A great part of cycling and triathlon is that there are many opportunities to make new friends. There’s something about riding that creates an instant connection among total strangers. And when you spend so much time training or thinking about training, it seems like you want to surround yourself with people who share your enthusiasm (and feel your pain!). Saturday an impromptu century ride was on tap.
If you’ve ever ridden around the NYC area you know that the classic NYC ride is actually outside of NYC – it’s from the George Washington Bridge to Nyack and back by way of 9W.
There’s plenty of great scenery and while there is traffic on some of route, most of the way it’s calm with nice views. Just about any morning (or afternoon) you can find plenty of riders heading out from the Jersey side of the GWB, either down to river road and across to Route 9W at Alpine or just straight up 9W from the bridge.
It was chilly in the mid 40s at the 8AM start but warmed up nicely as the LONG day went on. This is the kind of weather where some people decide to stay indoors, but with the right gear you can be really comfortable. Don’t let a little chill stop you from riding outdoors. Base layer,jersey, armwarmers, vest, full finger gloves, bibshorts, knee warmers, oversocks and cycling cap under the helmet are a good formula for 40-50 degrees. If it’s a little colder you can go long sleeve jersey and windbreaker. Anyway, after about 10 minutes I was toasty!
Our group was around 11 strong and we set out nice and easy in a double paceline. With an orderly group we cruised easily at 20mph without much effort. That’s the benefit of a ride in a paceline -cover the distance faster. Who wouldn’t want to go faster with less effort anyway? More on this in a future post!
We crossed from the state line and passed through the towns of Piermont and Nyack. Both towns are beautiful with nice cafes and worth a visit. Bear Mountain is about 40 miles up from the GWB. Apart from a quick stop to change a flat the group made it without incident.
. We waited around 10 minutes for everyone to make it, snapped a few photos and started the descent. There were some cars around so you couldn’t really bomb down the mountain but it was still a blast.
On the way back we hit the warm up climb in the other direction at which time I immediately realized that I had just ridden up a freaking mountain! 50 miles into a 90-mile ride and the legs were not happy. Some guys were antsy to get home. The flat tire change and some waiting at the top of Bear and you’re starting to cut into afternoon plans.
The group was strung out on the descent from Bear and 3-4 guys took off while another 5 of us were together with the last 2 trailing behind. Only problem was that I had to slow down for some traffic and the 3 guys in front of me were just far enough ahead that I couldn’t chase them down. They had the power of the draft and I had none. I chased for about 20 minutes but tried to control it to avoid a major blowup. Afraid that I would be riding 20 miles to Nyack by myself, luckily they stopped to see who was behind and I was able to regroup.
Here’s where fatigue sets in and things start to get fuzzy. One of the guys pulls out a plastic bag containing his wallet and proceeds to drop it accidentally right into a storm drain! It was 3 feet down and that drain was not coming out. Next thing you know one of the guys comes out of a nearby store with a wire hanger and actually fishes the wallet out. It was like a magic trick. A few laughs and back slaps and we were off back toward Nyack where we could stop for a quick lunch.
A couple of miles north of Nyack lies a nasty climb from Rockland Lake. We were all pretty cracked from 65 miles plus the Bear climb but it was smiles all around as we regrouped at the Runcible Spoon, a well known Nyack café where at any time of day you can find 10 to 50 cyclists chowing down. It was so packed there wasn’t even space on the many bike racks.
We lingered for 30 minutes over coffees and sandwiches and rolled out as a group of 7 or 8. Twenty miles back to the bridge. What was left of the group worked together and while we were pretty wiped we made good time down 9W. Back across the bridge to my car and DONE-ZEE. 90 miles. Hard but not awful.
The drive each way wasn’t bad – about 45 minutes, and there is plenty of free parking near the bridge on Riverside Drive. If anybody wants to try this ride some time let me know!
