Friday, August 3, 2007
Ridiculous Bike Ride, Ridiculous Thunderstorm
I went on a bike ride today to rival the trip to Coney Island. It took me 2 1/3 hours to go all the way around the north end of Manhattan, starting on 15th street and the Hudson to 15th street and the East River, following the lovely Manhattan Greenway, which impressively seemed like almost 80% bike path. Mostly flat too, only a little bit of hill climbing in Washington Heights.
The path up the Hudson is beautiful. It feels almost like biking on the Charles, only the other shore seems like a world away. Up in the hundreds there was a whole neighbor it seemed out having some summer fun with food and sports. All up the trail are public basketball and tennis courts, and even a couple sports fields. Some places you are riding right next to the river, so that you could get off your bike and walk right to the shore, no fence. It gets a little dicey going across the northern tip, along Dyckman st. to a path along the Harlem river. That spits you out on St. Nicholas Ave. which eventually takes you to the East river again at 120th St, which you can follow passed Randall's Island and Roosevelt's Island all the way to 63rd before you get diverted to 2nd Ave.
I would have never thought I could do a trip like that. I just kept hammering away, and it is just so much fun you want to keep going and going. I probably slowed down a bit at the end, but I think I got a pretty decent workout out of the whole things. I am starting to enjoy cycling more and more. Maybe I try to do those early morning bike rides with the Harvard cycling team some time.
As of right now, I am witnessing one of the most amazing thunderstorms I have ever seen. There must be a lightning strike twice a second, with some of them producing intensely loud cracks of thunder. If you are outside in this, you probably should reconsider your priorities, but watching from inside it is just surreal.
I'm gonna try to get some rest so I can actually get some MUN work finished before the summer ends. Hope you all are having a good summer. There is only one month left, so enjoy it.
The path up the Hudson is beautiful. It feels almost like biking on the Charles, only the other shore seems like a world away. Up in the hundreds there was a whole neighbor it seemed out having some summer fun with food and sports. All up the trail are public basketball and tennis courts, and even a couple sports fields. Some places you are riding right next to the river, so that you could get off your bike and walk right to the shore, no fence. It gets a little dicey going across the northern tip, along Dyckman st. to a path along the Harlem river. That spits you out on St. Nicholas Ave. which eventually takes you to the East river again at 120th St, which you can follow passed Randall's Island and Roosevelt's Island all the way to 63rd before you get diverted to 2nd Ave.
I would have never thought I could do a trip like that. I just kept hammering away, and it is just so much fun you want to keep going and going. I probably slowed down a bit at the end, but I think I got a pretty decent workout out of the whole things. I am starting to enjoy cycling more and more. Maybe I try to do those early morning bike rides with the Harvard cycling team some time.
As of right now, I am witnessing one of the most amazing thunderstorms I have ever seen. There must be a lightning strike twice a second, with some of them producing intensely loud cracks of thunder. If you are outside in this, you probably should reconsider your priorities, but watching from inside it is just surreal.
I'm gonna try to get some rest so I can actually get some MUN work finished before the summer ends. Hope you all are having a good summer. There is only one month left, so enjoy it.
