First the warm fuzzy. I got a flat tire on my bike yesterday and found a tack in my tire. I had one patch left, fixed the flat, started pumping it up and realized the tack had gone through both sides of the tube, so there were TWO holes in the tire and I had no more patches left. I only had the one patch left because I just got a flat tire two days earlier going the other direction on the same path, caused by - a tack. It was early evening on a cloudy day that looked like rain, so not a lot of traffic on the bike path. Nevertheless, I flagged down a couple of guys on bikes. Both stopped to chat briefly but neither had any patches with them. I was about to give up and start walking when a pair of cyclists rode by before I could even see them coming, and without waiting for me to ask, one called out, "Everything OK?" I called back "Got any patches?,", to which the guy stopped, turned around, came back and shuffled through his sack, pulled out a patch, gave me a second one just in case. Saved me from a long walk home. I'm eternally grateful to someone I'll most likely never see again.
Time to repay the debt. Today I went running along the same path. I got caught in the heavy rain that lasted over an hour. The rain began shortly after I started running, and of course, stopped shortly after I finished running. I just can't catch break these days. I was so distracted by the rain that when I saw a guy fixing a flat tire on his bike under an overpass, I didn't even make the connection with my own troubles. A little further on, however, I looked down and saw a whole cluster of those sharp tacks that are used for furniture upholstery.
So I actually stood there (or stooped to be precise) and picked up all those tacks. Now, there's an element of self-interest here, in that I ride this path all the time and I'm tired of patching tires, but I also patted myself on the back for saving a good number of other cyclists from getting flat tires. So, start running again and get about 10 yards when I see another cluster of tacks. OK, stop & pick them up. Start running again expecting to see another cluster, but it looks clean - for about 100 yards, then another cluster of shorter tacks. Yes, I stopped and picked them up. Then another. Yup, picked them up. Suddenly a few yards away a huge cluster of tack, just too many for me to pick up. I tried sweeping them aside with my foot, but they stuck in my shoe. I had to admit defeat. All the clusters I described above were along the newly-constructed pathway that runs along and below the Riverbank State Park between 135th and 145th streets (approximately). On the way back, I found more clusters north of the Park, and in the rain and scattered amongst the debris, who knows how many other clusters there are that I didn't spot? So it looks like I will have to find an alternative path temporarily.
OK, I'll skip the rant. I have to constantly remind myself of all the foolish things I did as a kid, and I hate to admit that this isn't that far different from some pranks that I did in fact pull when I was young & oblivious to the effects of my actions on others. I vented to a neighbor and I followed his advice to contact the parks department. Awaiting a response. In the meantime, if you're a cyclist, be very careful along the bike path from about 158th street to 133rd(?) street where the path ends - and always carry extra patches!
UPDATE (9-9-06)
The problem continues and is growing. I didn't ride along the path for a few days, both because of the beginning of the school year and because there were a couple of days where it rained. So when I finally rode to work on Friday I took a detour on the way in (no time for flats on the way to work) and then the usual route, slowly, on the way back. That's when I started passing by people again pushing their bikes with flat tires. I thought I had missed them, since I went slowly and didn't see any tacks, but a short distance from my home I noticed the tire getting a little flat, slowly, so I pulled over and sure enough there was another tack in the tire. I talked to a couple of other "riders" (pushers by now) and we cursed and speculated on what was going on. It's fresh tacks every day it seems. These are little steel nails that rust quickly and the ones we pull out of our tires are needle sharp and shiny. I'm slowly coming around to the idea of camera surveillance in the parks!
UPDATE II (1/14/07)
I meant to post this a few months ago but didn't have the time. Below is the text of an e-mail from the Parks Department and a contact e-mail for future problems. This is dated 10/27/06:
Mr. G -
Thank you for your note regarding the tacks strewn along the pathways in Riverside and Ft. Washington Park. We appreciate that you brought this matter to our attention. Your comments along with many others were quite helpful in identifying the problematic locations.
We've swept the entire length of the pathway and believe we've solved the problem though it remains a mystery why someone would do this.
If you should have any other questions regarding this or any other matter in Riverside Park, please feel free to reach out to me directly at kc.sahl@parks.nyc.gov or 212.408.0264.
Thank you,
KC
Haven't been out in a while but I expect the problem to be minimal in the winter months anyway.
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