Please take note that on 8/3/03 the North End (Harlem Hills) of Central Park will be closed to cyclists from 7AM to 8AM although the 102nd St. transverse will remain open. This is to ensure a safe start for the Manhattan Half-Marathon. Hopefully this notice will provide enough time for cyclists to make alternate plans, or to begin husbanding their outrage.
manhattan half marathon
Thu, 07/24/2003 - 2:40pm
Fri, 07/25/2003 - 6:17am
#1
Who is the sponsor of this outrage???
An arc of the loop road closed, on a Sunday from 7 - 8AM... what will we do??? (start at 72nd and Riverside perhaps????)
Fri, 07/25/2003 - 8:26am
#2
You want outrage? Okay, dude.
"""An arc of the loop road closed, on a Sunday from 7 - 8AM... what will we do??? (start at 72nd and Riverside perhaps????)""
There's no public john at 72nd and Riverside. Or water fountain. Maybe the intent of the last message is, bicyclists can go pee in the street? Or their pants? (I know, I know, professional racers do it. But since when do you have to be a professional racer to ride a bike?)
And as for taking a sip of water...with all those people around who have to use the john...
Oh, nevermind!
"
Fri, 07/25/2003 - 8:34am
#3
Big Deal...
So we start at the Boathouse and exit the park at 90th, or cross at 102, or...
Adaptation is a wonderful thing.
Fri, 07/25/2003 - 6:52pm
#4
Adaptation
"Nice of you to say that ""adaptation is a wonderful thing."" If that's the case, why is it I only see you with bananas in your jersey pockets? Why never apples, or oranges, or prunes, or trail mix, or Power Bars, or pretzels, or figs?
In my homeland we have a saying, ""Since all men are what they eat, do not eat too much goat."" The same applies to bananas, if you know what I mean and I think you do."
Fri, 07/25/2003 - 8:34am
#5
Out want outrage?
Thank you, gentlemen, for your sarcasm and gentle invitation to outrage.
72nd Street and Riverside is very nice, but there is no water fountain or bathroom at that location. What's the message? If I don't like being co-opted out of the park yet another time I should do what the professionals do and go pee in my spandex shorts?
Of course, for those of you who are thirsty and facing a water problem...oh, never mind!
Fri, 07/25/2003 - 2:21pm
#6
The message is...
"You need to get out of ""your"" precious Central Park.
If you BOTHERED to go to Riverside & 72, then go down to the river, you would find a BATHROOM to tend to your needs, and a WATER FOUNTAIN to slake your thirst.
And there are other facilities around this city, admittedly not many, where citzens can take care of there needs. Why not take your bike and find out where they are? See how the PEOPLE in the outer boroughs adapt. But if you can't make it out of Mahattan, there are some new facilities in Hudson River park close to the bike path.
"
Fri, 07/25/2003 - 6:45pm
#7
"""My"" Central PARK (Capitals deliberae)"
"I love the previous comment which states:
""You need to get out of ""your"" precious Central Park,"" and then continues...
""If you BOTHERED to go to Riverside & 72, then go down to the river, you would find a BATHROOM to tend to your needs, and a WATER FOUNTAIN to slake your thirst.""
Now see here, my noisy friend (capitals in Internet parlay, if nobody told you, is SHOUTING!!!) I never said it is ""my"" Central Park. The Park belongs to everyone; therefore no one group should be able to co-opt access to the Park for its own private purposes. That's my point, HONEY BUN, pure and simple...simple so you'll get it.
As for ""BOTHERING"" to go down to the river, the whole point of a meeting place such as the boathouse is to have immediate access to facilities before the ride, so bladders can be emptied somewhere other than the south walkway of the George Washingtron Bridge. Ditto the ""WATER FOUNTAIN."" Ditto food.
If someone is humping up and down that hill at 72nd and Riverside, first to get a drink, then up the hill to sign in, then down the hill to pee, then up the hill to rejoin the group, if they're still there...well, I think you get the idea.
Besides, why should we have to move to 72nd Street at all? Why doesn't the NY Road Runners Club move to 72nd and Riverside? Maybe they could tie up traffic there and inconvenience some motorists for a change.
Incidentally, I only commented because the first entry on this tread requested it. Ask and ye shall receive.
Okay, Bunky. I said, OKAY, BUNKY?"
Fri, 07/25/2003 - 8:50pm
#8
As i ran once several years ago in the Brooklyn Half Marathon, a portly moustachioed gent in a behemoth American-made land yacht took the energy loudly to voice his displeasure at us runners (what he said is unfit for publication; suffice it to say it could have been written by Quentin Tarantino). See, Ocean Parkway had been closed although the service roads were open for Sunday morning's light traffic, and he was forced to deal with the unbearable inconvenience of having lost a few minutes on his way to the zeppole shop. (Incidentally, in addition to enjoying NYRRC races, I am an avid cyclist and NYCC member.)
Every time I see one of Etoain's posts, it reminds me of that Brooklyn guy. Why does it always have to be us vs. them? What is it with this primitive tribal mentality, borne of blind animal rage? Do you want to end up like Charlton Heston on the beach on that awful planet of the apes??
The madness stops here, Etoain. It's OVER. Think of the children.
Sat, 07/26/2003 - 4:12pm
#9
Blind animal rage
"""Why does it always have to be us vs. them? What is it with this primitive tribal mentality, borne of blind animal rage? Do you want to end up like Charlton Heston on the beach on that awful planet of the apes??
""The madness stops here, Etoain. It's OVER. Think of the children.""
My, but the talent level at FCB has taken a tumble lately! Is that as original as you can be, Glenn? Planet of the Apes? Charleton Heston? ""The madness stops?"" I was going to curse your running shoes, just as I had previously cursed the bicycles of an earlier group of critics. But now that I see the kind of tired copy you hack out while quite evidently trying to be creative, I merely pity you.
In my homeland we have a saying, ""When the feeble of imagination and the feeble of will make the feeblest of protests, a kindly person will not spit upon their shoes.""
Alas, that phrase does not sing in English nearly as poetically and rythmically as it does in Montenegrin.
"
Sat, 07/26/2003 - 7:09pm
#10
Curse this
> I was going to curse your running shoes, just as I had
> previously cursed the bicycles of an earlier group of critics.
Curse his bike or even his running shoes...but if you curse his Mac, I'm going after you.
Don
Sun, 07/27/2003 - 9:11am
#11
Bad copy
Etoain, keep working on it. Your english will improve. By the way, I pretty much work in the mailroom, so FCB can't be judged for my turn of phrase. Besides, I'm sure your hackneyed cliches would sink like a lead airbag in Montenegro, even if you did really come from there.
I know you're comfortable behind the pseudonym, but if you'd let me know who you really are, I'll wave to you as I enjoy the park, running the Manhattan Half next weekend. I guess we can only dream of harmony among the park's athletes.
Have another zeppole.
Sat, 07/26/2003 - 10:57pm
#12
share the road
Every now and then, the dozens of cyclists who ride
Central Park have to give way to the thousands of
runners who typically do an NYRRC event there. Don't
get mad, get sneakers.
Sun, 07/27/2003 - 6:43am
#13
suffering for your art
If you think you are put out by the Manhattan Half Marathon just think how those poor devils are suffering for their art. As a runner I can attest that I have never been as miserable on any hillclimb as I have running in the heat. And if they are racing, not just running, you can be sure that they are enduring the ultimate form of attonement. Last year I ran a 5 mile race in CP in August. I soon hit my max heart rate and it stayed there the whole time. I never came close to that number on Mt Washington. And there is no freewheeling downhill. So if you are exiled out of CP for a few hours just remember that those hoofers are pouring out their souls for the spirit of sport. They have no options but to follow the race route while the world is your oyster.
Sun, 07/27/2003 - 8:51am
#14
Nice writing, guys
I take my helmet off (while not riding my bicycle) to Don Montalvo, Jonathan Goodman and Hank Schiffman for some truly agile turns-of-phrase and original thinking in their last three posts.
Nice writing, guys. Seriously.
