Two Weeks of Bike Commuting

I love riding my bike, but I've always been really afraid of commuting by bike in New York City.  The traffic is kind of crazy.  I was also in a bike accident about five years ago (I got hit by a cyclist from behind while running and ended up with a very bloody face in the ER), and it's made me nervous about riding in crowded places ever since.

This means that a lot of the biking I do has been restricted to loops around Central Park and Prospect Park, and riding up and down the West Side Highway bike path for the last few years.  As you might imagine, this gets pretty boring after a while.  So, I bought a commuter bike a few weeks ago to up my triathlon game and to get to see more of the city by bike.

Unfortunately, I still think it's pretty dangerous to commute in New York City.  It's going to take a lot of time for me to get comfortable on the roads.  I'm only two weeks in, but here are some things I've learned:

1. Bike lanes are kind of meaningless.  I try to ride on roads that have bike lanes, but most of the time there are cars parked in the bike lanes (or pedestrians decide that bike lanes are for them), so I'm not really sure whether it's better to ride on a road with bike lanes or without bike lanes. 
2. Avoid the Brooklyn Bridge, unless you go across really early or really late. It's overcrowded with tourists. Use a different bridge.  
3. Watch out for cyclists who text or take photos (sometimes with a selfie-stick) while riding.  An unbelievable amount of people text and take photos while cycling. I don't get this at all.
4. Use your teacher voice. I've learned to be pretty vocal while riding my bike to make sure people know that I'm behind them, passing them, etc.
5. Pedestrians don't think bikes are dangerous vehicles.  Pedestrians constantly cross the road when bikes are coming their way.  

It's so important to be really alert and able to quickly react when riding around this city. I'm going to keep working on it.