You win a few, you lose a few...
Today I rode to the Steeplechase (a.k.a.Coney Island) Pier. For years, it's been ravaged by storms and tides; the section that meets the boardwalk literally had beach sand "growing" through it.
Well, it's been re-boarded. (Roads are re-paved; I figure that boardwalks and anything else with planks on it is re-boarded. ) Thankfully, actual boards, and not concrete substitutes, were used.
So far, so good. But I got about fifteen meters onto the pier (It's about 150 or so meters long.) when an earnest young woman in a green Parks Department polo shirt blew a whistle. "Miss! Miss!" I turned. "You have to walk the bike!"
Well, that was a first. And how did she know I'm not married, anyway?
Given that it was so hot (The temperature was close to 90F, or 32C, when I left my apartment at 9:30 this morning), I expected to see more people on the pier. If nothing else, it offers, in addition to views (and good fishing, if you're into that sort of thing), nature's first air conditioning: sea-breezes. It was--or felt, anyway--about ten or fifteen degrees (F) cooler than it did when I left my apartment.
But, in addition to the fisherpersons (Yes, I've seen women casting lines into the surf!), you see some interesting, if solitary characters:
Nothing like having the whole city--let alone the whole world--to yourself, eh?
Note: I apologize for the lack of detail in these photos. I took them with my cell phone.
Today I rode to the Steeplechase (a.k.a.Coney Island) Pier. For years, it's been ravaged by storms and tides; the section that meets the boardwalk literally had beach sand "growing" through it.
Well, it's been re-boarded. (Roads are re-paved; I figure that boardwalks and anything else with planks on it is re-boarded. ) Thankfully, actual boards, and not concrete substitutes, were used.
So far, so good. But I got about fifteen meters onto the pier (It's about 150 or so meters long.) when an earnest young woman in a green Parks Department polo shirt blew a whistle. "Miss! Miss!" I turned. "You have to walk the bike!"
Well, that was a first. And how did she know I'm not married, anyway?
Given that it was so hot (The temperature was close to 90F, or 32C, when I left my apartment at 9:30 this morning), I expected to see more people on the pier. If nothing else, it offers, in addition to views (and good fishing, if you're into that sort of thing), nature's first air conditioning: sea-breezes. It was--or felt, anyway--about ten or fifteen degrees (F) cooler than it did when I left my apartment.
But, in addition to the fisherpersons (Yes, I've seen women casting lines into the surf!), you see some interesting, if solitary characters:
Nothing like having the whole city--let alone the whole world--to yourself, eh?
Note: I apologize for the lack of detail in these photos. I took them with my cell phone.
