Biking is the best way—the only way—to travel a city. You notice more than if you’re in a car, you’re moving faster than pedestrians, you see the world at slightly-higher-than-eye level, you don’t pay for gas money, and finding parking is a cinch. Plus you get exercise, can travel up one-way roads on sidewalks, ride through parks, etc. The rules are simple: Stay far away enough from cars that you don’t get doored. (The cars coming behind you might honk occasionally, but at least they see you and hate you instead of miss you and kill you.) Be considerate to cars and even more considerate to pedestrians. Remember: You are traffic. Err on the side of the law: As stifling as it sometimes feels, it exists to protect you, and many bikers in this town have been hospitalized by their hubris at red lights. And wear a helmet, for crissakes. That pretty little head of yours looks much cuter in a hard hat than smeared like strawberry jam on pavement.
