Thursday, May 12, 2011

Like, totally epic, dude

Greetings, gentle blogging public!

Spring is here, and you know what that means. Epic bike rides of danger! Now that the weather is nice, as is wont to occur for about two weeks before you hit the DOOM period of summer, I am excited to see how I can travel my adopted lands of Brooklyn faster and more wide-rangingly than ever before. (No voyages to my more-fraught ancestral Manhattan yet--I'm working on it.) It's fun to go all the way around Prospect Park in a tiny fraction of the time it'd take to walk. It's less fun to p-u-s-h the wheeled contraption, pedaling pathetically, up the steep stretch to Grand Army Plaza...but then how glorious to sail clear down all of Prospect Park Southwest. The newfound weather means I have to adjust to many other (much more talented) bikers competing for space with me--believe me, this didn't happen on Christmas morning. They can imbue the whole enterprise with a whole new set of hazards. On the plus side, I don't clutch the brakes as much on the downstretch anymore, noticing that even when I push poor Bikesilver down the hill as fast as its little wheels can toddle, the Real Cyclists effortlessly pass us by.

And then there are the adventures of leaving the park. On Friday, in search of a mint julep cupcake (I know, I know), I took my old tutoring route down to 9th Street, pausing to rage at a school bus parked in the bike lane. I did not find the grail at creperia Crespella so I decided to go to Tazza in Brooklyn Heights. Next time I tell you, "Oh, hey, I think I'll ride down 5th Avenue because there's a bike lane!" kindly kidnap my bike and refuse to return it until I rethink my folly. Cutting across Park Slope and Cobble Hill in Friday rush traffic is no joke. Luckily, I arrived in Brooklyn Heights not too much the worse for wear (other than having to get out and walk the bike because of a traffic jam, nearly causing my own bike jam with a sudden stop, and almost running over two snarky girls who refused to move out of my lane). I ate my prize cupcake--delicious candied mint leaf!--and steeled myself for the uphill battle of return.

Luckily, the way back was less fraught with danger (except for the car that wanted to pass me on Henry Street and couldn't). I even made it up most of the Park Slope slope without stopping. Back home I picked up an enormous tube of goat cheese and some fresh blueberries, matched them with my leftover spinach, and ate a dinner of champions.

Over the weekend, taking a rest from bikes, I hit up the New York Botanical Garden in all its azalea glory, saw a couple of shows with my parents (a Shostakovich/Stoppard bill at Carnegie Hall and the hilarious David-Ives-adaptation-of-The-Misanthrope School for Lies). The rest of that goat cheese wound up in what I've taken to calling my Passover cheesecake because it failed to rise as anticipated.

Yesterday, more or less recovered from Friday's travels, I took a half-hour spin around the neighborhood. I hope to attempt another epic ride soon.

2 comments:

  1. All of this sounds glorious, except maybe the mint julep cupcake. (Not a mint person, I suppose, but what do I know? I'd try it, at least.)
    How do you find reasonably priced tickets to all these shows? A member of your avid reading public wants to know. I know how to get student rush tickets for the ballet, but don't quite know the steps for theater, etc.

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  2. tdf.org! I thiiiink if you are a student you can join? You sure can if you are a gov't or nonprofit worker. It's genius. Roundabout Theater also has a program where you can get cheap tickets if you are under 30. Signature Theater regularly has $20 tickets generally. Also there is the tkts booth, but TDF is cheaper if you can get it. At $25 a year or something like that, I highly recommend it—I got tickets for both Earnest and School of Lies from there for under $35 apiece.

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