"20th Century" - FOX (NYC)

It has been 7 days since the final day of riding on the "tour".

During the week, after performing a much needed wash of my clothes, sleeping bag and camping gear, I reassembled my bike and brought it in to the shop to get the bolts torqued to the proper specifications.  Yesterday I rode the 20-mile Saturday Morning "Pastry" ride with added mileage (an additional 21 miles) to and from home.  The hills seem a lot flatter than they did when I last rode them in June, including the 13% half-mile climb up Union Hill on the way home.

After that warm-up, and a fitful night's sleep last night, the alarm went off at 3:45 A.M. to wake me for today's NYC Century Ride with my cycling buddies from New Jersey.  Out the door at 4:30 (at least I did not have to pack tent, sleeping bag and clothing prior to leaving) , and off to meet the guys at the shop for a 5:00 A.M. car pool into New York.  On the drive in we could see the memorial spot lights shining to to the sky at Ground Zero marking the 9th anniversary of that tragic day.  It is still hard to believe what happened, and to look at the vacant space where the World Trade Center once stood so proudly marking the southern tip of Manhattan.

The weather forecast for today called for 40% chance of rain later on in the day (or 60% chance of not rain, as I like to see things).  We arrived in the city shortly before 6:00, parked on the upper West-side, put our bikes together and rode to the northern end of Central Park to register.  The route this year was for the most part the same as in previous years but offered some new terrain through Queens, and a new route down Manhattan to the Brooklyn Bridge.




The Verrazanno Straits

As usual we crossed the Brooklyn Bridge at sunrise and headed through the borough, blowing off the first rest stop and on to the Verrazanno Straits, at the mouth of the Hudson River.  For some reason the ride seemed to go faster than in previous years, or as Tim liked to put it "you did not ride across Canada this summer, you were just training for the NYC Century." 

Breakfast anyone???

Mmmm, Mmmm, good!

We got to Coney Island earlier than usual, so the compulsory meal of two of Nathan's World Famous Hot Dogs (one with slaw) and large Coke, was wolfed down at 8:30 A.M. - a breakfast my "tour" riders would have been proud of.

The gang outside Nathan's

Crossing the Tri-Boro.

From there we headed through Queens, and at mile 70 stopped at Tim's parents house where we were served up Meatballs in Sauce, Cantaloupe, and water - just the thing we needed since the rest stops were pitifully under provisioned.  After refueling we went through Astoria, and up and over the Tri-Boro (now RFK) bridge into the Bronx. 

Rounding the corner at the Bronx Zoo.

More route changes in the Bronx took us by the world famous Bronx Zoo.

The Harlem River in the rain.

From the northern tip of the Bronx, we rode down alongside the Harlem River and back into Manhattan finishing at around 3:00 P.M. at Central Park in a light rain.

All in all a wonderful excursion, marking my 20th "Century" (100+ miles in a day) for the year.  A great day of riding with Ben, Eric, Marty, Paul, Tim, Ed and Peter. 

I am amazed at how refreshed I felt at the end.

Note - No Altitude readings since my altimeter bit the dust during the tour.

Editor's note - this posting has been updated to reflect "only" 20 centuries ridden so far this year - I had earlier posted 25, but having had more time to go through my log book identified that I had duplicated data in the process.