Saugerties: bicycle friendly?

Bike racks needed

Demetri Kolokotronis is a serious cyclist; in September he made an 1100-mile trip to Bar Harbor, Maine, and back. In Saugerties, he gets around exclusively by bicycle, having even sold his cars since he wasn’t using them anymore. He says that motorists “are not bad in general,” but that the width of the road has little to do with motorists’ attitudes. “Most people are willing to share the road if they know what you’re doing,” he says. “Ride in a legal, predictable manner, and most people are willing to share the road, and both have a right to the road.” He also points out that paved roads were invented for bicycles, “so really,” he says, “they’re riding on our roads.”

His major concern with biking in the area is the lack of bike racks to lock your bike to once you get somewhere. “I got Price Chopper and the Town Hall to install bike racks,” he says, “but they’re both inadequate, and the one at the Town Hall is particularly bad, it’s flimsy.” He tells me that it’s necessary to have the rack support the bike in at least two places, otherwise someone can leave the locked wheel and take the rest of the bike. “That was one of the disappointing things with Price Chopper; it took me a long time, many months, before they agreed to install a rack, and then I gave them information on what would be a good rack and they ignored that.”

Kolokotronis would also like to see some more signs which would give bike routes to cyclists, likely paths you could take if, for example, “you wanted to bike through the village of Saugerties, but avoid traffic – you would know to go down West Bridge St. rather than go through the commercial section of the village.”

Freedom and independence: the activist

Ralph Perri would like to see more people take up cycling.

“I think it’s good,” he says, “that the town has some programs and I hope they’ll be able to do more. It’s certainly very modern, it certainly supports precedents in other municipalities for that kind of stuff.”

He said the town should add lines to show where the bike paths are. He’d like to see kids encouraged to ride bikes for getting around town, too. It provides good training for driving a car. “If you spent your teen years on the streets on a bike and somebody has taught you a few things, a few rules of the road, when you’re a driver, all those same things apply.”

Cycling teaches kids about navigation, too, says Perri.

“I run into kids who just put an address in their cell phone, and drive out the driveway without knowing where the first turn is. By riding, it’s possible a kid could learn a little bit about where he is. There really is a problem with drivers who drive with their eyes glued to a screen, and have no concept of where they’re going and how they’re going to get there. It’s a lack of independence that we’ve cultivated.”

His own kids grew up riding, and his grown daughter now commutes by bike in the D.C. area. Perri and his wife Helen take their bikes on vacation with them, and ride in places like San Francisco and Sacramento. He even recently purchased a pair of vintage English cycles from Revolution Bicycles on Main St. to restore for his wife and himself.

“There’s freedom on a bicycle,” he says, “there’s excitement and speed, there’s independence.”