Biking Adventure!

So Sunday I took out my bike for the very first time! I got it for Christmas. It's an AWESOME looking bike.

A Pacific Oceanside Cruiser

And mine has a little wicker basket on the front and a bell and it's adorable.

And I got this pretty little helmet that kind of matches the flowers on the bike (which are too small to see in the bike photo...I apologize.

Yeah! I'm like adorable on this thing.

So Sunday I decide to christen said bike and helmet with a trip down from my apartment on 181st Street to the pharmacy on 96th Street (where I get my prescriptions...why, you ask, do I go to RANDOM 96th street when I do not live/work in said area? Long story. Perhaps I will explain at the bottom of this blog if I'm in the mood.) thinking this will be a quick/easy ride.

I choose to take the Greenway (the huuuuuuuuuge long path along the west side of manhattan...no cars, perfect place for me to get used to the bike!). For the most part, it's pretty flat and I had no terrain issues. But I notice...man, it's hard to pedal this dang bike. Like, for a flat path, this is taking a whole lot of effort. I'm probably a little over a mile into my ride when I realize this, but I keep going.

So I get to my first biggish hill and I'm like "LAUREN DON'T LET THIS HILL BEAT YOU! STAY ON THE BIKE!!" (to myself, naturally...so as not to scare away the other people on the path) and with a WHOLE lot of effort, I did. So proud, Yay Me, I think! I'm such a good biker.

So we're about 2.5 miles in to this right? And it's taken me like 18 minutes to get this far and I'm like "hey, this is supposed to be FASTER than running...what's the deal?!" and I look down ....and I see why it's taking so long.

My tires are basically flat.

Like not flat, obvious flat, that I would've noticed before I left.

But flat like, I can squeeze the tire and make a major dent.

Well...I'm already half way there....

So I just keep going.

And it SUCKED.

But thankfully, only 2 blocks from my pharmacy is a BIKE STORE, where I fill up the flat tires. And then try riding again and I'm like "HOLY DIFFERENCE, BATMAN!" So I ran my errands with glee.

And then I rode on the street for awhile! Like SUPER BRAVE of me cause I think it's about the scariest thing in the world to ride your bike on a NYC street. But at this point I was like "gosh, I'm pretty pooped, I don't think I want to ride the 5 miles back. I'll just take the subway!"

So I carry sweet bike down the subway stairs. Which is no easy feat, but I had anticipated that I would be doing this at some point with bikeybike so I was mentally prepared. It was awkward, but I did it. I get down there, swipe my card, go through the emergency door thing...there are no uptown trains at this station today.

.....

REALLY?! Well screw this, I'm not carrying my dang bike back UP the stairs. I'll go down one more set of stairs, ride the train DOWN 4 stops to get on a express train to take me HOME.

Which I do. And I actually did pretty well with all that. Found some elevators and things to get me to the right platform, blah blah. All is well.

So then I get off 2 stops early to pick up some stuff for dinner, put it in my adorable wicker basket, and ride my bike from 168 back home to 181.

What an adventure! What a ridiculously unplanned MESS ...that ended up being just fine.

But still. Next time? Check tires and subway schedules.

Lessons learned for Biking in NYC.

LOVIES!