Saturday Solitude

 How does one find peace and solitude without going to a retreat in the mountains?

That’s what I did yesterday.  What’s more, I did it without leaving New York City, at least not technically.

Fort Totten, near the border with Nassau County, is further from Times Square—or my apartment in  Bedford Park. Nestled by Long Island Sound on the eastern edge of Queens, it the former military base offers expansive vistas and has long been one of my favorite ride destinations.

After pedaling out there, I didn’t see a single visitor. That’s unusual for a Saturday, even if the weather was on the cool side for this time of year. Perhaps even more striking was how little traffic I encountered along the way.  

But what struck me even more, though, was the absence of bicycles, e-bikes or even motorized bikes anywhere I rode, from my apartment through the Bronx River Greenway, Randall’s Island and Queens neighborhoods from Astoria to Bayside. Not only did I not see bicyclists on training or simply “fun” rides; I didn’t encounter anyone on an e-bike or motorized bikes:  not even delivery workers.

On one hand, I enjoyed having Fort Totten, Randall’s Island and the Bronx River trail to myself.  On the other, it was a little weird to be the only one on the road or trail in New York City.

In a way, it reminded me, in my midlife, of some rides I took when I first moved back to New York City. In the mid-1980s, I could pedal from Manhattan, where I was living, to working- and middle-class Brooklyn neighborhoods like the one in which I grew up (some of which have “gentrified” or changed in other ways) without encountering another adult cyclist.

Hmm…am I “cycling back” in midlife? I used to enjoy the solitude in those days, especially when I knew it would precede a night out.   But I didn’t go out last night: I spent time with Marlee and “Cora,” the girlfriend of “Sam,” my neighbor and sometime cycling buddy.