LONG Rides Down Memory Lane

After dropping my wife's car at the dealership, I unicycled to my mother's apartment. Here's the rub: They're about 20 miles apart.

The dealership (Plaza Auto Mall) is in the southern part of Brooklyn, on Nostrand Ave and Avenue M. We bought the car just before moving to New Paltz, so when we realized that there was a problem with the DVD player, it was too late to fix it because we were no longer anywhere near Plaza. It took 8 months to find a good day for me to take the car in, and that day finally came this past Wednesday.

I wasn't planning to ride all the way to my mom's place, but I left open that possibility. I rode to my old school (where I taught for the previous 7 years), said hi to friends, did an errand, and then decided to cross the Brooklyn Bridge for old time's sake. Once across, I realized I had time to ride up the West Side Bike Path, a lovely trail of flat road that is generally uncrowded during work hours. I could have ridden to my mom's directly, but I rode a bit further (to 89th St), then headed to my mom's place a half-mile back. In total, I rode about 20 miles. I was happy to find that not only was I free from soreness, but I wasn't even very thirsty (despite forgetting to drink anything during the ride -- oops).

The only downside to the ride was that one of the buttons fell off my geared uni -- again. I've lost at least 5 buttons, and it's annoying because it means that I can't switch to low gear on the fly. Instead, I have to push a piece in with a ball-point pen in order to get back into low gear. But when I did have that button in place, the gear switched beautifully. I think I have one replacement button left. I'll have to order a few more, and this time, I'll really try to get the next one on tightly.