Feedback

Lily timed her ride, cutting up onto the footpath at a low ramp designed for wheelchairs, but the angle she crossed the ramp on was acute, still catching part of the curb and Jason found himself launched airborne on the back of the dirt bike. He had to pull himself back down onto the seat by the handle as Lily raced past lampposts, trash cans and bus stop seats mounted on the sidewalk. His feet struggled to find the passenger footrests that were mounted absurdly high as the bike was designed for riding through creeks and streams.

They shot past the police officer and flew off the edge of the footpath and out across Central Park West. Police cars continued to race along the streets toward them, but Lily cut across into the park. She was working hard with the handlebars, making numerous small corrections as they continued to gain speed. Jason was very aware of his own center of gravity and how his motion affected their overall balance. The slightest movement, turning to look at the police or even looking over her shoulder caused the dynamic of the bike’s balance to shift.

Lily’s body felt taut and stiff, every muscle seemed tense. The bike’s engine screamed like a swarm of angry hornets as they cut through the darkened park.

“What are you doing?” he yelled over the noise. “You’re heading toward the lake!”

At the speed they were traveling, they bounced across thousands of tiny bumps on the gravel walkway. The undulations in the ground caused the bike to shudder and shake. Lily kept the throttle wide open, gunning the bike as they raced down a grassy slope toward the water.

“Ninety miles an hour,” she cried, yelling into the wind. “At ninety miles an hour we’ll make it three hundred and twenty feet!”

The bike skipped, its knobby tires eating up the grass and bouncing from one mound to another, tearing across the park at breakneck speed.

“You’re a scientist,” she added, not taking her eyes of the shoreline rapidly approaching in the moonlight. “This is physics in action!”

Jason tightened his grip on her waist, trying not to bounce off the seat behind her as the bike flew toward the edge of the lake. He yelled out, “You’re mad! Crazy!”

“I know!” she screamed as they hit the water.

The bike roared across the surface of the lake.

He understood that as long as they had forward momentum they’d avoid sinking, glancing across the pond like a skipping stone, but their momentum began to wane ever so slightly. White spray lashed out to either side of the dirt bike as they skimmed across the waves. Water splashed fifteen to twenty feet either side of them.

“Come on, you son of a bitch!” Lily yelled over the roar of the engine.

The cycle screamed as the wheels threw water out to either side of the bike. Jason was so petrified he could have laughed. This was preposterous, but Lily was right, this was physics in action! They were a skimming stone on a pond, moving so fast they were being buffeted by the water beneath them. Just like a water skier, as long as they kept their speed up they wouldn’t sink. They were skipping over the water, moving so fast they were bouncing off the surface of the lake, but they were losing momentum with each passing second.

Jason could feel the bike sinking as the water slowed their forward momentum. Red and blue lights flashed on the shore, blocking the path on land, but the police car was slightly behind them.

Jason had no idea how fast they were going when they hit the water, but it seemed as though they had carved their way across the pond for three or four seconds. The far shore approached as the bike sank, but they were close enough that the water near the edge was barely knee deep.

Lily worked with the gears, revving the engine as they settled on the muddy bottom. Water sprayed out behind them as the rear wheel struggled to gain traction.

Gun shots rang out through the night.

“Come on!” Lily yelled. The rear wheel bit beneath the water, and the bike lurched forward.

Lily had the front wheel up on the bank and her legs out to either side, steadying the bike as the rear wheel fought to free itself from the pond, slipping and sliding as water shot out some thirty feet behind them in an arc of fine spray.

After what seemed like minutes, but must have only been a second or two, they were free and the bike rode up out of the pond, across the rocks and back onto the grass. The engine roared in fury. Steam rose from the engine block and exhaust pipe. Dirt sprayed behind them and Jason felt himself being catapulted back to an absurd speed as they sped off through the trees, following a gravel path winding through the park.