USI leaders Compton & Lalloo Quoted!
Time to dust off the bicycles for spring
-from the Journal News LoHud online service:
This spring, motorists driving through Eastchester will see big bicycles painted on some major thoroughfares. The bicycles under a two-stripe chevron won’t
designate a new bike lane. They’re a warning. “In lieu of a bike lane, these go on the road and it’s basically a signal between the motorist and bicyclist
to share the road with each other,” said Peter McCartt, chairman of the Eastchester Environmental Committee, which is leading a local effort to get
motorists to share the road with bikes. The sharrow, as the pictogram is called, will appear on the town’s streets around the time bike owners will begin dusting off their bicycles for another riding season. Seasoned bicyclists say no one should head out for a ride on a bike that’s been sitting unused for a few months without getting a tune-up. “A lot of folks who ride their bike, even recreational riders, they don’t maintain them. By glopping on more grease on the chain you’re not removing dirt,” said Tim Compton, a carpenter and president of the Scarsdale-based Unione Sportiva Italiana, a bicycle racing club. “It’s no fun breaking down when you’re 10 miles from home.” Bicycles should get a tune-up at least once a year, said Dan Ventarola, owner of the County Cycle Center at 970 McLean Ave., Yonkers. That means cyclists should give their bike an inspection and
tune-up, or bring it to a bike shop if they’re not handy or mechanically inclined. At County Cycle Center, spring tune-ups for bicycles cost $49.95 for a mountain bike and $69.95 for a road bike. The service includes lubrications, brake adjustments and tire alignment, among other elements. Ventarola, 75, of the Bronx, acknowledged that some bike owners scoff at paying for a tune-up that
can cost half the price of a cheap new bicycle from a big-box retailer. ”Those are my favorite kinds of bicycles,” Ventarola said of the budget bikes, which he said break down more often than expensive bicycles and require many of his store’s services. Ventarola, who has been in the bike repair business for about 60 years, proudly notes that his personal quality Schwinn bicycle dates to 1949. His brother
owns Arrow Cycle at 4053 White Plains Road in the Bronx. Ventarola said he doesn’t ride his bicycle much any more, but in his younger days he enjoyed riding
along Pelham Parkway in the Bronx to City Island and up Shore Road to New Rochelle. “It’s safer now because they’ve added bike paths,” Ventarola said. In fact, residents from communities along the Bronx River’s bike trails can mostly ride to Pelham Parkway and then to City Island on off-street bicycle trails. Besides its plan to paint sharrows on California, Wilmot and Pondfield roads, and Midland and
Marbledale avenues, the Eastchester Environmental Committee intends to install bike racks at the town’s three train stations, the library and Town Hall. The committee is even considering bike garages in some parts of town. “We’re selecting places where people are already biking,” said McCartt, an advertising technology Advertisement producer and a bicyclist who enjoys riding along the Bronx River’s trails. McCartt also recommends the bike trails at Twin Lakes County Park in Eastchester. Compton, who lives in the Bronx, said Westchester residents have an abundance of places to ride, from easy trails along the Bronx River and the Old Putnam Line to harder trails with challenging hills. Compton said Westchester is also the site of one of the best-known rides in the Northeast, the Gimbel’s Ride. It starts Saturdays and Sundays at the Cross County Shopping Center in Yonkers and heads north on Central Park Avenue to White Plains, where it splits into three different routes of varying lengths before ending in New Rochelle. White Plains resident Mark Lalloo, 44, an electrician, said his favorite part of Westchester for bike riding is North Castle. “Unlike most riders, I do ride in the southern end of
the county. Most riders forego that because there is more traffic involved,” he said. “It’s better than Long Island, but it doesn’t compare to upstate New York.” Lalloo is the race promoter for the Unione Sportiva Italiana, which holds one race a year. The club is open to new members who might not necessarily be fast, but aspire to be. Even the most famous weekend races in the Central Park in Manhattan are open to beginners, Lalloo said.
