My first bike tour

My first Five Borough Bike Tour, May 2, 2010

Drove down to Staten Island on Saturday and spent the night in the brand new Comfort Inn.  Trouble was, I was so excited about the ride the next day I couldn’t sleep.  Finally got up and took a relaxing shower, and slept better after that, right through the alarm, in fact.  Great.  A delightful lady at the hotel made the self-serve waffles for us.  I think she was excited about using the new gadget to fix them.  They were delicious, and perfect.  Of course we missed the real maple syrup we use at home.  Got directions  to the Staten Island Ferry.  Somehow missed an important instruction near the beginning and ended up wandering toward the Ferry.  Finally found it, but the search for parking took another big chunk of time.  I was afraid all the parking would be gone, but we found lots of spaces in lot C, only a half hour walk from the ferry.  I was riding by myself, but my 16 year old daughter came to encourage me on the drive and so she could try her wings solo in NYC.  So we walked to the ferry, and waited about 25 minutes for the next one.  I was starting to worry that we had missed the start of the tour, as it was going to be after 8:15 by the time we got to Manhattan.  Views from the ferry were great, as they always are.

Off the ferry, the other tour participants disappeared while I was saying good-bye.  ”Which way did they go?” was my question.  Helpful police officers pointed the way and encouraged me by telling me the tail end was only about a block away.  Off I went in hot pursuit.  It didn’t take long to catch up.  I wanted to find a bathroom, but was afraid to get further behind.  Soon the whole pack came to a screeching halt.  An officer encouraged us to take a rest stop if needed.  So I parked my bike near him and headed into Burger King where I found the restroom line upstairs and waited my turn.  I should have used the men’s room, no line there.  When I came out, the tour had moved again.  Again, it didn’t take me long to catch up to the next snag.  I got lots of practice stopping and starting and riding in traffic.  Other riders near me included a family with a tandem towing a trailer, a gentleman on a recumbent bicycle, the press corps, and a large quantity of marshals riding sweep (bringing up the rear).

Weather was hot and humid and sunny, so I was glad I had sunglasses that fit over my glasses, and two bottles full of water to keep me going until I got to a water station.  I passed portable toilets but didn’t need to use them because it was so hot.  I didn’t see places to fill my water bottles, or bananas, or larabars, or any of the other goodies the brochure had mentioned.  I did hear the very tail end of music and applause as I approached the rest area.  A couple of places had cheering sections that waited until we passed to pack and go home.  I greatly appreciated their encouraging words, and the water sprinkled from up above us.  It’s tough bringing up the rear, but somebody has to do it!

Central Park was exactly as I imagined it would be, except for the stop and go bicycle traffic.  A couple of places opened up a little and I got to ride in a restrained sort of way.  Every time the traffic stopped I took a drink.  I felt the warnings about the heat were not in the least exaggerated.  It was a real danger.  Where was the water filling station?  Toward the beginning of the tour my seat kept slipping down when I hit a bump.  In Central Park there was enough of a delay that I adjusted the seat, and put it at the right height and it stayed.  Since it was higher than I was used to, getting on was different, and took some practice.  I got lots of practice with numerous stops and starts.

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