The Bicycle Diaries

What’s it really like to pedal the streets of Philadelphia? For a week, one man trades his four wheels for two wheels to find out

DAY FOUR: Okay, my attitude has officially hardened into this: If you are not riding a bike, I hate you. Riding through Penn’s campus at rush hour, I come upon a car (New York plates … typical) inching up Walnut Street in the bike lane. I tap his fender and offer a WTF? glare as I squeeze past. Worse, deeper into West Philly I find myself face-to-face with three different groups of teenagers walking in the bike lane. You’ve got to be kidding me.

DAY FIVE: The final indignity came last night after work, when I went to get my bike — which I’ve been chaining to a railing at the entrance to the building parking garage — and found a note from management telling me I’m not allowed to secure my bike to building property without prior approval. So today, I ride three floors up to my official car parking space and ditch the bike there. An hour later, I get a call from management: They’re concerned I haven’t locked the bike, and it might be stolen. Yes, I tell them, that would be an awful shame.