Central Park at Dusk

Riding the circuit on your bike in Central Bike is a delightful experience any time, but it can be especially nice at dusk. As you go around before the sun has actually disappeared behind the horizon, it is still light and the people continue to walk and stand and linger in the park. They don't want to leave. But as the minutes pass and the light begins to fade, so the people very gradually, one by one, seem to disappear. You don't really see them go, but you know that as you cycle through the Park there are many fewer pedestirans than there had been earlier and fewer still as you come around again. It is getting darker now, almost hard to see, but the afterglow of the sun creates brilliant and colorful reflections on the skyscrapers that surround the Park and the little streetlamps that can be seen so vividly now, even though they have been on for some time, add to the magic. Funny, even the street lights that punctuate the unacknowledged intersections of the park seem so lovely in their bright projections of green, yellow, and red, and the ponds that catch that evening light remind you of the rich black and white pallet that Woody Allen used in his greatest New York movie - Manhattan.

Now it's too dark to keep riding and the walkers are still more scarce. You look for your exit just past one of those glowing stoplights and just in front of a large statue of a Civil War hero whose name you can never remember. Reluctant to dismount, you continue on the cinder path that leads to the intersection of Central Park West and 69th Street. The street lights help but potholes and hidden perils abound that can upend a two-wheeler. Go slow and watch carefully, we repeat to ourselves. Almost home now. The light is fading still more and there is no more time for riding, but the City takes on its own electrified glow, a glow that cannot quite rival nature's but that for city folk has a beauty and charm that also merits our attention and our appreciation. Good night park. Good night potholed streets. Good night skyscrapers. Good night darkening sky. Good night moon. Another day in the city has come to a glorious end.