The morning light

    The morning light ran through my windows, pierced the thin-white curtains and wiggled its way past my eyelids. I woke up later than usual but still early enough to see the surrounding buildings still glistening with the morning dew. I took my time showering and getting dressed eventually carrying my bike downstairs at around 9:30am.
   
    It was a perfect day for a ride. The sun was showing but not high enough in the sky to be bothersome and the temperature was perfectly settled in the low 60s, which was perfect for the light jacket I had on. The roads were clear of the morning commuters and, best of all, neither Brooklyn nor Manhattan had been inundated with tourists yet.
   
    This was my day and it was perfect.

    I decided that instead of taking the short and fast 5 1/2 mile route to work I would take the longer, slower but more scenic 8-mile route to work. Miss Liberty, on my left, was apparently smiling upon on me as I slowly crossed the Brooklyn Bridge because I did not have to ask a single walker, jogger or tourist to move out of the bike lane. The lane was clear for the entire length of the bridge. A first.
   
    On the other side of the bridge I started up Broadway passing City hall and Canal Street before I finally made a left near Astor place. I slowly made my way past Washington Square Park and continued up town on the Avenue of Americas (6th ave). That far south it is usually a horrible mess of taxis, camera crews, tourist buses and potholes almost big enough to hold the egos of those that live nearby. But today the cars cleared out of my way, didn’t honk at me and never once did I have to slam on my brakes or stand up and pedal fast to get out of a potential dangerous situation.

    I continued up 6th to Bryant park (42nd) taking a left to skirt along the south edge of Times Square, just close enough to see the madness but right on the edge to avoid it. Normally this would lead to an incredibly hectic and maddening area around the Port Authority at 8th and 42nd but, like earlier in Brooklyn, traffic was light and the tourist buses weren’t out in force.

    The rest of the ride up 8th avenue was smooth, the bike lane worked (as it should) and I hit a perfect mixture of green and red lights. I stopped to pickup a good cup of hot chocolate and a croissant two blocks from work at Café’ Simpatico (57th and 10th) and walked my bike the remaining two blocks to work.

    I turned a typical 30-minute ride to work into a 1 hour and 15 minute blissful journey from downtown Brooklyn to midtown Manhattan.

    I was a perfect way to start my 27th year.

Now…

    Where are my presents?