With apologies to Otis Redding…

I’ve been working odd hours this last week, and among other things it meant coming into work around noon.

Sadly, when I got up to the Citi Bike station outside of Penn Station it was empty.

Even more maddening, there was a Citi Bike truck just parked there and the person sitting inside just stared at me. I felt like walking up, pounding on the window, and saying, “Um, shouldn’t you be out there bringing more bikes to this station?”. But alack, like a good Citi Biker, I got used to the disappointment.

So I walked across 34th, from Eighth to Seventh. Happily, there was a handful of bikes available at 33rd and Seventh.

So I got on one and biked East. I didn’t get far because at Sixth, there was the wonderful Broadway Bites street food festival set up.

I enjoy this thoroughly each year, and I figured since it was lunchtime and since this season I didn’t get to partake as much as I usually like to, I figured I’d stop and fuel up for my ride. I have to admit, it feels a lot better paying $20 for an opulent lunch than it does paying $20 for half a tank of gas.

Now being paranoid about the scarcity of Citi Bikes, I decided to hang on to my bike, which meant lugging the big fat monstrosity (the bike, not me) into a lunchtime crowd. I didn’t make eye contact with anyone so I wasn’t sure if they were giving me dirty looks. Luckily, my food stand of choice, Red Hook Lobster Pound, was right near the throughfare, so I rolled up the bike and got myself a $20 lobster roll, chips, and soda.

Of course, the one time I need a kickstand, I pick a Citi Bike where someone decided to steal it. Seriously, has the City gone so far downhill that people are stealing kickstands now??

So I leaned the bike against me and enjoyed my lobster roll.

As I stood there eating, I noticed that right across the street was–you guessed it–a Citi Bike station with plenty of bikes and plenty of docks.

They certainly do a good job of hiding these things.

After lunch, I rode across to Madison on 34th. The midday traffic was wonderfully light, so I actually enjoyed the ride (I think only 1-2 cars almost made blind turns into me, which I consider a good number).

Of course I get to 53rd and Madison and all the docks are full, although I did manage to grab the very last dock. Again Citi Bike, would it KILL you to do a little rebalancing during the day??

 

The ride home was a no-go, as there were no docks available anywhere at 6 PM. Curse you Citi Bike.

 

Cost per ride: $95/29=$3.28/ride

Aggravation level: 4 of 10

Stress level: 2 of 10