Prospect Park Magic
I put a copy of Hannah Ross’ Revolutions: How Women Changed the World on Two Wheels on hold at the public library. Since I didn’t have time to pick it up during the week, I decided to ride to the library on Sunday to grab it. From there, my plan was to head to 718 Cyclery to see if Joe had any winter buffs in stock. Good thing I checked 718’s hours because they were closed on Sunday. I still started my ride to the library and figured I would decide from there where to go next.
I guess this marks my first cold ride of the season with windspeeds of 19+ mph and a real feel temperature of 26 °F. It was finally time to try out the Rapha Women's Classic Winter Tights I had purchased a couple of months ago. They retail for $235 ahhh, but I was lucky enough to grab them on sale for $80. Good thing too, because they keep me warm enough $80 worth but certainly not $235 worth. The pants were definitely warmer than the other pair of thermal tights I had on hand but they wouldn’t serve me very well in temperatures much lower than the ones I experienced on Sunday. The thermal tights search will have to recommence.
I rode to the central branch of the Brooklyn Public Library where I was easily able to find my book on hold and check it out.
It was cold, but I need my outdoor time. The sustained winds were difficult enough to navigate on their own so the gusts would only add to that experience. To try and avoid the wind, I decided to head into Prospect Park and ride along the trails off the main loop. The sun helped make the ride more enjoyable and the paths were fairly empty because of the weather so I just rode around, making turns when I felt like it, and eventually found my way to some paths I hadn’t ridden before.
Early into my ride, I noticed some weird feelings in my brakes. At first I thought it was the front brakes. Then I thought it was the rear brakes. I checked both and they seemed to be engaging properly so I wasn’t sure what was going on.
In trying to be a COOL KID, I removed the reflectors off the spokes on my wheels. I recently decided to purchase some reflective rim tape for two reasons: it gets dark so much earlier now so any extra visibility will help; NYPD spends their time cracking down on missing bicycle reflectors and I refuse to fall victim to a citation for something like that. I happily applied the tape, picking from the different sticker options as I placed them on the rim. Great, all set!
Except, LOL, I have RIM BRAKES!
So that WEIRD feeling when I applied my brakes was when the pads would come into contact with the rim tape. Ya live and ya learn, right? I still don’t want disc brakes.
My plan to remedy this is to cut the long reflective tape into smaller strips that I’ll spread out more evenly around the wheels so that the brake pads aren’t coming into contact with long strips of the reflective tape. I’ll let you know how that goes once I get around to it…
Once I figured that issue out, I just tried to be a little more mindful when braking, which became real fun when I decided to ride down steep, dirt paths. Everyone needs a little excitement in their lives once in a while.
Despite this goof up of mine, I managed to survive the ride around the park.
I stopped by the Camperdown Elm, which I’ve ridden past lots of times but somehow never really noticed before.
And then before heading out, I decided to stop by the boat house, where I met some swans, one of whom was not fond of my bicycle.
Prospect Park is obviously great for laps but the smaller paved and dirt trails that traverse the remainder of the park are always so much fun to ride around on. The change in scenery makes it a nice escape from the city streets and you feel totally removed from the typical chaos of Brooklyn. Each time I take a ride like this through the park, I end up discovering new parts, new trails, and new sights. I forget about accomplishing a certain distance and those silly self-imposed obligations, and I just ride.
After about an hour in the saddle, my toes started to get a bit cold so I went over to Gold Star for a drink, journaling, and some reading.
Going back out in the cold after warming up is the WORST. I bravely put back on each of my layers for the short ride home, knowing I’d have a nice cider to sip on once I got back there.
