As luck would have it, we are traveling on the best day of the year – and it’s a Saturday. Our leader, Geoffrey, wisely steers us away from the Hudson Greenway, which is more crowded than I’ve ever seen it (I ride it to get to Central Park). Instead, after meeting at Columbus Circle...
What I love about the 5BBC is that these are largely urban rides. The views aren’t always pretty, but they’re always interesting.
When we get to City Island, we ride to the southern tip for a seafood lunch at a joint that could have come straight out of an SNL skit: a cacophonous cavern with orders yelled back from the counters to the guys with the fryers, in a sort of working pandemonium. The noise level is off the charts, but I have to laugh. Where else in the country would you find a place like this?
I locate the group outside.
We gobble down our lunch and before I know it, we're on our way back.
But Geoffrey is remarkably unfazed and works to get the spokes back into the wheel, hoping it will align.
Fortunately some of us have the route map, and we make our way at a leisurely pace back to the Hudson Greenway.
But I have theatre tickets and can’t afford this leisurely pace. So after a 40mi ride, I find myself sprinting the last 8 mi or so down the Greenway – Gah!
En route, I encounter one pothole too many, and the wrist is not happy. I am home long enough to ice, and head out to the theatre, making a note to myself to check on Geoffrey later.
I would like to mention that during this ride, I have consumed:
1 Apple & 4 pieces cheese
1 banana
1 PB&J sandwich
1 Energy Bar
15 small scallops
1 small container boiled veggies
1 cup yogurt
1 Pint each: water, gator aid, lemonade
1 Cup of coffee at 8pm (to get me through the theatre)
And I could still eat!
Here’s the original route map.