Manhattan Rack Attack and Times Square

Staring at a train station bike rack on a recent Saturday morning, I found myself in a predicament.

I had a bike and here was a bike rack, but lo and behold, I had forgotten my bike lock. To make matters worse, I was catching a train to work and didn't want to be late. What to do?

Thinking quickly — perhaps too quickly — I decided just to take the bike along with me from New Haven to Grand Central. I never had taken the bike on the train before but had seen others do it and didn't worry too much about it. The bike fit nicely in the entryway on the opposite side of the station platforms, and I was able to wedge it in so it wouldn't fall.

But a more troubling dilemma confronted me when I got to the city. I figured I'd just sneak the bike in with me at work, but the security guy at my building blocked my way. "You can't bring that in," he said. "Bikes aren't allowed." It's a policy I was aware of but didn't think they'd enforce, especially as I pleaded for leniency.

No mercy.

The result was that I spent my first hour of work in a panic over the fate of my bike, which I had to leave propped up against a bike rack on Sixth Avenue lock-less, free for anyone to snatch if they simply noticed it wasn't tethered to any permanent object. After checking in with my co-workers, I excused myself to rush down 46th Street to a bike shop and pick up a new bike lock, about $25, and preserve my treasured vehicle. It had lasted a half hour without getting stolen, so I counted myself fortunate.

The upside of this story is that after work I had some time to kill, so I decided to venture around on the bicycle, my first time doing so in the city. I still wanted to get home at a reasonable hour and therefore limited my Manhattan excursion to a short loop, which just happened to take me through Times Square.

The excitement of biking down Broadway on a Saturday evening with the giant digital advertisements flashing and tourists shuffling around in every direction is hard to express. It's impossible to kick into high gear in that traffic, yet there is a feeling of speed and intensity when passing through that famous crossroads on a bike rather than strolling on foot. Almost made my absentmindedness worth the extra effort.