schluff

schluff
 v.—Gloss: To temporarily dismount a bicycle and use it something like a scooter in a place where bicycle-riding is forbidden or unwelcome. «Sidewalk bike riding is like jaywalking—who among us cannot resist, once in a while or more. Bikes, like people, are vehicles of compromise. Thus, we draw attention to the schluff, for when you absolutely have to move on the sidewalk and absolutely won’t actually “ride.”…More on schluffing: an alternate way to use your bike on the sidewalk that is faster than walking and yet is not biking. Intended for short distances only (obviously). What is a schluffing situation? When a biker goes from street biking to sidewalk biking and the bike lane (or bike-favorable street) has ended and the biker still needs to go some distance to his or her front door or destination. Or when the biker just needs to go one block against the direction of traffic and doesn’t want to walk. Ideally one would walk, but unfortunately people tend to bike on the sidewalk, which is problematic and illegal and, when there are a lot of people, dangerous and clueless. We present schluffing as an alternative to riding a bike on the sidewalk. We present schluffing as a Third Way, a particular kind of compromise that bikers are great at, as opposed to car drivers, who you would not to see pushing a car down the sidewalk or on the sidewalk at all, pedestrians or not. Schluffing takes advantage of the bike as a scooter-like implement to shorten your trip—and as something that is human-powered and, thus, capable of being NOT used, just walked, walking being human.» —“Schluffing!” by Robert Sullivan The Thoreau You Don’t Know by Robert Sullivan (New York City) Mar. 7, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)