Day 90 Island Hopping September 9, 2001

! got on the road @ 10 today. Cold pizza and donuts for breakfast. ! got a hostel reservation in Manhattan on the north side of Central Park. That's actually in Harlem. It was all through town today. Occasionally the town names would change. About halfway ! picked up a staple and had to patch a flat. when ! pumped it back up it blew out. New tube. !'m not moving as fast as ! had hoped today. the streets are rough and lots of red lights keep leaping up in MY way. Not much traffic. It's Sunday. ! got onto the street to the Williamsburg Bridge, but had to detour. they were going to have a parade. Finally found the bike path over the bridge and rode up it. ! could see the skyline and the Manhattan & Brooklyn Bridges. ! got to the other side and surprise. The bike path includes 2 large flights of stairs. ! had to unhook the B.O.B and carry the Jackal down. Lock her up and go back for the B.O.B. Then after a brief ride ! had to do it again. This time for 3 flights of stairs. Brilliant engineering. ! rode through across the edge of Little Italy into the East Village then Greenwich Village on MY way to 6th Avenue. That's the Avenue of the Americas. 6th goes straight to Central Park. 4 lanes. One way. About half way up ! felt like a courier. Even w/ all the gear ! was ducking and weaving in and out of traffic. It was fun. ! did stop for all the red lights even though they are optional. ! was waiting to cross 59th St. into the park when a guy jumped off the bus behind ME. "You beat our bus up here." They all talk funny here. ! figured out why. They have to say stuff like Mauntauk and those other town names out on Long Island. ! was about half way through Central Park when ! realized it was 3:30 pm and ! hadn't eaten. ! stopped for an NYC meal. A hot dog and a pretzel from a cart. Some things you just gotta do. Up to the hostel on the corner of 110th and Lenox Ave. Just across the street from the park. It was tough getting out of the park though since the NYC Century ride was today and that entrance was the finish. Those guys left a couple hours before ! did and were arriving @ the same time as ! was. They didn't have any trailers of course. ! didn't do a century today either. A few hours later ! was ready to feed again. There aren't kitchens in this hostel so ! had to find a restaurant. That's when ! realized ! was in Harlem. ! only found one restaurant. They serve soul food. ! looked @ the menu and determined that that meant lots of meat. Not what ! wanted. Wander some more. ! probably walked a couple miles around before ! found a little chinese place and got some fried rice to take out. 9 pm the road maintenance crew shows up outside to block one lane and do something. They weren't doing much since they kept letting all the busses go through. There is lots of noise here. 48 miles.