Was too busy last week to get much exercise in. I was only able to play softball on Tuesday (7-6 loss in extra innings) and go for a run last Monday night. The run was a hill workout, over the Williamsburg Bridge and back. My anger has fizzled over the last week, but I was really mad because the bridge was a total mess. The north side of the bridge path was closed, for some reason, and the walk, run and bike traffic over the bridge was completely messed up. I’m not going to get into all the details, but the bridge needs better signage about where bikers and runners/walkers should stay, the lighting needs to be improved on the Brooklyn side of the south path, and when one of the sides are closed, ALL of the access points to that side need to be properly closed down (for some reason, the cross paths mid bridge were open). All in all, it was a big fat mess, and hopefully Transportation Alternatives, or some such group, notice this and can open a dialog with NYC about necessary improvements.
Fast forward to today’s activity, a bike ride up to the George Washington Bridge and back. Decided on a bike ride, rather than swim or run, because it is hard to get a good bike ride in on a weekday after work. Much easier for me to run or swim on a weeknight, or early in the morning if I was so motivated. Did not want to ride in Central Park, because I’m sure it would be too crowded. Also, didn’t have the time for a long bike ride out to Brooklyn or Queens. Was then left with a ride up to the GW as my best training option. While the hudson river path is very flat, I figured I would go up the hills to get to the foot of the bridge, and come back down Riverside Drive, which has several hills, to make sure to get a strong workout. In addition, the strong wind would create additional resistance, to make it feel like a good workout. I also correctly suspected that the bike path on the west side would not be so crowded due to the cool, cloudy and windy conditions.
The ride up was tough as it was into the wind, although it was a slight cross breeze off the river. I was a little short on time, so wasn’t able to bike across the bridge to the NJ side. The way back down was much easier with the wind, and I was able to work up some of the hills on Riverside Drive. Was thwarted, though, near Columbia, as Riverside was closed for the AIDS walk. Had to detour around on Broadway to 96th, where I was able to get into Riverside Park. I see that the AIDS walk also takes up the west side of Central Park, so avoiding the park today was a good move. (As an aside, this is probably also why the Healthy Kidney 10k was run on Saturday, which is a bit unusual for NYRR events in Central Park.) Further south, a strong biker passed me around 59th St, and I decided to try to stick with him. Was able to do so for the 2 miles down to 20th St, where I turned off to head home – was nice to have a pacer!
It must have been a good workout, because I totally passed-out mid afternoon and took an hour plus nap!
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