shore thing

And on the topic of cycling: This morning I met my bandmate Gary and friend Ana for breakfast and World Cup viewing at Tulcingo Deli in Sunset Park. I ate a completely delicious breakfast which I could handily rhapsodize about here, but as I am no food review hot shot and the kind of lady who favors the "a lot going on" approach to meals (aka a plate full of snacks), I will save my breath. Rest assured, it ruled.

After watching Mexico outplay Uruguay...except in the One Goal Department...we parted ways and I set out on my bicycle toward a long time goal of riding the Shore Road Park path. I always stare longingly at that route from the van when we head out on tours thinking, "Sometime I need to wrangle someone to explore that trail with me." I bet Nerd Bird would have been game. If there was an elevator line directly there.

Anyway.

Yesterday, when the World Cup venue was selected, I had a bright idea to seize the opportunity solo. That was good thinking.

I rode down through Sunset Park, along Owl's Head Park, and onto the path.

It felt like a different coast along the promenade. Sail boats, ocean smell, very few people, tidy park side...

See what I mean? I busted myself smiling along the way. I actually felt like Goldie Hawn in the beginning of the movie Foul Play, steering along the California coast in her lil car on the way home from a party where she blows off Chevy Chase.




Just like Goldie, I was an independent blonde gal, driving along a shore, feelin' free. Except that at the end of her trip, she picks up that drifting hitchiker who's on the run from a bunch of thugs. And I turned around once I approached Coney Island and rode back toward my house. On my way I stopped in Owl's Head Park to fill up my water bottle at the self-same fountain where kids were industriously pumping up water balloons. Serious business. I glanced at the ground and notice a rainbow of water balloon shrapnel confetti-ing the path. Fortunately they were totally uninterested in me as a bull's-eye. I also noticed these guys around the premises:

Aw.

Verdict: The field trip was a hit. Invigorating, even. I will say the to-and-from Sunset Park commute was a bit harrowing as 5th Ave. above 20th St. is very torn up, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Aves are video-game-hell-ride nail-biting thoroughfares, and 6th, 7th, and 8th Aves. cease to exist for a while due to Greenwood Cemetery. If you plan on tackling this outing, I emphatically encourage charting your course prior.