bcobb

First ride in Brooklyn

Nov 6, 2016

My wife Sam got a job working for the venerable Storycorps, so in October, we moved to Brooklyn! Today, I was able to go on my first bike ride in town.

Why is this notable? Well, despite having ridden my bike a ton as a kid, and having raced bikes a little in college, I really didn’t do much city cycling until the last few years, when we lived in Madison. When we lived in San Francisco, despite having a great commuter bike, I was intimidated by the prospect of suddenly turning onto a street with a ridiculously steep hill, or having to contend with street cars, or having my bike stolen, or simply not being cool enough to be riding a bike in San Francisco, dude.

The end result is that I basically didn’t learn how to ride bikes as a simple means of transportation until we moved from San Francisco to Madison. Tons of good stuff in Madison is eminently accessible by bike, especially from where we lived, and I took advantage of it. But when we found out we’d be moving to Brooklyn, I felt the same sort of impending trepidation as I felt in California, so it was important to me to nip my anxiety in the bud. So many people ride their bike regularly in this city, right? Why shouldn’t I ride, too?

Which brings me to today: I rode from our place in Bed-Stuy to D. Coluccio & Sons, and I survived! It’s quite a thing to experience, riding through Brooklyn. Double-parking is rampant, and it’s not always easy to tell double-parking apart from lackadaisical driving. Negotiating traffic flowing around those cars knocked the rust off of my handling skills in a matter of blocks.

Other highlights of the ride:

And, of course, reaching my destination felt great.

D. Coluccio & Sons storefront
D. Coluccio & Sons storefront

Next time I head out that way, I’ll probably take the train so I can transport more delicious stuff back. For today, a fresh loaf of bread, some pâté, and some imported candy was a worthwhile prize for having finished the ride in one piece.