Birds of a feather flock… No sleep till Brooklyn… 5 Boro Bike Tour!!

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Ultra lead us to the 5 Boro following Bucky’s awesome plan to start out in front with the VIP’s ahead of the pack – 35,000 bikers lined up in Battery Park. Brilliant…no, a genius plan! It also started with breakfast at the deli – $3.15 for a sandwich and coffee. The top level was all open seating – so much room they installed a fake garden in the middle of the room oh oh oh and private bathrooms too. I have never seen so much space and comfort available downtown before! Even better, the cyclists would be coming right up the road we were overlooking and we could jump in at will! So after a 4 am meet up in Branford (ouchie) a few text messages to Allstate and Gazelle (already in NYC with a friend – we’ll call him ‘Red Feather’….) Forrest, Ultra, Downhill, Mogul, JoAnne, John and I began the amazing logistics of traveling on the train with our bikes into the city with all the ‘other’ crazy bikers in the dark. Ultra wanted us to decorate our helmets so that we could see each other above the crowds and gave me the assignment if I was willing to accept it. So, 13 in the extended group needed props…. not a problem and it worked! I wired up some colorful feathers for us and we managed to be able to find each other and enjoy the ride all day long together.

chorus: Padded shorts make the whole experience a breeze…

Fueled up and ready to go, Allstate, Gazelle and Red Feather met us at the deli and

while the cyclists were going by, we jumped into the stream and off towards Central Park. It was very much an exercise in concentration with so many bikes so close together and so many twists and turns “Hold your lines, sharp right turn, hold your lines!” The feathers got a lot of comments – some cyclists had martini glasses, orange caution cones, mustard bottles, fly swatters, checkered flags – you name it we saw lots of creativity! Harlem was next – gospel choir on the corner was particularly inspiring, rode past President Clinton’s office, up and over the first of many bridges, 10 minutes in The Bronx. All I kept thinking was “Please don’t crash, please don’t get a flat tire, please don’t let my bike break down and please don’t make me pedal next to the edge on a high bridge” – scary! On one of our first really big bridges into Queens, Forrest was nearly taken out by a cyclist weaving and not paying attention to his surroundings. It all happened right behind my back tire – I saw a streak of red and heard 3 long “Woah, woah, woah’s”… there was nothing I could do while going up the hill in the crowd except keep moving forward hoping Forrest was going to be ok. He caught up with me a few moments later having managed to avoid a very nasty crash. Good job Forrest – that was a very close call.

chorus: Padded shorts make the whole experience a breeze…

[singlepic id=6132 w=320 h=240 float=left]We had such a fun day it was really hot and sunny though. We all got a lot of sun on the open highway section that lead to Tappan Zee bridge. Downhill loved this section, taking over the highway entirely was amazing, I guess my legs were tiring here a little and the sun was quite intense. It was awesome cycling through the tunnels too, woohoo’s abundant and the wind in our hair (feathers) the whole way. There were only a few back ups where we had to get off our bikes and those only lasted a few moments. (Good to be in the front of the crowd of 30,000 plus riders!) We moved in a leisurely pace – it was a ride after all & not a race, although I worked hard to keep up with my fine feathered friends at times. Maybe some of the other riders can add their words to this report and share their highlights as well. I would do this again next year – no doubt! The ferry ride past the Statue of Liberty followed by the ride back to Grand Central was really fun too and offered some of that bike messenger experience crossing through town. I highly recommend this event – especially the way we did it from the Deli, we were in the finish area by 12;30 or 1, I think. I could not have enjoyed my padded shorts more, also thanks to Bounce for the padded seat cover – I was able to loan it  to Downhill for part of the ride (no doubt too little too late) the truth is the padded shorts and flock made the whole experience a breeze!

Thanks for the ride everybody! I am so glad to report no one got hurt and no mechanical problems for us all day long. Twas amazing!!

For more photos click here!