Just before the tail end of the tour left Manhattan to go over the bridge to the Bronx, one of the marshals asked me if I’d like to take advantage of the sag support. He told me that the buses were right behind us, and that if they passed us, we’d be without rescue for the rest of the ride. I was already suffering heat stress, out of water, so I said, okay. He took my bicycle and put matching paper bracelets on it and on me with a number and explained to me that if I got on the bus myself, I’d be sitting in a hot bus for the next several hours while the bus followed the tour. I opted to find my own way back to Staten Island, so I could find my daughter first. It was 11:37, and I was at 135th street by Harlem Medical Center. There was a subway station right in front of me. I figured I would get some water in the nearest grocery and then wait there for noon when daughter was supposed to call in. At 12:01 she called, reported that she was at the Borders on Wall Street. I told her not to be alarmed, I was at Harlem Hospital but not a patient. She promised to stay put until I could get there. So I took the subway but apparently it doesn’t stop at Wall Street on weekends and I had to back track a little, and then walk several blocks to Borders. I got some funny looks from folks who wondered where my bicycle was.
Found daughter, found a place to get some lunch, very nutritious wraps with lots of vegetables, more water, then we walked back to the ferry to wait for the next one back to Staten Island. My feet hurt, I was still rather disoriented from the heat, but glad I had finished my plan B goal of riding my bicycle through Manhattan. Back on Staten Island found a sign that said, “Wait here for shuttle to Fort Wadsworth” and found a family without bicycles who were also waiting for the shuttle and had called to find out if it was still running. Soon the shuttle came, and took us to where our bicycles were, but just as we arrived, they said, “we’re about to take these back to the ferry, do you want to wait and pick them up there?” Since that was where we were parked, I said, “Yes.” Then we got on a nice, comfy, air conditioned bus for the ride back to the ferry we had just come from.
Next challenge: “Which sag is your bicycle on?” If the marshal told me the number, I was too disoriented from the heat to take in and remember this information. The kind lady who asked, said she understood, and then went to look for it, and came back every few minutes to verify that she was looking for the right bicycle. At last it was found. All that was left to do was the half hour walk or ride back to the car. I invited daughter to ride the bicycle, because it seemed that she had her plans cut short by my change in plans.
We enjoyed a beautiful sunset while we headed west and north toward home. Enjoyed a nice late dinner in Mount Ivy and finally arrived home at 1:23 AM. According to my pedometer, my step count for the day was 15,672 steps. Would I do it again? Yes. Maybe next time I’ll try the view from the front, at least to start with.
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