Hello Summer

I love that sometimes when I am walking down the street I start to think it is raining, but then I quickly realize that it is just the disgusting water dripping down from the millions of air conditioners sticking out of the windows.

*around the manahatta*

It started as an innocent dream...to ride around the outside of Manhattan.  Legend has it that there is a paved bike path that outlines the whole of Manhattan.  Trusting the rumor and turning away from any research on this said 'bike path' Derek and I decided to attempt the ride last Saturday.  Well, let's just cut to the chase and say it was SO much harder than we thought....especially when there is NO path that follows the island.   I repeat...NO path.  

Derek has his own road bike here in the city but was a little wary of using it...(he thought he would be too speedy for me) so he rode my bike and I rode my roommate Cassie's bike.  The ride started off pretty smooth until the bike Derek was riding started making this unbearable screeching sound proving to be unridable at about ...oh...135th Street and Riverside.  We put the sweet Craigslist bike to rest on the corner and headed back down on the subway to Chinatown to retrieve Derek's super speedy bike.  Game on.

We started over again with the ride, quickly finding that the we had to carry our bikes up stairs and across pedestrian overpasses many, many times.   Hence the huge bruise on my shoulder the next day.  But seriously, everything aside, we had a fabulous time.  I thought it would take about 4 hours....more like 9.  

We saw so much of the city...so many neighborhoods I had no idea existed.  I found a new appreciation for Manhattan and all that it has to offer.  An extremely fascinating experience I would recommend to all....just be prepared to lug around a huge hunk of steel.