New York City is tough. Anyone who lives here can tell you that. To the point that, most things don't gain sympathy from New Yorkers. Most New Yorkers hear your sob story and trump it with ease. I don't know if a little over 3 years earns me the title, "New Yorker" yet, but I'm definitely growing a thicker skin. Over the past year, I've learned how to bike in the city. It's risky. It's scary. It takes skill. I prefer to only bike early in the morning: anytime between 5:30 and 7:30am, the streets are generally clear (or, clear for NYC). When I'm not crossing the George Washington Bridge to do 25-30 miles of hills in the Palisades on my "nice bike," I'm commuting to work on my single-speed. The same single-speed I've had to literally stop people from attempting to steal, despite my $90 lock in broad daylight (sigh, New York). But yesterday I was pulled over by the cops: lights, sirens, 2pm. They accused me of turning right on red, and failing to yield to pedestrians: 2 traffic tickets and a court date. I shook my head for the remaining 8 miles of my commute to work. I Googled what to do about this, and came across dozens of similar stories. This is my favorite. The thing is, it shouldn't be this difficult to exist in a place and safely get to and from work. Other cities are doing this better than we are. There are a lot of problems with this scenario, but at the end of the day--even a bad day--with two bikes in tact, and all of my bones in tact, I've still survived, and that counts for something, I hope.