While I've long been aware of my privilege in being able to move about largely without undue concern for my safety, I'm struck by some of the comments to your article. One, for example, asserts that you had to "fight the urge to help" while the man "rode by oblivious" ... lol!

Of course, that's not what you wrote, & not what you described. For all we know your unaware benefactor might have had the same thought. But as a long-term urban dweller, I've discovered when people fall or have accidents they'll tell you if they want you to stop. In this case the kid had friends, so he was okay. Even if you were a man, what would you have done—biked him to the hospital on your shoulders, lol? I also have a nursing background, & I know that absent a hemmorhage, there's not a lot you can really do in the field.

Another reader suggests the kid was faking. Really? For what purpose? You were close enough to the guy for them to suppose you were together, right? I used to be a teenage boy, & I promise that kind of thinking is far too intricate.

My experience with bikes, which is considerable, leaves me to believe male privilege is a bit more nuanced. A bike, after all, adds complication to encounters. Some have considerable value. In fact, I began a life-long habit of always carrying a flashlight whenever & wherever after nearly getting jumped by a drunken group of guys who accosted me near Union Square Park late one night when I was trying to fix my bike in the dark. They suggested I was stealing it, but I'm sure they didn't really believe that. They just wanted to fuck around with me. Ironically, just as things looked back for your humble correspondent, their girlfriends, who had been windowshopping I guess, turned up, corralled them & they went on their way.

Finally, I have to ask, if a guy did yell, "hey, great bike!" or something similar, could he do it?