Buffalo

We met up with our group at Riverhead LIRR station. My buddy Mike Moses drove out to Riverhead with my wife Golda and my daughters Shira and Hannah. They were joined by 5BBC member Pat M. . Golda went to see about tickets for Atlantis Marine World and the others joined us for a nice slow ride for a few miles, mostly on country roads, to visit North Quarter Farm and its buffalo.

As ever, the disparity in athletic ability -- at least for cycling -- between Shira and Hannah made pace a bit tricky: Shira rides at least 2-3 mph faster than Hannah, and when that is 6 vs 9 its quite noticeable. I kept the pace down to 8 and made sure to keep Hannah in sight as best I could. Hannah was mostly happy as the center of attention with 4 large men forming a safety cordon around here, offering her praise and encouragement as we went. Nonetheless, by the time we reached North Quarter farm just a few miles away from the station Hannah was quite tired.

After our brief tour of the farm, I stayed behind with Hannah and Shira while Rodney and Jesse escorted Mike and Pat back to town. Hannah rested, ate a Larabar and drank some water.

The girls took turns posing for pictures, first with the buffalo and then with Daddy, while we rested.

We waited a little while for Mike to come back with the truck and pick up Hannah, but then Hannah felt strong enough to slowly ride back towards town. We got perhaps a quarter of the way and then Mike found us. The girls got into the truck while Mike and I loaded their bikes onto the rack. I declined the offer of a lift back to town. With the bikes loaded, I waved goodbye to Mike and my girls then took off. I went all the way down into the drops and pedaled as hard as I could to go as fast as I could.

At 26 mph, Mike and the girls pulled alongside. The girls were very excited and happy to see me riding so fast and for a moment or two Mike drove the truck at a speed to pace alongside me. Then, with all 3 of them laughing, they took off while I continued to push as hard as I could to go as fast I could while the conditions permitted as I headed back to the Peconic waterfront in downtown Riverhead to meet them.