BIKE ME

Sunday, May 2nd was the annual BIKE NEW YORK: The Great Five Boro Bike Tour. It's a 45-mile bike tour that begins at 8am, starting at Battery Park at the lower tip of Manhattan, goes up 6th Avenue through midtown with some bottlenecking as you enter Central Park. The park looks so nice. Ride onto the grand, wide streets of Harlem, onto a bridge, into the Bronx and looping out of the Bronx before you realize it. Down the FDR along the East River, huffing onto the ramp and across the 57th street bridge. This is one of my favorite parts of the ride. The view is great and we pick up tremendous speed as we downramp into Astoria Queens. We then ride up to Astoria Park, then loop down past the White Castles, Greenpoint and through Hipster Williamsburg in Brooklyn USA. Hi Olga. Past the sugar factory going into DUMBO, you know, Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, and resting in the park between the Manhattan & Brooklyn Bridge, enjoying the awesome view of the Bridges and Manhattan and loading up on free oranges, bananas, PowerBars and water.
It's usually at this point where we say, "Screw the race" It does continue onto the boring BQE for an hour before you reach the super Atlantic windy Verrazanno Narrows Bridge to Staten Island. then waiting hours for a ferry back to the island. Too long and boring. We prefer to ride back into Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge. But it's really great fun, calling out, "On your left" "on your right" as you zoom past bikers. You wear color vest and you have to wear a bike helmets. You really have to because a lot of people die from bike spill head traumas. I had a spill and there's still a row of sprocket puncture marks up my right calf.
I love this bike ride. I look forward to it every year. I've done it every year...Except this year.
It was threatening rain and I got to sleep late that morning at 4am. I felt bad that I was actually hoping that we skip the race. My phone woke me up at 8. Turns out it was my niece wanting to hang out. I'm still sleeping! I'll call you when I wake up, at 1. In the end I was glad we skipped the race. I rode my Bike to Hoboken and hung out with my niece along the river front park. Played tagged. Whew. got winded. Tag is serious play. And I saw Simone all the way across the Hudson River at the Chelsea Piers . I have Eyes like eagle.


{ With my niece Kaitlyn }