5 Borough anyone?
05-05-08, 07:34 PM
#177
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Sorry, grunzster. It was a nice day after all.
Felt better today, especially after the couple extra hours of sleep. Didn't leave Ridgewood until 8:10 (watched the start on TV). Drove down 17 and 4 and across the GW. Parked on Riverside around 140th and joined the tour at 125th (I knew where the toilets were
) at about 9:00.
Skipped the first two reststops to wait in middle of the "second start" crowd at Astoria.
Stopped at the next three reststops, loading up on oranges. Made it across the Verrazano and into the Festival by 11:50 (beat my last year's best of 12:02). Did a quick walk about to pick up some of the free stuff, and was headed to the ferry by 12:10. No wait for the ferry this year, but a 20 minute wait while the boat finished loading. And it was pretty cold in steerage. Was back in Manhattan a little after 1:00.
The ride back up to Riverside was fun. Zigzagged thru downtown, Chinatown, Lower East Side. Found several places I was looking for, and made a lunch stop at a little Japanese carryout I had heard about called Otafuku. I can't get okinomiyaki in DC, and what this little place makes is worth the trip.
Went over to Washington Square for a while, then picked up the tour route - up 6th and thru Central Park. Finished with Broadway and Riverside back to the car by 4:00.
Much better day than I expected. It was getting toasty near the end.
Ended up with 54 miles, but an average of only 11.6 mph.
Air - good to see you. Hope it wasn't too lonely out on that bridge.
Felt better today, especially after the couple extra hours of sleep. Didn't leave Ridgewood until 8:10 (watched the start on TV). Drove down 17 and 4 and across the GW. Parked on Riverside around 140th and joined the tour at 125th (I knew where the toilets were
) at about 9:00. Skipped the first two reststops to wait in middle of the "second start" crowd at Astoria.
Stopped at the next three reststops, loading up on oranges. Made it across the Verrazano and into the Festival by 11:50 (beat my last year's best of 12:02). Did a quick walk about to pick up some of the free stuff, and was headed to the ferry by 12:10. No wait for the ferry this year, but a 20 minute wait while the boat finished loading. And it was pretty cold in steerage. Was back in Manhattan a little after 1:00.
The ride back up to Riverside was fun. Zigzagged thru downtown, Chinatown, Lower East Side. Found several places I was looking for, and made a lunch stop at a little Japanese carryout I had heard about called Otafuku. I can't get okinomiyaki in DC, and what this little place makes is worth the trip.
Went over to Washington Square for a while, then picked up the tour route - up 6th and thru Central Park. Finished with Broadway and Riverside back to the car by 4:00.
Much better day than I expected. It was getting toasty near the end.
Ended up with 54 miles, but an average of only 11.6 mph.
Air - good to see you. Hope it wasn't too lonely out on that bridge.
I wonder what missing a ride that only happens once a year, plus the fact that I may be moving too far away to do it again, plus the registration fee are worth in a law suit?
05-06-08, 04:20 AM
#178
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Hey guys, wassup?? I was on the lookout for Air on the bridge, but missed him. I must have blown right passed. I heard some people had to walk over the bridge. Whats up with that? The G/F and I rode over.
We started at 33 and 6 ave. Since it was her first time on a big ride, I wanted to avoid the walking start. She was so excited, she said she was doing it "RAIN OR SHINE" so we went. We stayed near the front all day, and even though I got a flat a block before entering Astoria Park, I was able to fix it and get on line before the 10:05 restart.
The high point of the tour was when I got to the top of the Verrazano and stopped to wait midspan for the G/F to catch up. Suprisingly, I only had to wait less then a minute for her to catch up, and while everyone was huffing and puffing on the way up, she had a big dopey grin on her face like she won the lottery. She was so excited about the whole ride, she was planning more rides as she was coasting down towards the festival.
As a side note: I finally lost enough weight to fit into a real bike jersey, so the G/F bought me the 2008 5-boro jersey. It is a little snug, but I am working on that.
We started at 33 and 6 ave. Since it was her first time on a big ride, I wanted to avoid the walking start. She was so excited, she said she was doing it "RAIN OR SHINE" so we went. We stayed near the front all day, and even though I got a flat a block before entering Astoria Park, I was able to fix it and get on line before the 10:05 restart.
The high point of the tour was when I got to the top of the Verrazano and stopped to wait midspan for the G/F to catch up. Suprisingly, I only had to wait less then a minute for her to catch up, and while everyone was huffing and puffing on the way up, she had a big dopey grin on her face like she won the lottery. She was so excited about the whole ride, she was planning more rides as she was coasting down towards the festival.
As a side note: I finally lost enough weight to fit into a real bike jersey, so the G/F bought me the 2008 5-boro jersey. It is a little snug, but I am working on that.
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Matty in Brooklyn
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Last edited by mattyknacks; 05-06-08 at 04:22 AM. Reason: spelling
05-06-08, 06:26 AM
#179
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I did the ride. I've ridden with the same small group of friends for the last few years. All in all, a nice ride, as it always is. The day started off cool and damp, but I was peeling off layers by the halfway point Astoria Park. I managed to avoid the temptation to go home and take a nap at that point (I live just a few blocks from there).
Mostly the ride was well-organized and well-marshalled. The marshals and the police did a great job, by and large (although I missed the mace incident described above). I did see one injury that looked bad. A man was on a stretcher. Looked liked he'd taken a bad fall. I think I saw some blood on his head. The EMS people were there, so my friends and I didn't stop -- he was in much better hands. Anyone see this? In Queens, after the park somewhere, very fit-looking black man in cycling attire? Hope he's OK.
Also saw a young woman with what looked like a large and painful abrasion on her knee. She was walking around at Staten Island, so I don't think there was any underlying injury, but still, that must have hurt.
Otherwise, all was well. There were the usual overly aggressive riders. And too many people on fixed-gear bicycles without brakes. I saw one plow into the back of a group of riders at one of the bottlenecks. Nobody was hurt, but the fixie guy was a jerk. It's simply irresponsible to ride brakeless in a big group.
Mostly the ride was well-organized and well-marshalled. The marshals and the police did a great job, by and large (although I missed the mace incident described above). I did see one injury that looked bad. A man was on a stretcher. Looked liked he'd taken a bad fall. I think I saw some blood on his head. The EMS people were there, so my friends and I didn't stop -- he was in much better hands. Anyone see this? In Queens, after the park somewhere, very fit-looking black man in cycling attire? Hope he's OK.
Also saw a young woman with what looked like a large and painful abrasion on her knee. She was walking around at Staten Island, so I don't think there was any underlying injury, but still, that must have hurt.
Otherwise, all was well. There were the usual overly aggressive riders. And too many people on fixed-gear bicycles without brakes. I saw one plow into the back of a group of riders at one of the bottlenecks. Nobody was hurt, but the fixie guy was a jerk. It's simply irresponsible to ride brakeless in a big group.
05-06-08, 09:04 AM
#180
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I did the ride. I've ridden with the same small group of friends for the last few years. All in all, a nice ride, as it always is. The day started off cool and damp, but I was peeling off layers by the halfway point Astoria Park. I managed to avoid the temptation to go home and take a nap at that point (I live just a few blocks from there).
Mostly the ride was well-organized and well-marshalled. The marshals and the police did a great job, by and large (although I missed the mace incident described above). I did see one injury that looked bad. A man was on a stretcher. Looked liked he'd taken a bad fall. I think I saw some blood on his head. The EMS people were there, so my friends and I didn't stop -- he was in much better hands. Anyone see this? In Queens, after the park somewhere, very fit-looking black man in cycling attire? Hope he's OK.
Also saw a young woman with what looked like a large and painful abrasion on her knee. She was walking around at Staten Island, so I don't think there was any underlying injury, but still, that must have hurt.
Otherwise, all was well. There were the usual overly aggressive riders. And too many people on fixed-gear bicycles without brakes. I saw one plow into the back of a group of riders at one of the bottlenecks. Nobody was hurt, but the fixie guy was a jerk. It's simply irresponsible to ride brakeless in a big group.
Mostly the ride was well-organized and well-marshalled. The marshals and the police did a great job, by and large (although I missed the mace incident described above). I did see one injury that looked bad. A man was on a stretcher. Looked liked he'd taken a bad fall. I think I saw some blood on his head. The EMS people were there, so my friends and I didn't stop -- he was in much better hands. Anyone see this? In Queens, after the park somewhere, very fit-looking black man in cycling attire? Hope he's OK.
Also saw a young woman with what looked like a large and painful abrasion on her knee. She was walking around at Staten Island, so I don't think there was any underlying injury, but still, that must have hurt.
Otherwise, all was well. There were the usual overly aggressive riders. And too many people on fixed-gear bicycles without brakes. I saw one plow into the back of a group of riders at one of the bottlenecks. Nobody was hurt, but the fixie guy was a jerk. It's simply irresponsible to ride brakeless in a big group.
Also +1 on some of those fixie riders. Not all - but some.
05-06-08, 01:03 PM
#181
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Hey I saw you! We got to walk up the Queensboro bridge! Along with the guy playing the radio.
I was wondering if there was some sort of hierarchy to the Rats, since some stood higher than others.
We were just to the right of you walking a tandem.
And yea it was too crowded.
-D
I was wondering if there was some sort of hierarchy to the Rats, since some stood higher than others.
We were just to the right of you walking a tandem.
And yea it was too crowded.
-D
05-06-08, 01:04 PM
#182
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05-06-08, 03:49 PM
#183
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The rain stopped by New Haven, though, and it really turned out to be a brilliant day for riding.
Too bad there were so many a55h0les out there. We abbreviated the ride due to several issues:
At the 30 mile rest, one of the marshals was saying that we may have to walk across the Verazanno Narrows bridge (2+ miles), the guys I was with were hung over, and we wanted to ride in Manhattan traffic, where it was safe. We bailed at the Brooklyn Bridge.
Even during our shortened ride, the number of bungholes was amazing. We've done BNY many times (~10), and can't remember it being this bad.
Overall, a good day.
05-06-08, 04:29 PM
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05-07-08, 08:30 AM
#185
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My friend Will and I came down from Hartford, Conn., the previous day by riding our bikes 24 miles to Waterbury, Conn., and taking Metro-North from there. (We stayed with friends in Brooklyn.) We met up with other Hartford peoples on Sunday morning, and our experiences are exhaustively documented and photographed at our Hartford biking blog: beatbikeblog.blogspot.com. Check it out!
05-07-08, 04:52 PM
#186
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hey cool blog!
05-09-08, 12:06 PM
#187
Destroyer of Wheels
Great shot Henri!!
Matty - how did I miss ya?! Great seeing jyossarian, cc_rider, and Henri - thanks for saying hi!
Had a great day, some bottlenecks (on the BQE I gave a hi-5 to a cabbie who was stuck in traffic going the other way - way too funny) but just gave me the opportunity to talk and get to know some riders here and there. Met a few that live in my hood too!
I was camped out a little past the midspan. No accidents in my area - very happy about that
For those of you who saw the guy down on the uphill here's the story as I understand it and read about it in various outlets. He had a heart attack, fell, and then got run over by a few other bicyclists. His friend was able to give CPR, the bike medics revived and stabilized him (he was clinically dead), got him to the hospital where he was breathing and talking on his own. So as far as I know he'll be fine - whew!
Also thanks to all riders who listen to the marshals - there were a few times that I needed to clear a lane for emergency vehicles coming up and people moved over very quickly, was great to see everyone paying attention and pitching together.
Something I noticed this year - seems like a lot of people got a later start, probably because of the rain. The way the crowd worked this time was much heavier towards the end of the ride than at the beginning which made for some longer bottlenecks in certain areas. As long as you approach this as a fun day and not a speed ride it's a great event.
Matty - how did I miss ya?! Great seeing jyossarian, cc_rider, and Henri - thanks for saying hi!
Had a great day, some bottlenecks (on the BQE I gave a hi-5 to a cabbie who was stuck in traffic going the other way - way too funny) but just gave me the opportunity to talk and get to know some riders here and there. Met a few that live in my hood too!
I was camped out a little past the midspan. No accidents in my area - very happy about that
For those of you who saw the guy down on the uphill here's the story as I understand it and read about it in various outlets. He had a heart attack, fell, and then got run over by a few other bicyclists. His friend was able to give CPR, the bike medics revived and stabilized him (he was clinically dead), got him to the hospital where he was breathing and talking on his own. So as far as I know he'll be fine - whew!
Also thanks to all riders who listen to the marshals - there were a few times that I needed to clear a lane for emergency vehicles coming up and people moved over very quickly, was great to see everyone paying attention and pitching together.
Something I noticed this year - seems like a lot of people got a later start, probably because of the rain. The way the crowd worked this time was much heavier towards the end of the ride than at the beginning which made for some longer bottlenecks in certain areas. As long as you approach this as a fun day and not a speed ride it's a great event.
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05-10-08, 05:16 PM
#188
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Great shot Henri!!
Matty - how did I miss ya?! Great seeing jyossarian, cc_rider, and Henri - thanks for saying hi!
Had a great day, some bottlenecks (on the BQE I gave a hi-5 to a cabbie who was stuck in traffic going the other way - way too funny) but just gave me the opportunity to talk and get to know some riders here and there. Met a few that live in my hood too!
I was camped out a little past the midspan. No accidents in my area - very happy about that
.
Matty - how did I miss ya?! Great seeing jyossarian, cc_rider, and Henri - thanks for saying hi!
Had a great day, some bottlenecks (on the BQE I gave a hi-5 to a cabbie who was stuck in traffic going the other way - way too funny) but just gave me the opportunity to talk and get to know some riders here and there. Met a few that live in my hood too!
I was camped out a little past the midspan. No accidents in my area - very happy about that
.
I waved to you just cause you were a marshall and had a tremendous smile on your face.
But didn't know who you were. I was one of the front-riding marshals this year.
A little scary keeping the pace especially on the wet roads but it was a great experience.
05-11-08, 10:17 PM
#189
Destroyer of Wheels
Oh yeah - I remember (second from the left?) that front line, thought it seemed thinner than in last years. I kept warning people about the slippery road coming down the hill, I shuddered just thinking about it!
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