This past Saturday morning, I FINALLY managed to get my butt out of bed in Brooklyn in time to be up in midtown by 8am, suited, booted, and ready to ride with the NYAC tri club up 9W to Nyack, NY. Door to door it is approximately 56 miles, and while the first 9 miles between NYAC and the George Washington Bridge are not fast, it was very difficult for me because it involved a lot of city biking, with the accompanying potholes up in Harlem and traffic near New York Presbyterian Hospital. Thankfully Riverside Drive is smooth, but it felt pretty perilous getting there. I am still fairly loath to attempt it on my own, as safety in numbers is key for city riding, as cars will see a group of you, and there are more folks to look for things.
Then on to the GW Bridge. The bridge itself is quite stunning, actually...so high! The views! But hot damn is the ramp to get up and on, and then down and off, it really perilous. Hairpin turns, barely wide enough to fit two people next to each other, let alone two people on bikes going opposite ways, and quite crowded to boot. I busted once on the way up, and I was not surprised when two of the folks in our NYAC group admitted to always walking up. I definitely did that on the way back, condescending looks from the other cyclists who were able to navigate it be damned!
Once off the bridge and after a re-group at a bike shop at the base of the bridge, we started the ride in earnest. I was part of a mini pace line with two other guys, and as a result, did not pay quite as much attention to the few turns I needed to make as I should have. I was more focused on my burning legs, pot holes, traffic, and heavy breathing! Not that I felt like I was out of shape, but dang, those guys were fast on the downhills, so I had to make use of the fact that I'm pretty decent on hills (if only because I'm a lot lighter) and catch back up so I could take advantage of said pace line. It was sad. Everytime I was the leader, they would be right on my butt. When I was in the back, I was waaay back. Oops.
Nevertheless, I made it all the way to Nyack State Beach Park and the glorious looking Pallisades Cliff without betraying how bewildered I was. I felt pretty good, considering I had just done 33 miles, which was the longest I've ridden all season, and was priming up to do it again.
After re-fueling at the Runcible Spoon, the famous coffee shop in Nyack at is TEAMING with cyclists (aka, without spandex, don't come in), one of the guys in our group took off as he needed to be back in NYC by noon. Chris, who is my new best friend in all the land for being so nice and guiding me, and I made our way back. Little did I know that there is a HUGE hill on the way back (about a mile long), and of course I made a wrong turn heading in to it and had to come to a complete stop to turn around (traffic) and so went in to it with zero momentum. I was in the lowest of low gears and could not have been happier to reach the top.
Overall, 9W has a lot of rolling hills, and overall I felt I handled them well, minus that biggie, but I could use more practice on them in the months to come. On the flat sections I felt great, and even got my P2 to make that lovely "whirring" sound I always hear other riders make. The rumor is still out there that IMAZ is relatively flat, so that makes me feel nice and slightly less nervous.
When we got back to the bridge, I was a weenie and walked the tricky bits as I said, and then it was back to the brake clenching/sweating/wrist aching city riding, but thankfully I was with Chris and another friend we found along the way to get through traffic and back to Central Park without too much scariness. We went through the second half of the Central Park loop to get back down to NYAC, where I store my bike, and the Harlem Hill was a cinch compared to the ones on 9W that is for sure! Or maybe I was just so numb and glad to be out of traffic that I just didn't care!
The next day, I woke up sore in all sorts of weird places (neck! wrists! crotch!) but the legs felt pretty decent and I had a solid 7 mile run with pacework in Prospect Park to bring week 8 and our adaptation period to a close. Sasha and Claiborne ran with me for the first 3 miles, and then the last four I picked up the pace (or at least held a steadier one, since I didn't have to sprint/slow down for squirrel and pigeon sightings for the pooch), and did some hill repeats at the end.
I decided to reward myself the rest of the evening with stuffing my face and watching Game of Thrones. Is anyone else hot and bothered now from watching John Snow and Ygritte? Yowza. And how about that interplay between Jamie and Brienne?
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| This is what I felt like in the beginning. |
Once off the bridge and after a re-group at a bike shop at the base of the bridge, we started the ride in earnest. I was part of a mini pace line with two other guys, and as a result, did not pay quite as much attention to the few turns I needed to make as I should have. I was more focused on my burning legs, pot holes, traffic, and heavy breathing! Not that I felt like I was out of shape, but dang, those guys were fast on the downhills, so I had to make use of the fact that I'm pretty decent on hills (if only because I'm a lot lighter) and catch back up so I could take advantage of said pace line. It was sad. Everytime I was the leader, they would be right on my butt. When I was in the back, I was waaay back. Oops.
Nevertheless, I made it all the way to Nyack State Beach Park and the glorious looking Pallisades Cliff without betraying how bewildered I was. I felt pretty good, considering I had just done 33 miles, which was the longest I've ridden all season, and was priming up to do it again.
After re-fueling at the Runcible Spoon, the famous coffee shop in Nyack at is TEAMING with cyclists (aka, without spandex, don't come in), one of the guys in our group took off as he needed to be back in NYC by noon. Chris, who is my new best friend in all the land for being so nice and guiding me, and I made our way back. Little did I know that there is a HUGE hill on the way back (about a mile long), and of course I made a wrong turn heading in to it and had to come to a complete stop to turn around (traffic) and so went in to it with zero momentum. I was in the lowest of low gears and could not have been happier to reach the top.
Overall, 9W has a lot of rolling hills, and overall I felt I handled them well, minus that biggie, but I could use more practice on them in the months to come. On the flat sections I felt great, and even got my P2 to make that lovely "whirring" sound I always hear other riders make. The rumor is still out there that IMAZ is relatively flat, so that makes me feel nice and slightly less nervous.
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| Wow! The view from the end of the road in Nyack |
The next day, I woke up sore in all sorts of weird places (neck! wrists! crotch!) but the legs felt pretty decent and I had a solid 7 mile run with pacework in Prospect Park to bring week 8 and our adaptation period to a close. Sasha and Claiborne ran with me for the first 3 miles, and then the last four I picked up the pace (or at least held a steadier one, since I didn't have to sprint/slow down for squirrel and pigeon sightings for the pooch), and did some hill repeats at the end.
I decided to reward myself the rest of the evening with stuffing my face and watching Game of Thrones. Is anyone else hot and bothered now from watching John Snow and Ygritte? Yowza. And how about that interplay between Jamie and Brienne?
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