Tuesday, August 31, 2010

A Bike Trip to the Beach Gone, well Flat

Biking in the city can get you to your destination faster than a car, bus or train would, its a great workout and its friendly to the environment. There are many different bike routes in the city, Martin and I chose to bike the 8 miles from Brooklyn to Riis Park Beach. Riis Park is a huge park at the southern tip of Queens where lots of festivals and craft shows are held. They have a really nice CLEAN beach (which is a plus here), with a great boardwalk. We started our trip prepared, or so we thought, with water, a packed lunch, beach mats and an umbrella. We were all set. We were at about 5 miles and approaching the Marine Parkway Bridge (which has a nice bike/walk path on it) to go to Riis Park. Everyone who crosses into Queens from Brooklyn this way must take this bridge, it can get pretty crowded but everyone is pretty good about staying to the right and left on the path, and there is a great view of sailboats and fishing boats beneath us! I start to hear air swooshing, I'm thinking - hmmm, thats a funny swoosh sound, I must be going fash to hear air passing passed me like that. - It keeps swooshing, and pretty soon, I realize I'm not moving! I must've gone over a piece of glass, I remembered seeing some back behind us, but I thought I got around it. We pull over our bikes, and I have a flat. We have 2 choices,we can walk the next few miles to the beach like we planned, or we can turn around and walk home. We thought how great it would be to have also packed a bike tire patch kit and air pump, so much for being prepared! We weren't THAT far from home so the flat tire wasn't a life or death situation, but many people bike to and from work and to be stuck walking a bike in the city at night might not be the smartest idea. We decided to walk the bikes over the bridge and continue on with our day at the beach. We parked our bikes, locked them up with our bike lock (a must for taking your bike anywhere), and plopped on the sand with the sand beneath our toes and an umbrella over our heads. After some sun and some lunch (it was so nice to lay on the beach and relax I passed out for a bit and completely forgot about the tire), we headed home, but the 8 mile trek walking and pushing our bikes home wasn't going to be easy. I rode on the flat tire over the bridge, but it was very wobbly and felt like it might rip, so no more of that. I didn't want to ruin the tire afterall. Walking was nice though, we talked and laughed as people do when they're stuck in a "it is what it is" situation, like being stuck in an elevator. It was a nice walk but when we got home we jumped in the car with my new sunburn and all, and went to pick up some of these:


we purchased a patch kit at Toys R Us for 5$



and of these!

They are not that expensive and will help to save your tire and day at the beach! A really good idea if you are planning on using a bike alot especially in a city full of sidewalks lined with broken glass!

5 comments:

  1. I am your newest follower from Follow Me back Tuesdays!!! Have a blessed day!

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  2. Hi there, found you through Follow Me back Tuesday. Now following and hope you can drop by at one of mys sites below and follow back. Thanks a lot!

    Etcerera Etcetera
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  3. Just for fun, I mapped out the trip from my house to the beach. Bear in mind we live about 60 miles from the beach. LOL it would take me 3hours and 49 minutes to get there. Welll it might take a healthy person that long. Me....I would quit at the end of my block! hahaha. When I was a kid we lived 7 miles from the beach. I biked it then.

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  4. Following you from FMBT! Come visit and follow back!
    Sofia
    http://frompdxwithlove.com

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  5. Corey and I were 12 miles from home on Sunday when he thought he had a flat...luckily, it was something else! He didn't have his kit on him! At the bike shops, they sell a little kit you can keep on your bike too. I am glad you had fun with it!

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