City to cycle

I was in New York with my almost 18 year old brother and needed to entertain him, the trip was my longstanding idea. He liked cycling, well he had a bike. I decided we would cycle from Manhattan to Coney Island. The hotel had bikes, surely they were meant for this exact trip, if not us as they were large, the opposite of lightweight and not quite the trendy transport we had envisaged. We would however see another side to New York.

Liam led us off, we were on the road instantly, cars were everywhere, a yellow blur told me most of them were taxis. We started earnestly, pedalling hard and exuberantly, not really knowing how long it would take and whether our energy needed conserved. An intersection had me questioning if we were doing the right thing, however the middle of the road was not for decision making. We quickly got caught up in the flow of traffic and soon reached Brooklyn Bridge. Its arches and lines loomed over us as we approached.

There we found walkers, tourists and other cyclists. Cyclists who looked like they had done this before and could tell we had not. More than happy to have a picture break we snapped away, pretending to ride the bikes, as those kind of action shots are better than the real ones. The sun was glistening and the photographs produced were fun, vibrant and required no filter. Liam's t-shirt stood out perhaps because it complimented his bike, I’m certain the real cyclists wanted one. Cycling on the city skyline disappeared, we were in Brooklyn and soon prospect park. We continued on through neighbourhoods, areas, flying past possible lunch stops and shops. It was mostly down hill and I felt alive, cycling was easy. I should do it more. Actually, all the time. I resolved to buy a bike. The ease of the journey did not make the destination come any sooner; it was far the way places you have never been to are. Liam questioned why we had cycled and was told it was because he loved it. In time we arrived. We ate more food than we deserved, savoured it as much as the location. We then wandered with the other walkers. We took in all the fair ground rides, remembered going on these as children, the inevitable inability to scream that came with it them. The memories temporarily silenced us.

We jumped back on our bikes, glided along the board walk easily and expertly and rode fast; reaching the road quickly to started the descent back. We stopped at the train station.