I had such an amazing ride yesterday. I really felt strong throughout the many hours I was on the bike.
Riding distance in NYC is tough because so much of the ride involves tricky navigation. Lots of traffic, people, other bikes and various obstacles like delivery trucks parked backwards in bike lanes or huge potholes that encompass much of the street make for a sometimes funny sometimes scary experience.
I say this because, according to my cycling computer it took me over four hours to travel 60 miles yesterday. This is travel time mind you, which only amasses while the wheels are moving. Sooo, this means I spent a lot of time stuck behind cars, or navigating around them. I worry a little about my time for the Century, but I think with wide open roads it won’t be an issue.
I started my ride with my friends Wendy and Millar along the Shore Parkway Greenway which runs down the lower western side of Brooklyn. Getting there was tricky and involved a lot of traffic management but once we arrived we enjoyed some great open riding for quite a while. It didn’t hurt that it was sunny and warm – near 80 at 9am.
The Verrazano made for some awesome scenery while we rode.
We biked through Coney Island and Brighton Beach and across the Marine Parkway (Guy Gil Hodges <—METS) Bridge. Then all the way out to far Rockaway. At this point I split off from Wendy and Millar and headed back the long way, which was the way we had come.
The ride took a total of 6 hours with lots of breaks. I’m glad I took it easy, but next weekend the plan is to take it a little faster and maybe eat more on the bike. I noticed yesterday that it takes a good amount of food to keep me going for that long. After a breakfast of oatmeal with almond butter and flax I found myself ready to eat another breakfast around 15 miles in. I devoured my pretty big bag of cashews and raisins within the 1st 2 hours of the ride! Luckily we stopped for a sandwich around mile 30 so I was able to keep up my energy for the ride home. I refilled my water bottle 3 times and tried to drink constantly, even when I wasn’t thirsty. Today I’m completely parched and starving though which is a common side effect of ramping up exercise like this. I’ll probably drink gallons today.
All in all it was a great day, though I did get a bit of a sunburn. Today I’m headed out to buy the really diesel SPF and hopefully get back on the bike this afternoon. The 5 Borough bike tour is going on and a certain friend of mine is riding it a little untraditionally. I think I’ll go see how he fared.
Have a great Sunday!
Rockaway native here (exiled in NJ for now). First, congratulations on your riding and stamina-building! Second, corrections: Gil, not Guy Hodges. More important, “Far Rockaway” is a term of ignorance, because it really only refers to the eastern part, where the peninsula attaches to Long Island proper. Best to call the area “The Rockaways,” which encompasses (west to east) Breezy Point, Roxbury, Neponsit, Belle Harbor, Rockaway Park, then Hammels and Arverne, and finally Far Rockaway (which is near the Five Towns).
Wow, thanks for all the info on The Rockaways, I really didn’t know that they were all separated out like that. I think I was actually in the farthest east section on my ride, past where the boardwalk and bike paths end. Would that be considered “Far Rockaway”?
As for the Gil Hodges error I plead hunger and exhaustion from the days previous ride.
Thanks so much though!
Sounds like you rode almost to Atlantic Beach! That area where the boardwalk ends over there, on the south side, I call Seagirt. It may even be an official name.
And as for the Gil Hodges thing, I don’t really care that much, not being one for baseball. In fact I can still tap into my childhood anger from 198_ when they appended his memorial moniker to the good old Marine Parkway Bridge.
p.s. You can always call the place Rockaway Beach, à la The Ramones.
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