Exploring NY on a bike

Meet the stairs of potential doom. Don't let looks deceive you, these steps lead down to a nice, "spacious" apartment that we are staying in while in New York. These steps are the scariest part of my rides here. I am a clutz, and every time go up or down these stairs carrying my bike wearing shoes with metal cleats I pray that I make it. So far, so good. After this achievement, navigating NYC is a cinch. I haven't explored as much as I would have liked since you know, I have family here and we are supposed to do things together while we are on vacation. Nevertheless, I have had fun riding through Central Park, which depending on the time of day can be great. The roads are closed during certain times of day, which is a great way to ride through the park. It definitely can get very busy at times, and I have to admit that I almost ran over a pair of runners after I got squeezed in by traffic and rollerbladers in the bike lane. Just doing what I can to give cyclists a good rep while I am here! 

A section of the greenway

I have ridden the subways, driven, walked miles and miles, and rode my bike around while here and my vote definitely goes to biking for the best way to get around and see NY. The other day I was riding along Central Park West, admiring the buildings and architecture and such and realized that I rode 10 blocks past where I needed to go. Would that ever happen walking or driving? Not likely. 

The bike paths are great here too. Russ and I went out today on the Greenway- a bike/pedestrian path that runs along the outside edge of Manhattan. It even splits up at times and allows bikes and pedestrians to go their separate ways and each enjoy their own space. How brilliant is that? Helps me avoid running over any more runners, anyway. Before we knew it we were down by the World Trade Center site, a place that we had seemingly slogged to on subways and walking the day before. We didn't ride the whole perimeter since we had family to get back to, but I would like to do that still before we leave. We are getting through our list of must see's and I feel very lucky to be able to spend so much time here!

Strava Shenanigans in NYC

After arranging a house swap with a New York family for our Traverse City home, I asked naively, "So, do people in New York cycle much?" It's been 13 years since I was in New York, and even then it was a blaze of running from here to there to see what ever we could see in one day. I'm surprised I didn't hear the snort in Michigan, because you can't look down a street here without seeing someone on a bike. Our "host" family was very nice about it though, and even suggested a few routes for me to try while here through recommendations of friends.


We arrived in NY on Saturday, and by Sunday I was excited and ready to head out on the bike. I had an idea of a route, and had it in my phone to reference if needed. Problem was, I wasn't sure how to even get to the first place I needed to go just yet. I was at a red light and another cyclist pulled up. I struck up a conversation with him, and he was nice enough to let me tag along to the George Washington Bridge, as he was heading that way himself. We met up with his friends and they led me as promised right over bridge with instructions on how to proceed if I wanted, or an invitation to join them on their mission of the day. Peter, John, and Don were heading out to help Don get KOM on a Strava segment by doing a lead out train for him. A slightly downhill, one mile segment. The sprinter/Strava addict in me could not resist. With a smile I gladly joined in and headed out with them. Is it ethical to do a lead out train to improve your Strava position? Some could say it's cheating, others wish they had thought of it first. 


We stopped for some coffee before heading to the segment, Floyd Street TT. I questioned the sanity of this whole thing once I saw the that the end of the segment was at a stop sign. How exactly do you sprint down a hill as fast as you can, knowing you will have to stop at the end or possibly get killed by a car? Rational thinking never deterred me before though, so why stop now? The current leader was at an average speed of 31 mph, so we had to beat that today. 


At the top of the hill, we lined up our train. The first to go would be John, who due to a bent rear tire had no back brake (yikes). Next up would be me, followed by Peter, then Don. We decided a practice run would be prudent, lined up, and set out. Practice makes perfect, as we decided on the first run that John and I had peeled off too quickly, leaving Don and Peter out to do most of the work themselves. Lined it up again, and this time we nailed it, and Don had an average speed of 31.9 and was the new KOM. Once I got back and loaded my data, I found that I was the new QOM with an average speed of 29.1 and was in 7th position of 185 riders. Sweeeet! Now, no matter what else happens while I am in NYC, I can at least know I was QOM of at least one Strava segment. 


Thanks to Peter, John, and Don for a great first ride in Manhattan. So far, I'm loving this town!

Ladies and Gents, in the middle is your new King and Queen of Floyd St TT.

Dog Days of Summer

With the major Michigan road races over until Cherry Roubaix, riding my bike this past month has been a little less exciting and left me wondering what to train for next. It has been difficult to train this last month. I have a shoulder issue that started early on in the season and got steadily worse, culminating in a painful end of the race in Mt. Pleasant. That race was painful in many ways. :) But anyway, I have been trying to get it resolved, but it is slow going and definitely limits my riding. Rides longer than 2 hours are painful on my road bike. I have been going to physical therapy, getting medical massage, and rediscovered how much I love yoga. I also have been spending more time on my mountain bike, since this does not bother my shoulder. I have loved returning to mountain biking and I think last summer at this time I spent all my time on the road bike. I am learning the unmarked singletrack on the VASA through the help of some friends and having a blast! I did start out as a mountain biker, and think I will always be one at heart. There's just nothing like twisting through the woods and seeing the nature. I love flying down the hills-nothing beats it. No worries about traffic going by-just you and your bike and maybe a snake or chipmunk or two crossing your path. My friend Rich said he saw a bear on one of his rides near Kalkaska a few weeks ago. I don't think I want to see that much nature anytime soon though.

Mountain biking bliss aside, I am still trying to keep some road biking skills going and will be doing the Miller BTR Crit this Saturday. I hated crits when I first started out, but I they are growing on me. Its also a race I can do now since they are shorter and I am not bothering my shoulder as long. Next race will be Cherry Roubaix, as I will be heading to the Big Apple next Friday for two weeks. I am excited to see where my bike takes me while there! It's hard to leave Traverse City during the summer, but this should be a great time.

And if your into le Tour, my vote is for Wiggio. And I love to read Jens Voight's blog, Hardly Seriouswith Jens Voight, he is just such an awesome human being. Keep on pedaling!