I conquered the bridge!

I made the first attempt today with the bike, and I survived! Wooooo!

I was a little anxious about it, but it actually went really well. The view of the Hudson River and the Manhattan skyline is frickin' AMAZING while you're biking along the scenic bike path on the southern edge of the bridge! The only truly terrifying part was getting down the giant hill that is River Road to my office. It's basically one lane each way, and very narrow until you get close to my office, AND at a steep incline, AND the road's not in the best condition. There was one moment where I hit a particulary hard bump and the handlebars shifted (need to be more careful about locking those tighter) when I thought I was going to go over the front, but I managed to stay on. Hmm...may need to look into buying a helmet, dorky as they may be.

At any rate, I arrived at work only a little bit sweaty (luckily I've stashed a stick of Old Spice High Endurance in my desk), and totally exhilarated! It was admittedly kind of a pain in the ass making the subway transfer while carrying the 20 lb bike, and also carrying it to the ferry this afternoon - I think I'm getting more of an upper-body workout than lower, surprisingly, from carrying the damn thing - but it was totally worth it for that ride. I think I may have to work my way up to the reverse commute, though - I'm am in no shape to go back up that ginormous hill just yet!

One day down, let's see if I can do it again tomorrow morning!