Yesterday at 11 a.m., this Third Street entrance to Prospect Park looked like heaven to me (and church bells even rang the point home). I had just cycled there from the northern edge of that Other Park in Manhattan, 15 white-knuckled, teeth-gritted miles, in the NYC Century—my very first venture into street riding in Manhattan. Yes, about a zillion people do this every day (and the bike event included young children and tiny dogs, see below, and I only did 15% of it), but I am still very proud of myself.
Riding in "the city" and on "the street" have been two of my terrors (well-justified ones, frankly), and staying with a pack of bib-wearing riders was my ploy to break the spell. However, when you have the speed and cardio conditioning of a garden slug, you fall behind pretty fast, so I spent much of the Brooklyn leg of the ride on my own or catching up with a few stragglers. By the time I made it into the park, this Transportation Alternatives marshal on Prospect Park West was looking lonely. In a cycling event, I am a sign of the End Times.
An intrepid friend of mine was primed to do all five boroughs and 100 miles, but nothing further on in south Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx could beat the sensory overload of the first chunk: Riverside Drive, down Broadway, through Columbus Circle and Soho, and across the Brooklyn Bridge. Hell, I biked through Times Square! I was pleasantly surprised by how much of the route through midtown had protected bike lanes 
(the kind where cars and trucks are physically blocked from killing you). Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge on a bike is a little hairy (bikes go both ways on one narrow lane, and pedestrians object if you plough into them), but also unforgettable.
And you can't beat the view from a rest stop in Brooklyn Bridge Park.
At left, power-bar handout in front of the old waterfront warehouses in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Participants in this Century ride were a democratic bunch, at least in my tail-end crowd: lots of families, few Lycra-and-bike-shoes types.
This lady did the ride with her teacup Yorkie, Cocoa Puff.
As I sailed back home through Prospect Park, there was one more surprise at my personal finish line, the Peristyle: a late summer park wedding! 
The Grecian structure made an intimate setting for a spiffy crowd of guests and a radiant young bride named Lisette.
Bonus of an outdoor wedding in Prospect Park: free non-union extras on nearby bench!
Um...its pedALing.
Posted by: College degree | September 09, 2008 at 08:18 PM
LOL! Thank you, College Degree! Can't believe no one else (including me) caught "peddling"...well, I am "peddling" my calendar, so maybe it was a Freudian slip!
I am consoled by the fact that the NY Times put "ryhme" in a headline the other day...
Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush | September 10, 2008 at 09:29 AM