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So Allison, how would you like to go on a long, scenic bike ride?
Sounds great!
The 5 Boro Bike Tour. 42 miles, all 5 of New York City's boroughs. You'll love it.
Yesssss!
It'll be on the colder side come tour day. You'll have to wear a sweater and a windbreaker. Is that okay?
That's no problem at all. Where do I sign up?
It's going to rain, too. Just for a little while.
Oh. Um, I guess that's still okay.
When I say it will rain for a little while, I actually mean to say that it will rain the entire time. 7am to 3pm. Sometimes light and sometimes heavy. By the end of the day you will be soaking wet, cold, and only partially able to use your hands.
Uh...
And after you finish biking in the rain you will be forced to stand outside in the rain for another half an hour - no umbrellas, no shelter - waiting for the Staten Island Ferry to take you back home. Sound good?
I uh, um...
Yeah.
But you know what? It was still fun!
And as an added bonus, Oliver continued his slow march to conquer (via bike) every bridge in the tri-state area. Yesterday's vanquished: the Verrazano Bridge.
Ah, Sunday. I miss you already.
We took out the bikes after a long winter in storage, and biked up the West side of Manhattan via the Greenway. Oliver, generally a pretty adult kind of guy, goes 6-year-old on me whenever he talks about the George Washington Bridge. He biked all the way to it and then across it last summer, and he has been insistent that I come along and do it too.
So on Sunday, I did.
Some images from the afternoon:
The 79th Street Boat Basin, which apparently includes some houseboats. How fun! "I live in SOHO." "I live in the Lower East Side." "Suckas. I live on the Hudson River."
Well on our way now - we would eventually cover about 20 miles. If you squint or enlarge this photo, you'll juuust see the GW Bridge in the distance.
More sights. I liked the desolate look of the chain-link fence, the graffiti and the dead grass. Harlem, I believe.
Gettin' closer. We stopped here so I could give my legs a little rest.
Tiny Oliver and giant bridge.
Right under it.
On top of it.
Looking off it. Manhattan skyline - from really far away. We had come from there. I love a good feeling of accomplishment on a Sunday afternoon.
All right, now that the dam is broken, the floodwaters come pouring out! I feel inspired to write today (partly because of that just-gave-my-notice euphoria).
The weather has just started to turn beautiful here, and everyone seems to be giddy. It was a long winter with a LOT of snow, and Torontonians are just now creeping out of their houses and turning their faces up to the sun. My own face is getting some of that sunlight thanks in part to my beautiful bike. Two days in the last week I skipped my usual combination of subway and bus, choosing instead to make the commute to work on my own power.
What a kick. At different times I love it or hate it - the "hate" part usually kicking in 20 minutes into the trip, and the "love" part taking over once I've finished riding. Even though it's still pretty chilly in the mornings, I manage to sweat profusely in the course of my ride, and show up at the office red faced and sticky. My attempts at temperature control don't go much beyond unzipping my jacket part way, and that unfortunately gives me a bit of a sail effect, which is frustratingly inefficient on mornings like today, when the (f*@king) wind blew in my face from start to finish.
There's a long list of positives to go with the negatives, though. My favorite is the loop of thoughts that runs through my head as I ride. It goes a little something like this:
I'm saving $4.20 in public transit fares today...
This is a zero-emission commute...
What an incredible workout. And I'll do it twice today...
It's so nice to be outside...
It's a win win win win situation. I love those.
