Posted April 16th, 2003 by Michelle

This morning I woke up and my DSL was not working. When I tried to open my web browser, it went directly to a troubleshooting page which walked me through fixing it. “Fixing it” meant turning it off for ten seconds and then turning it on again. And it reset itself, and now it is working fine. I was thinking that I wish I had a reset button, one that would turn me off for a few seconds and then recharge me, good as new. Or my cat Zooey. What if he had a reset button? Or any of the men I’ve ever dated? Usually my reset button is a trip to California. Or, on the shorter term, a massage. Or a day off with a yoga class and a bike ride. And a really good dinner with a great bottle of wine. Alas, none of these are free.

Yesterday was a pretty amazing reset day. It hit 78 degrees here in sunny New York, and I took full advantage. I spent the morning cleaning my apartment, and by 1 PM was on my Casati, heading for the city. I rode across Brooklyn on Flatbush, crossed the Manhattan Bridge, took 9th Street across the city, and looped up the West Side Highway. There are stretches on the bike path on the west side that are as beautiful as one could ask- the piers that stretch out into the river, the marina with all the boats ready for spring, the rolling hills as you near the GW Bridge. Just gorgeous. And it was almost hot! Crossing the GW was a challenge only because of the wind- I had to hold on tight to my handlebars just to keep the bike straight. When I got to New Jersey, I took my first wrong turn, heading away from 9W rather than towards it. But I discovered a little downtown with a sandwich shop and esspresso bar and my bank- -good to know if I get that far and haven’t brought enough food with me.

I turned around, sensing my error, and crossed back under the bridge. Less than a mile later, I found the park I’d been looking for. This park is about fifteen miles from where Christopher Street meets the West Side Highway, and on the AIDSRide, pit stops are about fifteen miles apart. This is the way we train- regardless of how long a ride we are attempting, we always stope every fifteen miles. However, since I had started in Brooklyn, this was twenty miles, and that having not done a long ride yet this year. When I pulled into the park, my legs were wobbling and I was panting. I threw down my bike, stripped off my shoes and socks and laid down in the warm grass…. ahhhh.

The miles back into the city were much harder than the miles out, even though I got to coast down all the hills that I had just climbed. I rode to Ryan’s Pub in the East Village, since that is where B and Olivia and Simone and I ended all of our training rides last year, and met my mom for a beer and a salad. We sat outside, marvelling over the weather. And lamenting the fact that Thursday it’s going to be 40 degrees and raining. Ugh.

Today I have to beg a shift at work off of somebody who needs the money just as badly as me… my plan is to show up, and give everyone the option of the night off. I am hoping for success.