An Unexpected Adventure

Yesterday was a very, very rainy day! I have actually come to enjoy rainy days in the city. The fog and rain have a very strange way of changing the city. It's seems so much smaller and much more peaceful. The streets are less crowded, you can't see the top of the skyscrapers, everything is just a bit more calm.

After a weekend of staying in my apartment doing absolutely nothing, I was ready for an adventure. Rain or no rain I was getting out there, So I decided to ride my bike to meet a friend in Manhattan (See my route here). The only problem was that I got off work at 5:00 and my friend didn't get off until 7:30... so I had some time to kill. 

DISCLAIMER: I tried to take pictures but I didn't want to destroy my phone in the rain and the pictures weren't turning out that well anyway...

I started off and stopped by Barnes and Noble to buy Storm of Swords (I stayed up until 3:00am finishing the second GOT book on Sunday). I can't wait to start it! Then I headed off to the Brooklyn War Memorial. It was a gorgeous small park/memorial that I'm sure looks even more beautiful when the sun is shining.

After that, I hopped onto the Brooklyn Bridge. It was my first time going over it on foot or on my bike so it was a fun experience. I did get stuck in a torrential downpour when I was in the center. The winds also made it a bit painful, but hey... pain just adds to the adventure right?

View of the Manhattan Bridge

Lots of construction on the Brooklyn Bridge

After making it into Manhattan and letting out a sigh of relief that I didn't run over any tourists (seriously, even in the storm they were out taking pictures in the middle of the bike lane), I crossed through Manhattan and after exploring the sculptures at Rockefeller Park I hopped on the Hudson Green way.

Memorial

Now, I've walked and run bits and pieces of the Green way before but I never paid much attention to what was around me. Since I had so much time to kill I made sure to stop and explore. There were so many things I would have typically just zoomed by! For example, a very moving memorial for a man who was struck while riding his bike. There were also moments when I had to pull over and just admire my surroundings. This is truly a spectacular city. It's so astonishing how one minute you can be surrounded by hundreds of people, skyscrapers and filth, then the next you're in a park surrounded by trees, flowers, and beautiful sculptures.

My plan had been to stay on the Greenway and then cut over on 56th st and hang out by my friend's work until she was ready. What I ended up doing was getting so caught up in my surroundings that I didn't realize how far I'd gone until I saw a "Riverside Park" sign. Oops. Seriously guys, you can forget you're even in the city. Riverside park is absolutely beautiful. After that I carried my bike up some stairs and got back onto the roads. I headed towards Central Park where I saw "The Reservoir" for the first time (it's much larger than I expected) then rode down to 7th Ave and waited in the Brooklyn Diner (ironic?) drinking hot tea and constantly apologizing for the puddles that my backpack, helmet, and clothing were leaving on their floors. My plan had been to ride home on a different route but, after sitting in a restaurant soaking wet for an hour or so I decided to hop the Subway home.

What a great night!!! You've got to love unexpected adventures. 

NYC's version of Cherry on a Spoon?

Random/sorta creepy sculptures

Seriously.. Am I still in the city?!

Riverside Park

Did I accidentally bike to Greece?!

My NOT To Do List

Ya know, there's this struggle here in New York. The " OH MY GOSH HOW CAN YOU JUST SIT ON YOUR COUCH?! YOU LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY AND THERE"S SO MUCH TO DO!!!" struggle...

Now I've lived in St Paul/Minneapolis, Charleston, SC, and Charlotte, NC all places that have tons to do, but I never felt bad for staying in on the weekend until I moved here. According to many of my friends, this is a common occurrence with the locals and maybe part of the reason everyone is so crazy up here. There's just too much going on and too much to miss out on.

As many of you know, this is been an emotionally exhausting week. Lots of changes going on with my current job, future plans, family, ect and it also happens to be the 2 weeks that I can't talk to Peter.  Last weekend I was feeling super motivated and energized (hence the lengthy bike adventure) but this weekend all I want to do is sit on the couch and watch mind-numbing television while eating Lucky Charms. That's not so horrible is it?

I'm sure I could delve into this topic even further and discuss the contributions of an increasingly "pressure to be active and fit" culture... but that would just take too much work. And yes, I understand this post might seem contradictory to this entire Blog, but seriously, sometimes you just need to be lazy for a weekend and there's nothing wrong with that. 

I'm big on lists, so here's my list for this weekend:

My Not To Do List:

Clean, in any way (other than dishes)

Grocery shop

Laundry

Anything active

Change my clothes (this is just economical)

Budgeting of any kind

Planning of any kind

Worry that I'm missing out on something fun somewhere in the city

Worry that I'm not making good use of my time

Worry... about anything

Yup, I'm going to be lazy and I'm going to feel good about it! Maybe I'll finally finish the second Game of Thrones book too! Don't worry though guys, I've already got some adventures planned for this coming week. I promise I'm not giving up on my original "To-Do List"

To week full of adventures... but in the meantime extreme laziness... Cheers!

I realized I never mentioned....

I have a new bike!!!!!

After the flat tire and kicking fiasco Peter decided to give me my birthday present a month early.... so we went and bought me a new bike!!! It's a Novera "29er hard tail" which means it has super big wheels and only front shocks. It's amazing... and if you haven't noticed the recent posts... I've been riding it ALOT. I've put about 110 miles on it in the last 3 weeks and have many more hefty mileage adventures coming up. I haven't had a chance to take it on any trails despite it being a full on Mountain bike, but I imagine that will only lead to me loving it more. 

Yes, my old bike was fantastic. It had lots of flaws and lots of character but this one... well it's just plain sexy.                 

                                                                        

The wheels are so big it won't fit into the normal
Bike rack at the climbing gym.... yeah... kinda awesome

My first time leaving it unlocked..
I used 3 locks and didn't take my eyes of it
@ Coney Island

I'm also happy to let all of you know that my old bike found a loving home. I went to work the Monday after purchasing the new bike and took the lock off thinking someone would just take it. Well, no one touched the bike... so around 3pm I decided to make a sign and post it on the bike. I hadn't even finished taping it on before a nice young man came and started asking me questions about the bike. He was so excited to take home the "fixer upper" and promised to give bike a loving home. All is well. 

Here's to a week filled with biking adventures!!! 

In an Effort to Stay Distracted

West Point

So when I first started this blog, I was hoping to keep my personal life out of it. Well I'm breaking that rule today...

My boyfriend (of 3 years) is in the Army at West Point. I have been spoiled the past few summers in that I've had 3-5 whole consecutive weeks with him each year in-between his trainings. This summer, I'll be lucky to get a weekend, which is why I created a very extensive Summer To Do List.

I've spoken to many other girlfriends, fiancés, and wives that each have their own strategy in dealing with long distance, and those trainings/deployments where you have no communication at all. Everyone has their own strategy but the only one that has consistently worked for me is getting involved in activities where I can't use my phone/computer anyway! It keeps me busy and prevents me from constantly looking at my phone and/or staring at my computer screen wishing I could talk with the guy.

Peter is "in the field" for the next couple weeks, so I get very little (a few texts) to no communication with him. So yesterday and today I hopped on my bike to keep myself distracted! I also get to cross TWO things off my Summer To-Do list. Yesterday I rode to Coney Island and enjoyed a few hours of utter relaxation, other than constantly looking back and checking on my triple locked bike. Then today I biked to the Rockaways!

Summer To-Do List
Bike from Westhampton to Montauk
Visit Washington DC
Try Stand Up Paddle Boarding

Gorgeous Greenway dead-ends into Coney Island

Explore Governor's Island
Explore Roosevelt Island
See Kaaterskill Falls
Bike from my house to the Rockaways
Visit the NY Botanical Gardens
Bike the Manhattan Greenway Loop
Bike to 2 different beaches in 1 weekend
Explore St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
Visit Grant's Tomb
Run the steps in Morningside Park
Try the Trapeze
Explore Greenwood Cemetery
Summit Mt. Taurus
Hike Breakneck Ridge and not break my neck
Explore all the Central Park sites

Greenway covered in sand

The ride to the Rockaways was a total of 30.5 miles (check out the route here). Although I didn't make it all the way to Far Rockaway like I originally planned, I did go all the way to Breezy Point before being turned around by some security guards :( . It was quite the adventure especially since I forgot to tape my pre-printed directions to my bike...

I ran into quite a bit of lingering damage from Hurricane Sandy. It's so easy to forget what a horrible storm it truly was, especially for those of us who were barely affected. There were abandoned homes, large debris, damaged roadways, and there was sand EVERYWHERE. Once I got onto the island there was no grass at all, all the yards were made of sand. The road was also covered, and a section of the greenway had turned into dunes. My right shoulder is bruised from carrying my not-so-light mountain bike 1/4 mile over the sand (calf workout...check!). Today and Yesterdays adventures were a great distraction, a much needed reality check, a fantastic workout, Oh and they were FREE!! Now I'll keep myself distracted the rest of the day by cleaning up all the sand that my bike and I trekked into the apartment, oops!

As close as I could get to the water while still
having a clear view of my bike at Coney Island

Manhattan in the distance on the Marine Parkway Bridge