how to navigate :: an nyc bike messenger scene snippet

An elegant, slightly older woman pulls up next to me on tony lower Fifth Avenue.  It’s a perfect Manhattan summer afternoon.  I am not in a hurry.

“I just got this bike: what kind is yours?”
We both look down at my legs; it’s an old Schwinn.
“You just zoomed by me back there,” she is mystified, “I don’t get it?”

Her bike is VERY fancy.

“Maneuvering well is not about speed.” I tell her.  “It’s about courage.”

“How do you get the courage?”  …she wants to know.

“You practice.  Then faith takes over.”