Laura and I have started riding bikes together early in the mornings. We just got helmets, and to celebrate I suggested we try the Queensboro Bridge this morning. Laura's done it many times; I've never tried. The bicycle/pedestrian walkway is longer and less steep on the Queens side. I didn't make it all the way to the top of the span. Well, I did, but I had to stop once.

There's a little battlement, for lack of a better word, about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way up the slope from Queens. I told myself that if I could make it there, I'd let myself stop and rest. It seemed to take forever. By the time I got there, I was riding so slowly I'm surprised I was able to stay upright. I stopped in the shade. My legs were like rubber.

Laura had powered on ahead. I thought she would vanish over the top of the span without seeing that I had stopped. After a couple of minutes I set out again, and I caught up with Laura without another rest. She was waiting at the top.

After a several-minute rest, we turned around and coasted back into Queens. Laura says we'll do this every day, and the day I can make it to the top of the span without stopping is the day we'll keep going into Manhattan.

Whew.