So uhhh...let's see what happened on the way home. It was in the 70's when I left the office so I decided to ride south on the FDR MUP, make my way around the southern tip of Manhattan and north on the Hudson Greenway and then cut through Central Park and home. Now here's what happened:
- At Chelsea Piers, watched a slow moving cyclist wander into the southbound lane of the MUP, directly into the path of some speeding roadies. Heard the lead roadie's brakes lockup and watched as he skidded into the wandering cyclist and exclaim, "You sonuva...!!!". Both riders were ok although one was a little steamed.
- Saw a roadie drafting a fixie as they both flew past me. Dunno if the fixie knew the roadie was there. Interesting contrast in cyclist clothing and bikes.
- Waiting for the light at 54th St. to cross the West Side Highway, a fellow cyclist on a new mtb asked me where the nearest gas station was. I told him, then looked at his wheel and saw he had presta valves. I told him a gas station's air pump won't be able to pump his tires and offered to lend him my pump. Spent 5 mins. trying to change the head from Schrader to presta. Then him, me and another guy who was walking tried for 10 mins. to pump his tire. Then I spent another couple mins. really changing it to presta and then the pump worked and he was able to pump his tire.
- Got insulted by some fat-arse w/ Virginia plates as she passed me very closely. Since it was just after 7 pm when the park is closed, I thought that was rude, especially as she's from out of town. Too bad I couldn't catch up w/ her to spray her down w/ water and tell her to cool off.
I'm glad I took the long way home.