For those of you who are not New Yorkers, Fairway is a GINORMOUS market on the Upper West Side with which many of us have a love-hate relationship. We love for example, that it is near us, or that it carries organic produce and supplements at decent prices. We hate that the carts are too big for the aisles, we hate the pushy population.
For me, who used to live on the Fairway block, I had a particular love-hate feeling about the place (mostly hate, I confess). It was my neighborhood market, but the strollers, walkers, wheelchairs and marketing carts drove me NUTS! As did the general rudeness of the people - you could get run over for a stalk of broccoli!
I developed a theory that Fairway trained the neighborhood in rudeness, and then they fanned out all over the Upper West and spread their bad behavior. That said, the way the place is set up invites rudeness, and ultimately I became an unwilling participant if only out of frustration. The flagship store where I shopped is on West 75th St (there are others now). Shopping at Fairway is what I will miss LEAST about leaving the Upper West. And now I get to cycle there!
FIRST QUESTION: how would the empty Brompton shopping basket travel, going up Riverside Park? Answer: very well, but with a lot of wind resistance - these things are big as sails! Paper cup used to show scale:
We headed back down Beasty Hill. For situations like this, I just walk the bike. No sense in wearing out the brakes. And while I'm at it, some street etiquette:
Much as I have little respect for beleaguered (not to say terrified) pedestrians trying to navigate across a bike path, on sidewalks I give them full respect. If I'm approaching a stroller, a walker, a wheelchair I dismount right away (there but for fortune). There are times I ride on the sidewalk, but only when it is relatively empty.
Other things I've recently learned. How to deal with shoe laces: tuck them in!