2012 Five Boros Bike Tour

Well, last Sunday was the Five Boros Bike Tour in New York.   Kathleen & I made a long weekend out of it, and went up Thursday afternoon.   We stayed at a nice little studio apartment in Harlem courtesy of Ali (the tenant) and www.airbnb.com.   We spent the weekend wandering around Manhattan, here is Kathleen working out where to eat on the computer in the Apartment.

We spent Friday and Saturday wandering around NYC including a visit to the High Line Park, a former railroad bridge system that has been re-worked into a park.

 Then a great lunch at Pastis restaurant in Chelsea.

Sunday morning rolled around and it was time to get it together and head out to ride the tour.  Here is Kathleen adding special secret powder to her water bottles.

Here's Kathleen ahead of me heading down St. Nicholas Ave towards Central Park.  We learned our lesson from last year, this year we opted to pick up the front end of the ride at the top of Central Park instead of riding down to Battery Park in lower Manhattan and waiting around forever like last year.

We met the front end of the ride and joined in, here is a gospel group serenading us as we passed through Harlem.

A little while later we crossed over the river into the Bronx, the drummers were there playing us through as well.

Here is one Kathleen shot of me (in the Mapei jersey) turning the corner towards the bridge back to Manhattan, we were only in the Bronx for about a mile.

We got onto the FDR Parkway and headed towards the Queensboro Bridge to Queens.

Here's Kathleen following me in Queens.

We hit the first rest stop at Astoria Park, lots of food & drink available.

We were so at the front of the ride that we had to wait here for the road to get closed ahead of us.

But then we were off.

 Through Queens we went, then over this bridge into Brooklyn, if you look ahead you can see the phalanx of Police motorcycles and cars leading the way.

We breezed through Brooklyn.

Then onto the Bronx-Queens Expressway.

Which led us to the Gowanus Expressway.  This is where it all went wrong last year, leading to us bailing on the ride, but this year being at the front end of the ride, it was easy.

Next up was the great unknown (since we didn't do it last year due to bailing on the traffic jam before this), in crossing the Verrazano Narrows Bridge to Staten Island.  I am pretty sure that this sign isn't up all year :).

 It was a pretty steady grind of a climb up the bridge, but the view from the span of New York Harbor was totally worth it.

Then we bombed down the other side to the last big rest stop of the day on Staten Island.

 There was a photo thing set up that you could get your picture taken with the bridge in the background.

 Then we were off again, here we are waiting for the escort to get the streets closed in Staten Island so we can head off to the Staten Island Ferry to get back to Manhattan.

 A quick 3 miles through Staten Island.

Then a 20 minute ferry ride back to Battery Park.

 At Battery park the flowers were blooming with the Statue of Liberty in the background.

 We headed up the West Side Greenway towards home, but took a little detour into the heart of Manhattan to swing by Bryant Park so I could do a little site survey for an upcoming show. Here we are headed up 6th Avenue.

 Then we cut back over towards the greenway on 45th street, which ends right where the Intrepid lives.

We continued up the greenway to 135th street where there is a community garden.

Then had to climb this hill back up to Harlem.

Once we got to the top we found ourselves in the middle of some sort of parade.

But eventually we made it home, here are the bikes resting after a long day's ride.

Due to our clever strategy, it was only about 1:00PM when we got back.  Here is our ride map for the day, pay no heed to the mileage at Map My Ride, it counted the mileage on the Ferry, the real stats are 46.4 miles at an average of 16.5 miles per hour for the day.  We got cleaned up, then took the subway down to the Upper West Side for a big breakfast at the West Side Diner, then wandered around the Upper West Side for a while. We went back to the apartment, then over to Spanish Harlem to Ricardo's Steak House for a great dinner. This morning we got up a little late, got packed up and checked out of the apartment and headed home. It was a great break from the work grind, we both really needed it.

Busy Weekend

It was a busy week, leading to a busy weekend.   Work has been pounding along, as it does in the spring, but this weekend worked out so that I could join Kathleen riding the Tour De Carroll up in Westminster.  Saturday morning rolled around pretty cold (45 degrees) and threatening, but off we went.   We took the route sheets for the 40 and 63 mile rides, which shared the same route for the first 26 miles or so.  We saw lots of Carroll County, I'll let the pictures tell the story.

 Alpacas!

 And the Grumpy Cows that shared the field with them.

 Groovy art on the side of a shed.

 And here is the last time I saw Kathleen until the finish area, where she was waiting for me.

It was a tough ride for me, I haven't been eating/sleeping enough lately, so I wasn't in the best form for the ride.  We ended up doing the 40 mile route, in the end it was fun, although very tiring, when it's that cold out it seems to suck the energy out of you.  Then it was back to the house to run some errands then get all dressed up as Saturday night was the White House Correspondents Dinner.  I handled a couple of the after-party's including the big blockbuster one for MSNBC.   They turned the Italian Embassy into a disco for the evening.

I went down to DC to see how both events were going (I also did a smaller event for Thomson Reuters), then headed home to get some sleep (about 2:30AM)
Today broke with rolling out of bed about 10:30 (courtesy of Kathleen calling to let me know she was on her way home from the race she was volunteering at in Columbia) and we went in search of breakfast.   Then it was noodle around the house day, until about 4:30PM when I headed out for a ride.   Living in the Mid-Atlantic is weird, 40's to low 50's yesterday, 72 degrees this afternoon when I left.   I headed down towards the Inner Harbor, but since the bike path is still a complete disaster area due to construction, I was forced onto the promenade to get down Pratt Street.   I rolled along towards this large group, first being admonished for riding by the cop on the Segway in the foreground.

The crowd was gathered to watch this guy do his routine including juggling flaming torches here.

I got the hell out of the Inner Harbor, and headed through Federal Hill including riding on the most rediculously named street I have seen.

That's right, that is East West Street.   I continued out towards Brooklyn, and spotted this cool mural on the side of a rowhouse.

Then I got into the industrial area out there, where there was a huge pile of what I am assuming is road salt.

Eventually I made it to the spot I was looking for, there is a huge rail yard that you can see from the Harbor Tunnel ramp (that's the bridge in the background).  I have always liked trains, so my goal today was to find the yard from somewhere I could get to by bike.   I was successful, but I did have to ride part way up the freeway on-ramp to get high enough to get these pics.

After that I headed back to the homestead for dinner and Stage 4 of the Tour of Romandie.

Two Ride Day Today

After an extended break due to relentless work stuff, I finally had a day off today.   So to start my day I got up early(ish) and rode over to the new Harris Teeter to watch Kathleen run the Soul of the City 10K race.   It was a gorgeous morning, regular summer weight clothes at 8:30AM :).   I got there in time, here are the racers waiting for the start on Fort Avenue.

Then they were off, I didn't spot Kathleen but luckily she spotted me and got my attention, unfortunately my camera shooting speed was a little slow.

But I scooted on ahead of her and got a better picture just down the street.

After noodling around Federal Hill, they turned down into the Inner Harbor Promenade at the Maryland Science Center.

The race went all around the promenade, I opted to wait at Pratt and Light for her to come back around. As you can see, they are re-doing the bike path here.

A little further along I caught her again.

I took off from there and got to the finish line ahead of her to catch her finish.

We met up afterwords, then I headed for home while she met up with friends for the complimentary Green Turtle breakfast that was part of the race. For me it was shower and eat breakfast time. Kathleen came home a little while later then headed out to get her hair cut, so I went out for another ride in the afternoon. I headed down Lombard Street, and at the park there was a Rugby 7's game going between Johns Hopkins and somebody. Kathleen and I try and follow the World Tournament, so it's exciting to see it here.

Then I headed up the endless grind of Calvert Street all the way to it's end, and noodled around in the Homewood neighborhood by Johns Hopkins Homewood campus.

I kept on heading generally north, and found myself a little while later in Roland Park where there are lots of very large older Victorian houses.

Eventually I headed back towards the house to get organized for dinner, but not without stopping to get my traditional victory coke at a local market. I carried it home in my pocket, only to have it puke on me in the garage :(, still delicious though.

Another shower then off to the Whole Foods to pick up steaks for dinner.

Change of Plans

Today the plan was to ride the group ride with the Baltimore Area Triathalon Club, then I was going to ride home while Kathleen went out for a 10 mile run after the ride. We made it to the park on time, and headed out. About 4 miles into the ride I dropped a water bottle, which then a SUV ran over, and that about did it for me. It has been a rough couple of weeks and that was the straw that broke the camels back for the day. I went back and picked up my bottle's remains, then caught up with the two guys doing the sweep to let them know I was ditching them, and so they could let Kathleen know when they caught up with her. Then I headed out on my way to do a more free form ride and have some time to myself.  But just before the bottle incident I caught the group on the road.

I ended up on Dogwood Road which eventually goes down by the shop, but out in the sticks it's much more rural.   Riding along I spotted these flowers, thought that they looked nice against the creek backdrop.

A little further along were these trees doing their spring thing, I like the contrast with the bare and budding trees.

I ended up looping around to the Gwynns Falls trail and headed for home.   In the end it worked out great, unfortunately Kathleen took a lot of ribbing from the club members for ditching her husband, I just want to set the record straight that I ditched them.  Nothing personal, I just needed some time alone.

Spring Around the Harbor

Kind of a crappy couple of weeks just passed, haven't been on the bike at all.   Sunday 3/25 Tom Ferguson, who is probably my best friend and was the best man at our wedding, was hit by a car and killed near his house in San Francisco while crossing the street.   It was a terrible shock, and really made me realize how important friends are.   I ended up going out to Santa Rosa to meet up with the old Sonoma County friends, and we had a bit of a wake in Tom's memory.   I always hoped that Tom would come visit us here in Baltimore, he was such a sailing kind of guy and every time I ride around the Inner Harbor and past the marinas I have always been, and always will be reminded of him.

I hope that somewhere he sails on still.

Commute

Today was just a normal commute kind of a day, rode into work, then back home at the end of the day.   I detoured to swing by Race Pace on the way home, then stopped at Rash Field to capture this.

I would say it is officially spring now, using beach volleyball is not seen in March.