should actually have to read the Rental Agreement — which instructs them on where it is OK to bike — and not just click the box that says they did.
  •  Finally, because, as the expression (sort of) goes, you can’t truly understand another person until you’ve run a mile in their sneakers, or ridden a mile on their bike, perhaps Mayor Bloomberg should create a “trading places” event in Central Park. Bikers would run; runners would bike. Both sides can see the battlefield from the other side. Afterward they can share their battle stories and maybe even reach a détente.

If Mayor Bloomberg truly cares about his legacy — and doesn’t want to leave NYC engulfed in this civil war — perhaps he might consider making his last official act in office the negotiation of a truce between the opposing factions of his exercising electorate.

Jill Wagner is a reporter at News 12 Long Island and a veteran of two NYC marathons.