Someone A Runner Probably Is Trying To Kill All The Central Park Cyclists — It seems that the uneasy alliance of pedestrians, bicyclists and squirrels that form the circle of life in Central Park (also known as “Simbaringaneuensis”) has started breaking down. According to the Post, someone who really hates bicyclists has been leaving thumbtacks across the Park Drive in the mornings, injuring up to a dozen cyclists so far.
Last week, the scenic bike paths of Central Park were allegedly booby-trapped with thumbtacks, deflating tires and sending city cyclists flying off course.
The concern, as CBS 2′s Tony Aiello found out Thursday, revolves around a possible backlash against the bike movement.
The sabotage took out the tires of more than a dozen bikes last week on Park Drive at the bottom of Harlem Hill.
The New York Post reports that at least 12 bikers’ tires were punctured on July 3 at the Harlem Slope section of the park.
While police at the Central Park Precinct scoffed at the incident, saying “a flat tire is not the crime of the century,” bikers were quick to see the thumbtacks as a weapon in a battle of a much larger war.
The culprits behind the thumb tack assault, they suggested, may be “self-entitled” Central Park runners.
To summarize: If you’re a motorist whose car is touched by a pedestrian or cyclist whom you almost run over, NYPD is at your service. If you’re a cyclist who crashes to the pavement because of a malicious malcontent, cops are otherwise occupied seeking justice for dead squirrels.
The uneasy peace between cyclists and runners in Central Park was shattered on Harlem Hill last Tuesday when a cluster of thumbtacks sprinkled across the road attached themselves to more than a dozen bicycle tires. “I ripped the skin off my elbow and it’s pretty sore,” one rider, who was thrown from his bike, told the Post. A fellow cyclist immediately pinned the blame (so to speak!) on the obvious suspects:
“I really don’t want to point fingers, but some think it could have been a disgruntled runner,” he said. “There is kind of a rivalry in the park between cyclists and runners.”
“Kind of a rivalry” is one word for it. “Centuries-old blood feud primed to explode into an orgy of death and ruin” is another.
Cyclist Rich Delvino said his eyes are always fixed on the road surface ahead.
“I’m always look on the ground, I’m looking for potholes,” Delvino said. “But thumbtacks I will keep my eye on.”
Tony Smith said he bikes the track around Central Park nearly every day and has had flat tires before, but when his back tire went flat this week, something about it was different.
“When I went to check the hole in the tire, it was minute, it was so thin. I couldn’t see it through the tire, but all I knew was that the air was coming out of the inner tube,” Smith told 1010 WINS’ Al Jones. “A thumbtack you can’t see, you’re not paying attention for a thumbtack.”
Cyclist James Harris said though it may all turn out to be a prank, it’s still dangerous.
There’s no doubt the Big Apple biking boom has provoked strong feelings, including pro and con protests over bike lanes. There has also been the occasional problem in the park as runners and riders jostle for space.
“[There] definitely is some tension at some times,” Harlem resident Tim Chernikoff said.
So far, the tack scattering has been just a one-day thing, but bike riders said they are keeping a sharp eye out for more trouble.
The Central Park Police have been notified, CBS 2 reported.
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