So Saturday was the second week of a program here in Manhattan they call Summer Streets. They block off a corridor right up the middle of the city, and restrict it to jogger, bikers, 'bladers, etc. in other words, no cars. This is the second year they've done it and I've been meaning to check it out, but for one reason or another ...
Saturday ended up being the day scheduling-wise that I was free for the last couple of hours so I hopped on my bike and joined in around 19th St near Union Square (first "X" on map). It wasn't my intent but I ended up following the entire route downtown. From there, many in the group of bikers, and a lot of the walkers opted to scale the Brooklyn Bridge. "What the hell", I thought "How hard can it be?"
FUCKING HARD! It may not look it from the street but the incline on the public walkway is pretty damn steep. Many bikers gave up and walked after halfway up, but I was determined (too stupid?) to not give up. I pumped and puffed and sucked as much air in to my lungs as I could (P.S. I was still feeling congested from last week's cold) until I finally made it half way across the bridge to the high point (Second "X"). I was lightheaded and seeing spots. I was considering the possibility that I would have an aneurysm burst right there on the bridge, and how inconvenient that would be, but I eventually recovered and snapped a few pictures for my trouble. Then I happily glided back in to Manhattan.
Again, it wasn't my intent, but I ended up riding back up the entire length of the corridor, all the way to 72nd St. before turning around and coming back downtown and returning home (Third "X"). When I finally got off my bike in front of my apartment building, I literally couldn't walk for a minute. My legs wouldn't move.
I'm sure I lost at least a pound or two during that ride, and I ended up with some pretty cool photos of the bridge and my city.
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