Yesterday I took a fat bike ride up to Nyack. My original plan was to ride up with a group of people training for the AIDS lifecycle ride in California (http://www.aidslifecycle.org/). I quickly realized that my hopes of making it back for a 12:15 lunch commitment weren't going to be realized if I didn't really start hauling (I still didn't make it back in time). Regardless, I resolved to stay with the group for as long as possible. After regrouping at the bike shop in Fort Lee, NJ we headed out and the group quickly broke up into several smaller groups working at different speeds. As a reasonably fit 21 year old with a love of going recklessly fast wearing only lycra, I was in one of the faster groups. I eventually glommed on with two people who were really kicking it. I introduced myself, and I ended up spending the rest of the ride with them! The woman was a bit older, and she was ornery and fast. The guy was a little more reserved, and also fast, despite only having been out one time this year. I got the woman's number, so hopefully we'll go riding again next weekend! They said that there are some good rides in New Jersey other than the GW bridge to Nyack route, which is definitely an exciting prospect for me.
We left Nyack after a brief coffee break, and quickly formed a pace line to beat the wind. Man, I miss riding in a group. There is something spectacular about averaging 23+ mph over about a 20 mile segment. I would never be able to do that on my own, but a group of three riders can really make tracks. This might have been the first ride this season where I really went out and laid done some power. Man, what a wonderful sensation.
I didn't grab any pictures on the ride, but I did get one that I think proves my humanity about as much as a belly button.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, proof that I sweat. That white stuff on the strap of my helmet is salt deposit from my sweat. Why was I sweating? It was going on 80 degrees when I rolled back to my dorm, and I had been exerting myself quite vigorously. Perhaps the more important question about this photo is why Diamondback decided to use white hoods on the shifters. Those black smudges on the top of the shifter? They'll never come out, even with soap, hot water, and plenty of elbow grease. I changed a flat on the first day I had the bike (yes, I flip the bike over to change a flat, contrary to rule #49) and those smudges have haunted me since. Maybe the white hoods serve as a reminder to wash my hands. For instance, when I got doored a couple weeks back, my hand was bleeding, and it got all over the right hood. It was immediately apparent that I should wash my hand and also that red doesn't really go well with the color scheme of my ride.
The most important and sensational part of yesterday's ride was the discovery that I don't have to ride the Hudson Greenway trail above 70th st. Riverside drive is the welcome alternative. While this route has its fair share of lights it doesn't have kids weaving all over the place, people standing and chatting in the narrowest section of the road, that nasty bumpy section between ~90th and 125th, joggers in the bike lane, and cyclists using arrow bars riding at 25 mph. I also don't have to do anymore of that looping around to get to the GW bridge! What a cool discovery!
We left Nyack after a brief coffee break, and quickly formed a pace line to beat the wind. Man, I miss riding in a group. There is something spectacular about averaging 23+ mph over about a 20 mile segment. I would never be able to do that on my own, but a group of three riders can really make tracks. This might have been the first ride this season where I really went out and laid done some power. Man, what a wonderful sensation.
I didn't grab any pictures on the ride, but I did get one that I think proves my humanity about as much as a belly button.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, proof that I sweat. That white stuff on the strap of my helmet is salt deposit from my sweat. Why was I sweating? It was going on 80 degrees when I rolled back to my dorm, and I had been exerting myself quite vigorously. Perhaps the more important question about this photo is why Diamondback decided to use white hoods on the shifters. Those black smudges on the top of the shifter? They'll never come out, even with soap, hot water, and plenty of elbow grease. I changed a flat on the first day I had the bike (yes, I flip the bike over to change a flat, contrary to rule #49) and those smudges have haunted me since. Maybe the white hoods serve as a reminder to wash my hands. For instance, when I got doored a couple weeks back, my hand was bleeding, and it got all over the right hood. It was immediately apparent that I should wash my hand and also that red doesn't really go well with the color scheme of my ride.
The most important and sensational part of yesterday's ride was the discovery that I don't have to ride the Hudson Greenway trail above 70th st. Riverside drive is the welcome alternative. While this route has its fair share of lights it doesn't have kids weaving all over the place, people standing and chatting in the narrowest section of the road, that nasty bumpy section between ~90th and 125th, joggers in the bike lane, and cyclists using arrow bars riding at 25 mph. I also don't have to do anymore of that looping around to get to the GW bridge! What a cool discovery!
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