Every time I go for a bike ride the city seems to shrink a little.
This weekend was a particularly acute representation of this point. Saturday I hopped on the track bike and rode to Washington Heights with Wendy. I think it was around a 40 or 45 mile ride but two elements made it more profound. First, our destination was the Cloisters and the last time I had been there was by train. By A train to be exact, and it was running local the entire way. We’re talking almost 2 hours on one of the more notoriously crappy trains.
The entire ride by bike took about an hour and the sights, sounds and overall experience were overwhelming and lovely, stark contrast to the long dark underground alternative.
The second factor was the fact that I was on my fixed gear bike. Anyone that knows me knows of my affection for my fixie and my overall preference for it. However, it is not a lenient device, and the entire ride both to and from the Cloisters was spent pedaling, with absolutely no respite. Not kind on the hips and knees at all. We left early, around 8:30, which was great since NY doesn’t really wake up before 10 on the weekends. The bridge traffic was light and the air still had a light morning chill to it. This was not the case at 1pm when we headed home. 85 degrees, lots of humidity and a ton of sunshine. Also, there was a decent headwind most of the way down the west side of the city. I’m not complaining though, the ride was amazing, I got my workout in and overall I had a blast and took a bunch of great flicks.
I can’t stop feeling that I need to enjoy each and every moment of these warmer months as the winter still lingers in my memory, a dark and almost sinister thing. I know that with my friends and my familiarity with my neighborhood I’ll never have another winter like last one, it’s just something that will linger with me for a very long time. When they say your first year in NY is tough they aren’t kidding, I’m just glad to have almost made it to the ever important year mark.
Less than one month to go!
holy crap you biked 45 miles in an hour i think the last time i biked it was like 1 mile in a hour. goes to show you’re doing like tour de france i’m doing tour de couch.
Whoa! 45 miles round trip!!
I biked 1/2 that in an hour, I’m fast, but I am not even close to *that* fast!
still 22 miles one way is more than i’d ever try to bike you’d have to put a gun to my head to even make me think about biking that much and then i’d say pull the trigger because i won’t do it
Rock on! Glad to see from all these lovely posts that the LiquidJill is traversing a path into a more goopy substance… not a bad one, just one that’s less dynamic and chaotic. I did have a comment on something that sparked the urge to stick my nose in but then I remembered my pencils…
Anywho, the -other- reason was to give points where points are due. Once I can get a quick transport, I am going to go and get my bike some TLC. And then, with a healthy amount of xenophobia put in check by cackles and glee, I shall go and visit some of the pretty stuff locally that I’ve ignored for a tad too long.
Be well, Ms. Spartan