A
slightly different crowd for the morning commute. When we headed down
to Battery Park on Saturday morning for the hide-and-seek Olympics (see
the album a couple of weekends in the city) we were wondering where
all the other riders were.
This
woman got on at the same station as I did. It turned out she was an old
hand at this tour and gave me some tips, including get to the front as
soon as you can. It takes over two hours for all of the riders to pass
any given point, and they close down the streets to vehicle traffic. Apparently
if you are in the back of the pack they start blocking the tour route
to allow built up traffic through, and you end up standing around in the
hot sun instead of riding.
Looking
forward Up Sixth Ave. at the start. From talking to people later I figured
that there were about 25,000 people in front of me. Guess I should have
gotten up at 3:30 am.
Looking
back at the end of the pack stretching towards Battery Park. I wasn't
the last one out of bed, there were at least 10,000 people behind me at
the start.
The
pack was still pretty packed when we got stopped outside radio city
music hall so an ambulance could cross. About three blocks further uptown
we entered central park
After
a loop through the Bronx we crossed the Queensbourough bridge into...
Queens
Looking
back at Manhattan and the Queensbourough bridge
Thirty
miles into the ride in Brooklyn, the pack finally thinned out a little.
Sue opted out of this bike tour because she didn't want to be in an endless
line.... smart girl.
At
time the breathtaking scenery more than made up for the crowded riding
conditions.
-
It was fun to ride down the middle of the interstates (this is 285 I think). The sound track for the entire ride was the blaring of thousands of car horns, the frustrated drivers saluting the cyclists blocking their way.
-
The Verazano Narrows bridge to Staten Island was the last landmark on the ride.
The
ferryboat from Staten Island back to Manhattan, where I caught the subway
home. My throat is still raw from sucking smog all day. The tour turned
out to be one of those "adventures." I'm glad I went but I'm not sure
I would do it again. I think the rest of our bike touring adventures are
going to be limited to upstate.
