Recreation and commuter cycling don’t need to be at war — but in New Jersey, Greenway boosters have taken all the air out of the formerly more well rounded cycle conversation, and it is tiring in the worst way. Now, every bike conversation in New Jersey gets rerouted into a debate about tearing up existing train tracks so people men can bike through… let’s be honest, a swamp. A park has become the stand-in for actual transportation policy, and we’re supposed to pretend that’s progress? We played nice, you decided not to, so here we are.

It’s not a zero-sum game, but the way the Greenway is being pushed, you’d think the only cyclists who matter are the ones out for a Saturday vibes ride, not the people who are literally dying on our streets trying to get to work. Cars are 50K a year. Give me a bike lane on Bloomfield Avenue, because how is that not reasonable and not pragmatic but a Greenway is realistic, stop pissing on me and calling it rain!

Put on your bike helmet, because on this episode of Auto Asphyxiation, we choose violence.