Tour De Brooklyn today

Today's the Transportation Alternatives / Brooklyn Boro President's "Tour de Brooklyn". I volunteered as a riding marshal, we'll see how that goes but I've got to get moving this morning as I'm supposed to check in at 7:50 AM at the Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park.

I rode to work a few times this week, after taking off the week after the Montauk Century. Minor bicycle repairs, I had to do a serious amount of chain lubrication with help from Eddie at Eddie's Bicycle shop, who adjusted my rear brakes as well. I recommend him highly. Eddie's a real nice fellow with over 40 years in the business; he's the owner and chief mechanic and when you need a repair you talk to him directly.

odometer: 69:36:15 1826 total miles 796.23 this season 11.4 mph average

Montauk Century!

Today was the big day: my first 100 mile bike ride. I went out to my Mom in Dix Hills Frida afternoon with my daughter Shira so that I could get some sleep Saturday night and get up early this morning. It took a little longer to get out the door this morning than I anticipated but I pedaled as fast as I could down to Babylon, checked in and hooked up with my ride buddies Mordy and Alex.

We headed out at about 6:40 AM. It was a great ride with some really nice scenery. The rest stops were great and we kept the time there as short as possible.

Somewhere around the 60 mile mark, Alex blew out a tire (not just the tube, there was a hole in the sidewall) so we had to leave him for SAG and pedal onward.

I tried to keep an average 15mph pace; sometimes it was a bit tough, others somehow it seemed I was able to push up to 18-20 mph with not to terrible resistance on the pedaling but that didn't last more than a few miles at a time then I dorpped back to 15 or 14 as the terrain became hllier.

Hither Hilss was indeed quite hilly. I managed to coast down one hill standing in my pedals and pulling my elbows in; I managed to coast up the next rise and then down again so that was great...and then came one long hill. After that were were pretty much ome free and I zoomed down that one's backside with glee and enjoyed the fabulous ocean views.

Start of day mileage (in Dix Hills):
56:01:26 riding time
616.63 miles this season
1646 total
10.9 mph average

End of day, after pedaling home from Penn Station up the Greenway as usual:
64:20:59
733.15 miles this season
2320 total
11.3 mph average this season

116.52 miles for the day
8.33 hours riding time

14 mph average speed for the day

Lloyd Harbor, Brooklyn and more

Mother's Day I went out by LIRR to Huntington Station and rode to Hecksher Park (about 3 miles away, I couldn't take a direct route from the 'B' platform), saw my brother Ken and the 9/11 Memorial he built (he's an architect) there.

After munching on bialy and lox, I had a look at the Ansel Adams exhibit in the art museum. That was great, to see the master photographer's prints in person is so much better than a book or poster.

Afterwards, I parted ways with the rest of my extended family and went for a ride up to Lloyd's Neck and around and down to the Cold Spring Harbor station. It was really pretty riding near the water on West Shore Road and I didn't have too many killer hills when I made the turn to West Neck Road (which becomes Woodbury Road when it crosses 25A). About 10 miles of riding for that leg.

Tuesday I took a long ride down to Sears at Avenue U and Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn to pick up a new toaster oven I'd ordered online. It was quite tricky to get the box secured to my bike rack; the fellow at the Sears merchandise pickup helped me supplement my bungee cords with twine. I made it back home without a problem.

Along the way home, I met a fellow named Mike who was riding his single-speed race bike. We rode up the Greenway together for a while, until he got another flat and had to walk out to the subway, and chatted as he extolled the virtues of the single speed. Mike says he goes up the back hill in Central Park at 18 mph! The catch is that downhill, he can only go as fast as he can pedal: there is no freewheeling with this type of bike. Mike is going to ride the Montauk (I think the 100, or was it the 145) on his fixed-gear bike; the mostly flat terrain is well-suited to it and the rolling hills of Hither Hills State Park are not so long and steep that he can't pedal fast enough to keep up. He's never done the Montauk on the fixed-gear before. I hope to see him at the finish line and find out how it went, should be interesting though I don't see myself getting a fixed-gear bike anytime soon.

Odometer: 55:05:05, 11.0 mph average on the odomoter, 609.86 miles this season 1640 total on the odometer.