Last week when I was coming home from work one evening, I received the sudden craving for either cheesecake or ice cream on a cone. Once I was off the subway the only cheesecake option I had was from the diner, with a likely generic cheesecake slice not appeasing, I walked over to a Carvel instead in search of a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone. One or two scoops would've been fine with me, but the girl behind the counter must have been bored from a lack of customers during the cold season because she stacked up my cone with at least four to five big scoops. It felt like the cone and the ice cream combined weighted at least ten pounds. I tried hard to keep my mind away from thinking how many fat and calories I was staring down, but what was for sure, I knew I needed to take a bike ride the next day to burn it off.
My Tour de France when I want to take a long bike ride is to ride through Pelham Bay Park en route to City Island. I usually enter the bike path on Pelham Parkway which heads in that direction, but on this particular day I saw a large plastic grey barrier nearly blocking off the path. Someone had slightly moved it off the path, so I though nothing of it and kept riding along the same way as always. Next, I came upon an orange large plastic barrier which hasn't been moved. Clearly something was going on and for some reason a higher power didn't want bikers on the path. I couldn't think what the issue could've been, so I rode around the orange barrier and continued onto the path which leads under an overpass for the I-95 highway. Every time I pass under there I usually see a homeless person sleeping, or least their belongings left behind while they're out and about. There weren't any homeless people this time and seconds later I discovered the reason for the barriers - the bike path was under construction. The path simply ended and I saw construction trucks not far off working on other parts of the path. Lately that section of the path has been very bumpy and the concrete was all cracked up. Although I was delighted to see that the path was being fixed, I had to turn around and take an alternate path. The second path I took had an obstacle as well, a downed tree, likely a result from the strong winds from the recent Hurricane Sandy, was blocking the way. I rode around it and finally was on the main path on the way to City Island.
There was no homeless person under the overpass that morning, but I saw the next best thing ten minutes later. I saw Donald, a local begger/junkie/homeless person, for the first time in years on the bike path, struggling to hold his pants up. Donald's signature walk, and he's been doing this for years, is to walk with one hand holding up his pants. He's somewhat on the obese side and has to wear a large pants size, but he refuses to ever use a belt. One might state that since he's homeless he can't afford a belt, but in all his years on the street, he could've found plenty of belts, or he could've used a make-shift chord to tie around his waist to keep his pants from falling. Another one of Donald's traits is he asks for a whole dollar. While the typical run-of-the-mill begger asks for a quarter or dime, Donald's total vocabulary consists off, "Give me a dollar". He points his head downwards and uses his long blonde hair to cover this face while he gives out this command in a deep base voice. He was very visible around the neighborhood eight to ten years ago, but then he disappeared for a long while without a trace. In recent weeks I've seen glimpses of him in passing, but wasn't sure if I eyes were deceiving me. I was able to ride my bike near him and study his movements to make sure it was indeed Donald. Falling pants, long blonde hair and all, I was happy to see Donald back in action.
The next big stop on the path was the draw bridge which crosses over the Hutchinson River. Nothing looked different with the views of Co-op City and of the river, but I had to do a double-take when my eyes were drawn to the side of the water. A car was literally in the water, caught by a pile of rocks which prevented it from floating away further. Parts of the outside of the car looked burned, so perhaps the car was stolen and dumped there, but I couldn't figure out how the thief would be able to drive the car upon that spot. During weekends its common to see cars parked on the land nearby as people like to use that spot to go fishing, but there's still no way to drive the car into the water like that. The only conclusion I came to was it must have also been a result from Hurricane Sandy. The hurricane which left over two hundred people dead overall and destroyed thousands of homes in the Tri-State area, must have swooped that car from somewhere and led it down this river. The rocks must have finally ended its journey, and there is lies, until a tow-truck is able to get it out of there somehow. The Bronx received the least of the hurricane's fury compared to other boroughs and Jersey, but as I traveled further on the trail I would soon see more of the local damage that occurred.
At this point the bike path goes uphill and it becomes more grueling to peddle. I tried to take it slow to conserve my energy, and without making a sound, another biker buzzed past me going into hyper-space. I had no urge to speed up and tire myself out too quickly, I kept it slow and looked in amazement at all the destruction that surrounded me. The trees took at heavy beating at the hand of Hurricane Sandy, many laid dead on the ground. The winds must have been so powerful that big-thick trees that were probably decades old, were simply ripped up out of the ground from the roots the same way a person would yank a weed from their garden. Branches torn off and hanging by shreds of wood, other trees were chopped in half at the base. As I kept going on this path, it was one destroyed tree after another. It reminded me of those movies about the Civil War where they're always that scene after battle with dead bodies littered all over the place. That's what this place became, a tree graveyard. The worst case, and most serious display of the storm's deadly force, was a tree which it's roots grew under the blacktop of the bike path. Not only was the tree pulled out of the ground like many others, but not even the blacktop was able to keep the tree standing as that too was ripped out of the ground.
I was almost at the small bridge which serves as the entrance to City Island, there was just one small pond I needed to visit first. I saw a large white swan and a few ducks swimming around, so I figured it was worth a closer look. There was a red ladder by the side of the pond and a sign indicating that it is to only be used in the case of the pond freezing and some genius deciding to walk on it, only to fall through into the sub-zero water. I never saw it there before, but it seemed to be a great idea because you never know who might get adventurous if that water freezes over. Going by a dozen or so more killed trees, I was finally over the bridge and into City Island. As soon as you enter with the bike path, on the right hand side there's a rest area with benches which is my usual endpoint when I bike there. Pigeons were around looking for crumbs, seagulls were posted on the guardrail working on their tans, and a couple of ducks were enjoying the water. That was more than enough reason for me to put my bike down and rest up for a few minutes before carrying on. I did hear on the local news that as a result of Hurricane Sandy, a restaurant on City Island called Tony's Pier had burned down. I know most of the restaurants on City Island, but I wasn't familiar this place. Instead of turning back to head home, I wanted to ride on the island further to see exactly where Tony's was located. It wasn't until I reached the very end of City Island that I found Tony's Pier, or what was left of it. As the reports stated, most of what was left was burnt rubble. There were piles of charred wood and a construction crew on hand to clean the area up. Though things looked bleak, a big sign on the parking lot declared that the restaurant will be back up and running by the summer of 2013.
On the other hand the car might be stuck in the river for another decade....
My Tour de France when I want to take a long bike ride is to ride through Pelham Bay Park en route to City Island. I usually enter the bike path on Pelham Parkway which heads in that direction, but on this particular day I saw a large plastic grey barrier nearly blocking off the path. Someone had slightly moved it off the path, so I though nothing of it and kept riding along the same way as always. Next, I came upon an orange large plastic barrier which hasn't been moved. Clearly something was going on and for some reason a higher power didn't want bikers on the path. I couldn't think what the issue could've been, so I rode around the orange barrier and continued onto the path which leads under an overpass for the I-95 highway. Every time I pass under there I usually see a homeless person sleeping, or least their belongings left behind while they're out and about. There weren't any homeless people this time and seconds later I discovered the reason for the barriers - the bike path was under construction. The path simply ended and I saw construction trucks not far off working on other parts of the path. Lately that section of the path has been very bumpy and the concrete was all cracked up. Although I was delighted to see that the path was being fixed, I had to turn around and take an alternate path. The second path I took had an obstacle as well, a downed tree, likely a result from the strong winds from the recent Hurricane Sandy, was blocking the way. I rode around it and finally was on the main path on the way to City Island.
There was no homeless person under the overpass that morning, but I saw the next best thing ten minutes later. I saw Donald, a local begger/junkie/homeless person, for the first time in years on the bike path, struggling to hold his pants up. Donald's signature walk, and he's been doing this for years, is to walk with one hand holding up his pants. He's somewhat on the obese side and has to wear a large pants size, but he refuses to ever use a belt. One might state that since he's homeless he can't afford a belt, but in all his years on the street, he could've found plenty of belts, or he could've used a make-shift chord to tie around his waist to keep his pants from falling. Another one of Donald's traits is he asks for a whole dollar. While the typical run-of-the-mill begger asks for a quarter or dime, Donald's total vocabulary consists off, "Give me a dollar". He points his head downwards and uses his long blonde hair to cover this face while he gives out this command in a deep base voice. He was very visible around the neighborhood eight to ten years ago, but then he disappeared for a long while without a trace. In recent weeks I've seen glimpses of him in passing, but wasn't sure if I eyes were deceiving me. I was able to ride my bike near him and study his movements to make sure it was indeed Donald. Falling pants, long blonde hair and all, I was happy to see Donald back in action.
The next big stop on the path was the draw bridge which crosses over the Hutchinson River. Nothing looked different with the views of Co-op City and of the river, but I had to do a double-take when my eyes were drawn to the side of the water. A car was literally in the water, caught by a pile of rocks which prevented it from floating away further. Parts of the outside of the car looked burned, so perhaps the car was stolen and dumped there, but I couldn't figure out how the thief would be able to drive the car upon that spot. During weekends its common to see cars parked on the land nearby as people like to use that spot to go fishing, but there's still no way to drive the car into the water like that. The only conclusion I came to was it must have also been a result from Hurricane Sandy. The hurricane which left over two hundred people dead overall and destroyed thousands of homes in the Tri-State area, must have swooped that car from somewhere and led it down this river. The rocks must have finally ended its journey, and there is lies, until a tow-truck is able to get it out of there somehow. The Bronx received the least of the hurricane's fury compared to other boroughs and Jersey, but as I traveled further on the trail I would soon see more of the local damage that occurred.
At this point the bike path goes uphill and it becomes more grueling to peddle. I tried to take it slow to conserve my energy, and without making a sound, another biker buzzed past me going into hyper-space. I had no urge to speed up and tire myself out too quickly, I kept it slow and looked in amazement at all the destruction that surrounded me. The trees took at heavy beating at the hand of Hurricane Sandy, many laid dead on the ground. The winds must have been so powerful that big-thick trees that were probably decades old, were simply ripped up out of the ground from the roots the same way a person would yank a weed from their garden. Branches torn off and hanging by shreds of wood, other trees were chopped in half at the base. As I kept going on this path, it was one destroyed tree after another. It reminded me of those movies about the Civil War where they're always that scene after battle with dead bodies littered all over the place. That's what this place became, a tree graveyard. The worst case, and most serious display of the storm's deadly force, was a tree which it's roots grew under the blacktop of the bike path. Not only was the tree pulled out of the ground like many others, but not even the blacktop was able to keep the tree standing as that too was ripped out of the ground.
I was almost at the small bridge which serves as the entrance to City Island, there was just one small pond I needed to visit first. I saw a large white swan and a few ducks swimming around, so I figured it was worth a closer look. There was a red ladder by the side of the pond and a sign indicating that it is to only be used in the case of the pond freezing and some genius deciding to walk on it, only to fall through into the sub-zero water. I never saw it there before, but it seemed to be a great idea because you never know who might get adventurous if that water freezes over. Going by a dozen or so more killed trees, I was finally over the bridge and into City Island. As soon as you enter with the bike path, on the right hand side there's a rest area with benches which is my usual endpoint when I bike there. Pigeons were around looking for crumbs, seagulls were posted on the guardrail working on their tans, and a couple of ducks were enjoying the water. That was more than enough reason for me to put my bike down and rest up for a few minutes before carrying on. I did hear on the local news that as a result of Hurricane Sandy, a restaurant on City Island called Tony's Pier had burned down. I know most of the restaurants on City Island, but I wasn't familiar this place. Instead of turning back to head home, I wanted to ride on the island further to see exactly where Tony's was located. It wasn't until I reached the very end of City Island that I found Tony's Pier, or what was left of it. As the reports stated, most of what was left was burnt rubble. There were piles of charred wood and a construction crew on hand to clean the area up. Though things looked bleak, a big sign on the parking lot declared that the restaurant will be back up and running by the summer of 2013.
On the other hand the car might be stuck in the river for another decade....
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