Biking NYC: The Perfect Picnic.
By Waldo Tejada
This summer has been characterized as a bicycle one for me, full of friends and family visiting and requesting bike tours of New York City. I always loved riding my bike! Honestly it is my favorite form of physical activity; the one I really enjoy. Although I would try any activity at least once or twice, it is on my bike that I find that elusive moment of bliss and happiness that most people talk about when they exercise. You know, that mysterious and obnoxious phrase: “it releases endorphins! It makes you happy!" Blah, blah, blah! Producing an instant eye rolling on my face and a lack of interest from my brain. Sincerely I always thought it to be total BS. Most times after going to the gym I feel tired, achy and not really happy at all. Even thou I continuously fight an eternal/internal battle with my body image as a response to peer pressure and the media (yes! We guys are just as susceptible to magazine covers as women are!) it has never been enough to last more than 2 or 3 weeks at a time or to give it a chance to convince me that it will make me happy nor has my brain released the infamous "endogenous morphine" or endorphins that most people talk about. And mind you, anything with the word morphine in it should be enough of an attraction for me to stick around!
I’m not a bike aficionado, neither an enthusiast like some friends are, and definitively if it becomes just an exercise I probably won’t do it. But riding my bike as a means of transportation and as a way to have fun has proven to be the best motivation for me. So I started to find ways to make it fun, and to mask the exercise aspect of it I gave it a purpose. It all started earlier this past spring when after a great night of enjoying my favorites places in NYC with some friends from DR and after showing off with the spicy drinks during happy hour, putting tons of condiments (really spicy!) at dinner and topping it all up with more show-off spicy drinks later that night; I ended up in the emergency room! I spent a week in the hospital recovering with the prognostic of a surgery in 6 weeks. My good friend Cara suggested I get in shape before the surgery and because I really didn’t see myself going to the gym I started riding my bike. I stopped taking the subway and biked every day as a way to go from point A to B. Needless to say Cara was right! Recovery time was a breeze and I was on the bike again in 2 weeks after surgery. In the last two months I have given more than 10 bike tours to friends and family and had put together many ideas into routes that visited my favorite spots in my city.
One of my favorite things to do in NYC is picnicking! I like to end my rides with great food and wine, sitting on the green at one of New York’s parks. A couple of weeks ago I wanted to put together the perfect picnic to commemorate the visit of one of my friends and fellow traveler from our Tequia Experiences trip to DR earlier this spring: Mary Ann Been. At the same time I wanted for her to see some of my favorite spots in my city. I met travel blogger Erin Marie from The World Wonderer and my friend and travel influencer Mary Ann from Jetset Extra at the designated meeting point for the day: Abraçao on East 7 St. This well kept East Village secret serves the best cortadito coffee and a delicious Olive Cake. Caffeine and sugar loaded, we rented City Bikes and embarked in our hunt for New York’s perfect local picnic ingredients.
Away we went to the East Side where I wanted to show them the new East River Park. Although not as famous as its counterpart the Hudson River Park (ERP is still under construction) it has some beautiful gardens and some spectacular views of Brooklyn and its bridges; it is one of those places I like to go to think and to take in the city without the constant traffic of bikes and pedestrians. On our way to the East Side Erin Marie had a close encounter with the sidewalk and fell from the bike in the most graceful way a lady could fall and we experience the best of New York: the kindness of strangers; As we picked up Erin from her fabulous pose, a man approached us and gave us a bunch of Band-Aids (that he happened to be carrying in his pocket!) Thankful for the nice man’s first aid supplies our trip continued without setbacks to our next stop: The Pickle Guy in the Lower East Side. We each picked one ingredient from this historic place and with our pickles, turnips and sweet gherkins packed, made our way to The Essex Market. I’ve been dreaming of some bread from Pain D’Avignon to pair it with some of the Graviax (Smoked Salmon crusted with dill) we later got from one of the most authentic NYC places for picnic ingredients in the area: Russ & Daughters. But we didn’t make our way to the West Side without stopping at Katz’s for their legendary brisket and pastrami on rye.
After getting a local rosé wine from Astor Wines we found ourselves surrounded by the most wonderful selections of cheeses at Murray’s Cheese Shop on Bleecker. We tasted an assortment of soft, cured, aged, hard and fresh locally produced as well as imported cheeses and we loved a sample of Manouri with jam on top before deciding our final choices: Hudson Red Twin Maple Farm, Ossau-Iraty Vielle and Ardrahan all cave aged. Making our way to the West Side and amidst the perfect weather we finally settled down on Battery Park under the shadow of the new Liberty Tower with the Hudson River and the Statue of Liberty as our background. Uncorking our wine we toasted to ourselves, for making this Perfect Picnic as unforgettable as the company we were with and to the promise to do something similar soon while we gorged ourselves in our precious bounty.
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Additional Photo Credits: murrayscheese.com omnivoreexperience.blogspot.com pickleguys.com arkitipintel.com abraconyc.com