A Cat's Curiosity

First he said, "Vous ne passerez pas!"

As if Marley speaking French weren't astounding enough, his next utterance really made me take notice:

He wants to learn how to true wheels.  Now, why he would want to learn that, I'll never know.  But how can I say "no" to a face like his?

First he is learning how to check side-to side-trueness.  He's very polite:  He said, "I see wobbles" and not "That thing's wiggling like your belly!"

Now he is checking vertical trueness.  There are no "hips" or "hops" in the wheels, he reported.  I explained that the wheel has a different kind of rhythm.  He understands rhythm very well!'

"What's that thing hanging off the center of the wheel?"

"You mean the hub?"

"So that's what it's called?"

Now he's taking another look.  He sees how the wheel is more rideable than it was a few minutes earlier.  Of course, he'll never experience that rideability for himself--unless, of course, I put him in a basket or carrier.

Marley is definitely curious.

Max, on the other hand, couldn't care less.

A Ride In Two Seasons

I know that Fall "officially" begins on Saturday, the 22nd.  However, I think I saw some signs of when I rode out to the Canarsie Pier late this afternoon:

On some of the trees, the tips of the leaves are turning brown:

And, on others, entire leaves have turned:

A few leaves have already fallen to the ground.

I used to look forward to the fall:  I always enjoyed riding in the cool, crisp air.  Although it was a bit warm for a fall day (about 26C), the air felt autumnal because brisk breezes from the sea swept over the streets.  Somehow, this day, which straddled summer and fall, made me a bit sad.  For one thing, the days are growing noticeably shorter.  And three seasons have passed; a year is passing.  

All right...I'll make this lighter, and bring it back to cycling. Here's a sign for which I wouldn't dare not to stop!:

Views of A Sunday Ride

Another ride through Harlem, the New Jersey Palisades, Staten Island and lower Manhattan.

As always, there were interesting sights on the Ferry:

New York is all about style, right?    I was going to ask her where she got that bag, but I kind of lost her in the shuffle as we disembarked.  However, I got another glimpse of her sack and realized I wouldn't be able to buy it:

You can't see the logo from her, but it's from a film festival in Germany.  

In addition to style, New York has always been known for attracting dreamers:

With all due respect to Frank Sinatra, you can't have a city of dreamers if it's a city that never sleeps. 

And, of course, everyone wants a home with a view.  Along the way, I stopped at an open house. I didn't even bother to feign interest in buying the house (which I probably couldn't do, anyway) because, it seemed, everyone else had the same look of disattachment.  

But wouldn't you just love a patio with a view like this?

Hey, it's even better as you get closer:

If you were to buy the house--in Bayonne, NJ--you wouldn't be able to access the water.  It's fenced off about fifty meters from the shoreline:  It's government land.  Oh, who wouldn't want to take a dip in Newark Bay on a hot day?  

The bike riding is pretty good, though, as long as you stay away from the main commercial strip.  It's even better along Richmond Terrace in Staten Island:  As you approach the Ferry, the sight of cranes and tank farms give way to harbor vistas of lower Manhattan. 

Train Tracks To Bike Paths?

Today was one of those crisp, clear, early-fall (though the calendar still says "summer") days that just makes me want to follow roads just to see where they'll lead.

In this case, I found myself following railroad tracks.  Oh, I've passed by or over them hundreds of times before.  But, just for fun, I decided to see how much I could follow them.

This one starts at the East River, and, within about a mile, passes under the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge of disappearing-bike-lane infamy.  It continues through along Newtown Creek, through a heavily industrialized area of Queens.

However, it's possible to follow it only for very short stretches.  Some of the land adjacent to the tracks is private property (factories, garages and such) that is closed off to the public.  And there are other stretches where the only way to follow the tracks is to ride on them. I've ridden on railroad tracks before--with a mountain bike.  

Apparently, the track is owned by New York and Atlantic Railway, which provides freight service on current and former Long Island Rail Road (Yes, it's spelled as two words!) tracks and right-of-ways.  One stretch of it--from about 43rd to about 58th Streets--seems to be used, at least on occasion, as it seems to be connected to another series of tracks and it's near UPS and FedEx terminals (and the Thomas' bakery!).  But other parts, such as the spur along Flushing Avenue and 56th Street, seem not to have been used in decades.

If New York and Atlantic indeed owns all of the tracks I've shown, I wonder whether they plan to use them.  As industrialized as those areas around the tracks are, there's still not as much as there was, say, during World War II.  And much of the freight is carried by trucks rather than trains, as there are highways nearby.

So...If NY and A doesn't plan to use the tracks, I wonder whether they'd sell, or even give, them to the city or state. If they did, I think the tracks and the adjacent paths and roads would make some great bike lanes.   I think now of the lane built by the Concrete Plant Park in the Bronx; I think something on a greater scale could be done with those tracks.  The effect would be similar:  Bike lanes that traverse some interesting urban-industrial architecture that takes on a unique beauty in the light of autumn foliage.

Back To School On Bikes

Now that the school year has started, I thought I'd post this photo:

No, I didn't take it.  (I did, though, take a photo of Abraham Lincoln on a bicycle. ;-))  It dates, apparently, to 1885.

It comes from the EarlhamArchives' Photostream, which is maintained by Earlham College in Indiana.  There are lots of other beautiful and interesting images there.  I actually thought this was one of the best, aside from the fact that bicycles are in it.