It’s Okay If I Do It – Bike Snob NYC

I’m pleased to announce that, after a hiatus of several weeks, “Wooded Wednesdays” is back!

Also, unlike those lazy mountain bikers who need motors so they can squeeze in their rides before sunset, I rode in the morning. This is because I’m an early riser. Did you know the most successful people in the world wake up early?

Well you can add one complete loser to that list:

And I’m the loser, just in case that wasn’t clear.

I was also intrigued to note that someone has begun painting the totem pole that has lain supine and unfinished in this particular location for many a year:

I don’t know if this is the work of the carver, or someone else has assumed the project, but whatever the case if it ever is finished I plan to make off with it and put it in my living room.

Of course I’d probably need an e-bike to do that (not to mention a much taller ceiling…or a chainsaw), and I shouldn’t feel particularly smug about not needing an e-MTB to squeeze in my weekday ride, because while I may not have used a motor, I did need to resort to the trails nearest my home:

And while nobody really cares, you’re not supposed to ride a bicycle on them, strictly speaking:

As I say, nobody really cares if you ride here, including the park rangers I encounter every once in awhile. Plus, people do all sorts of stuff in the park they’re not supposed to, including smoking, littering, failing to clean up after their dogs, playing loud music at all hours, starting fires, robbing people, and even building crude shelters and living in them. So my occasional rides strike me as rather benign in comparison.

But that’s exactly the problem, isn’t it? We all think our chosen forms of recreation are the exception. Let’s call it the “It’s Okay If I Do It” phenomenon. Sure, someone riding around the woods on an e-MTB is a problem, but if I ride around on a slightly slower one someplace that I shouldn’t…well, it’s okay if I do it. Cars are bad and driving is evil and taking up space in a city to store yours is selfish…but it’s okay if I do it, because at least I’m aware of it, and hey, it’s a Subaru (or an electric car that’s not a Telsa, or whatever else in favor with the smuggies these days) so it doesn’t count. Guns are evil and masculinity is bad, but it’s okay if I shoot a giant animal because I incorporated an e-cargo bike and I needed 200lbs of elk meat. And so on. Pick just about anything anybody does or uses for fun, and you can rest assured there’s someone who thinks they do it or use it in exactly the right way but it should be illegal for everyone else.

That’s not to say I won’t continue to complain about e-bikes, it’s just to assure you that I’m completely aware of what a gigantic hypocrite I am.

Oh, and let’s not forget my beloved Jones is a purveyor of e-bikes:

Yes, e-MTBs are bad and blah blah blah…but it’s okay of Jones sells them, because Jeff Jones is a genius.

He really is, though.

Hey, for all I know I may very well decide I need a Jones e-bike one day, so I’d better start planting the seeds of rationalization now.