The Curious Lives of New Yorkers, Part 1

Without getting off on a lengthy ran-tangent about the odd and frequently too-proud nature of New Yorkers generally, I can't resist offering this little tidbit that I found on the web. It provides an interesting view of the perspective of this city's people. A local cycling organization described one of its upcoming events as follows:

"25 mile ride, followed by a 4 mile hike . . . The hike involves climbing the equivalent of a 50-story building down, then up, but is not technically difficult."

I may be reading too much into this, but as a long-time cyclist and runner, this description strikes me as really funny, and a little sad. Do New Yorkers really need a comparison to building height to perceive the elevation of a climb? I am accustomed to seeing language more akin to "the hike features an overall increase in elevation of 500 feet," which is probably about the equivalent of 50 stories, but apparently that language doesn't work here!

I might add that navigating the stairs in most buildings around here (e.g., the NYC subway) while the masses of humanity battle to win some unoffical race to the bottom is what I would describe as "technically difficult." You'd be safer on the trails.