Adult learning how to Bike Ride

I learned how to swim in the fall of 2008; it seems a bit odd to say that I learned how to accomplish such a goal at the late age of 20. I wasn’t afraid of drowning; I just didn’t want to be the oldest one in a class learning how to swim. I felt the same way when I learned how to ride a bike this past summer. It was an interesting and exciting experience as well; I took a class at Bike NYC which help people of all ages learn to bike ride.

I always prolonged learning how to ride a bike not for the fear of falling but being someone in their mid-20’s finally getting the courage to bike ride as a beginning. The class was great at helping adults get comfortable with the process. I’m glad I wasn’t the oldest person in the adult beginner bike riding class. They began with teaching us the ABC’s of riding a bike: A- air on the wheels, B- make sure the brakes are working and C- chain on the bike. Even though I’m a beginner it’s definitely important to know what to check for before mounting on a bike.

The next step was learning how to balance on a bike while riding without pedals. Meaning we used our feet to move forward and then place our feet near the bike to keep our balance while the bike is moving. At first it sounded a bit odd because most movies I’ve seen show kids learning how to ride a bike was with pedals on while also getting pushed slightly by an adult. As adults we tend to over think while kids are more open minded. We had to push off the bike and last about five to 10 seconds without needing to kick off the ground again. Once riders felt comfortable enough balancing on a bike we were able to advance to receiving pedals and slowly work our way into becoming real bike riders.

It took a couple of laps around the gym before I felt comfortable enough riding in stride. It was a great feeling, many years in the making, finally getting that monkey off my back. I spent the past couple of years saying I was going to learn this task but kept backing away from it. When I was four years old I had a bike but my mom was concerned I would get injured or worse since I was a reckless child. I think it’s understandable for any parent to be concerned about something like that; since I didn’t see biking as a necessity I didn’t bother picking it up. Ironically enough I fell during my first class but that was mostly because I was super excited that I started speeding and tried making a turn too late. It was a great lesson to learn and many people tend to learn early in their childhood.

My goal is to get fully comfortable riding a bike and shoot to race in a triathlon next year. I don’t see myself running a full marathon for the main fact that I’m concerned with the health of my knees. I had runners knee back in 2011 and the most miles I’ve ran since that year is three miles. I enjoy the challenge of trying to do three different kinds of cardio one after another. I haven’t’ fully trained running wise but I have ran 11 miles before but that took months of building up. I am used to swimming one mile but not being followed by biking and running afterwards. Once I feel comfortable as a biker I would like to start training for a triathlon. My main goal is to finish the race itself and then work on improving that time.

The next fear to get over is ice-skating. I feel that I can balance myself pretty well but I still feel uncomfortable skating. I feel I can pick up skating once I have a couple of classes; hope that doesn’t sound cocky but I learn quicker from practicing some kind of sport. Falling is normal while learning how to skate but falling on ice seems more painful than on the ground from riding a bike. A friend could have taught me both but having someone I don’t know and has teaching experience makes my drive to learn a lot more helpful.  Ice skating and skiing are the goals for the winter and maybe next summer I will include roller-blading and skateboarding, maybe even buying a Razr scooter. It’s helpful that New York City has many classes to learn these sports; I feel that I missed out on some fun as a child. It’s better to learn these now that I’m still somewhat young and eventually use biking as another way to assist my health. 

Baseball fan visiting ballparks

I don’t like the saying that I have a bucket list because it brings the perception I will die soon. It still feels great to check something off of my goals of 2015 (better known as New Year’s resolutions). I am not where I am want to be career wise but I’m pleased that has not prevented me from exploring and living. With the baseball playoffs on the way I want to look back at the four new stadiums I visited this summer. There are 30 Major League Baseball teams and my long term life goal is to visit every team’s stadium by the time I my life ends. With the amount of times teams change stadiums I’m just hoping to visit every city and the current stadium that is currently standing.

I haven’t picked a specific age I would like to accomplish this by because it’s a bit hard working and visiting that many cities in one summer but I’m hoping to at least visit one stadium per year. The total amount of stadiums that I have visited is ten including: Petco Park (SD), AT&T Park (SF), Fenway Park (Boston), Wrigley Field (Chicago), Yankee Stadium, Citi Field (NY), National Park (Wash), Camden Yards (Balt.), Citizens Bank Park (Phil.) and US Cellular Field (Chicago). I have only traveled outside the country once if you don’t count Canada or Puerto Rico, I should have probably said the continent. Those visits were an eye opening experience, being able to enjoy and learn from a different culture, I went to Barcelona, Florence, Rome, Naples, Toulon and Monte Carlo. I have no idea when is the next time I will get the opportunity to go to a different continent but I like the idea of venturing to other cities and states in this country.

There is so much that this country offers and as a New Yorker sometimes we spend so much time loving this city and working that we let time pass by and don't explore all the interesting and unique things in this country. There’s a couple of things I’d like to do in this country such as: hiking and canyoneering that I would like to go in the Pacific Northwest, snowboarding in Colorado, scuba diving in Fort Lauderdale and head to New Orleans for Mardi Gras and also catching a Saints game down there as well. I visited a couple of new cities (DC and Baltimore) this summer and the weather was perfect for both games. Besides going to the baseball games it was fun being back to visit tourist locations that both cities had such as the Smithsonian, the Washington Monument and the Inner Harbor.

Summer of 2015 featured four new ballparks, I loved Camden Yards and Nationals Park. They each had a different kind of personality to them. I felt the same way about Citizen Bank Park and US Cellular Field but I didn’t have that same I can’t wait to come back here feeling. Of the four stadiums my favorite feature was walking by the outfield section of Camden Yards looking down and realizing they have baseballs all over the ground representing players who have hit home runs in this area.

As a baseball and Yankees fan it’s a displeasure for me to say that the new Yankee Stadium does not excite me as much. It may be the fact that I am a New Yorker and have access to going to a Yankee game whenever I want to compared to buying a bus or plane ticket to visit a new city/ballpark. It doesn’t offer much besides overpriced food/beer, history I already know and Monument Park. Baseball is a sport that can be a bore at times especially for non-baseball fans. For what I’ve noticed especially with Nationals Park, Camden Yards, Petco Park and AT&T Park is that they make their ballparks interactive for their fans. There are bars that fans can walk to and games kids can play. It’s hard to visit Monument Park during a live Yankees game and the museum is quite small and it is history that people can read about.

I sure hope I don’t sound like a typical millennial but I grew up watching baseball and I still find it a fun sport to watch and play. Every once in a while between innings it would be ideal to walk around the stadium and take a break from your seat especially if a parent is going to a game with his/her kids. Yankee Stadium doesn’t feel like a fun place to visit, the architecture is beautiful but I’ve noticed it’s a place to take clients during the summer since the Knicks and Rangers are on their off seasons. It fits the New York business atmosphere. I enjoyed going to the stadium and watching baseball in 2009, not because the Yankees won the World Series that year even though that helped but the different personalities that were on the team, Nick Swisher, AJ Burnett, pieing each other after walk offs. They were winning but they were fun to watch as well. Besides the negativity is sounds like I’m saying every ballpark I’ve visited has offered something unique that another one doesn’t: such as food that is famous from that city such as a Chicago dog at US Cellular and the amazing churros at Petco Park. There’s also the must see ivy of Wrigley, the green monster at Fenway, McCovey Cove in San Francisco, the list goes on.

Here’s hoping the bucket list of visiting ballparks continues to grow every season. Every time I go in to a new stadium it gives me that nostalgic feeling I had as kid when I went to my first baseball game.

First time Diver

Scuba diving was a once in a lifetime experience, here's hoping I do it more than once. As someone who enjoys swimming on a weekly basis in a pool and dependent of taking breathes only above the surface it was intriguing diving with a tank that helped me breathe underwater. After watching Michael Phelps dominate the 2008 Summer Olympics I was inspired to learn how to swim. I doubt starting at the age of 19 was going to help me become a competitive swimmer at that level but seven years later it is still my favorite kind of workout.

            It’s considered one of the best workouts since it works out the entire body and it doesn’t give me body aches as running does. I enjoy runner’s high after a good three to five mile run but my legs feel like Jell-O afterwards. There’s a sense of peace when I’m in a pool, doubt it’s the chlorine but whenever I swim at the pool there’s no need to interact with any swimmers unless there’s a time to circle swim.

One of my issues with running is if I go to the gym and run on the treadmill I have to carry sneakers, shorts, shirt and etc., which brings the burden of having to carry a big bag around. If I go for a swim all I need to carry are my jammers and goggles. My main goal when I go for a swim is shoot for a one mile swim which can take anywhere between 30 to 45 minutes depending on how I change up the styles of swim I go for.  In the beginner class I took I learned the main four strokes of swimming (butterfly, breast stroke, backstroke and freestyle). It’s a bit of a relief that I have swimming as a hobby because most of the people I know don’t swim, I probably sound like the only child I am but it’s refreshing having a hobby/workout to myself.

That leads to my adventure of scuba diving this past summer. Six years before receiving my PADI scuba diving certification I went skydiving and promised myself that every year I would do something different every year. My yearly accomplishments were: 2009 - skydiving, 2010 - trip to a different continent, 2011 – snowboarding, 2012 – move to another state, 2013 – picked up screenwriting and last year I visited a couple of new ballparks.  I don’t have a specific bucket list per se but I have my share of goals I’d like to complete.

Scuba diving was an exhilarating experience being able to dive 60 feet under the surface, seeing a wrecked ship and different kinds of fish. On the fourth and final dive which lasted about 35 minutes, I spent a lot of that dive with constant flooding in my mask. There were a few moments of panic but the great thing about taking classes before being certified is that we are prepared for any kind of scenario. Being able to clear my mask was easy but the fact that it continued to occur was the main concern because at 60 feet that’s a far distance for a beginner to get back up to the surface. Scuba diving is dangerous and extreme sport but it’s also about finding solutions to a problem that occurs. Luckily I was prepared on what to do if my mask was supposed to flood and how to fix it. Dutch Springs is in Pennsylvania meaning that the water is colder than let’s say typical tropical locations people tend to dive in.  Divers have to wear hoods that help assist with the colder water temperature. If I had placed my mask under my hood I wouldn’t have had this situation. I had to clear my mask about every 1 to 2 minutes because my mask wouldn’t stop flooding. I hope this story doesn’t scare people from attempting to scuba dive but if I had panicked it could lead to some problems. Scuba diving is a fun experience but it is also a serious sport and being comfortable in the atmosphere is a must. I can’t wait to go scuba diving somewhere in warmer climates such as Florida, the Caribbean and hopefully at some point Sydney, Australia.