Brooklyn by Bike

This morning on my commute from Brooklyn to Midtown, I photographed a few of my frequently traveled bike lanes. Some of you may know that I was thrilled to see the north side, segregated bike lane (cycle track) on Sand St. completed. This road is regular part of many folks daily route as they head onto the Manhattan bridge. With the new cycle track, cyclists have a safety barrier between them and downtown Brooklyn traffic, fantastic! Click the photos to see more from the Brooklyn by Bike Flickr set.

As I sit here and type I’m thinking about how scary big my laundry pile is and how the hell it got that way. If you’re like me then you probably commute by bike and take an extra pair of clothes with you so you don’t show up smelling like death. Extra clothes results in double laundry. Laundry is the bane of my existence (not to mention expensive) so what to do?

I’ve been on the hunt for some commute friendly clothing and came across SmartWool. Supposedly you can wear these things for multiple rides and the stink factor will still be negligible. Not the most fashion forward things, but who cares when you are already rolling up your pants legs and wearing a chunky helmet. They say I look sexy in my helmet though.

Check out SmartWool and thanks to Bike Hacks for their insights.

What are your thoughts? How do you prevent the stink and excessive laundry issue?

The New York Times reported on Thursday that the number of cyclists in the New York City has grown by 35% since 1984. A study conducted by the Department of Transportation takes a count once a year, during the middle of the week for a 12-hour period, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. However, they’ve expanded the time to 18 hours (and controlled for it) in the last year to get a more accurate sample.

The Williamsburg bridge is seeing the greatest growth, quadrupling the number of cyclists crossing the from 2000 to 2008, to 4,000 on a typical day. Can we say bike revolution? [via NYT]