NYC Century Bike Tour: What a Blast Travelling 40 Miles!

I am completely head over heels in love!

Unfortunately not with a hot, hip guy — well, at least, not yet — but with bicycling — and bicycling in big events!

That’s right. Yesterday, riding in the NYC Century Bike Tour was absolutely the biggest blast!

First off, these days it’s a big deal for me to take off on weekends — i.e. not spend so much time on my book SUGAR SHOCK!

Secondly, it was such fun to challenge myself to new heights at this fabulous event sponsored by this cool organization Transportation Alternatives! You see, while I’m not (yet) in good enough shape to ride a whole 100 or 75 miles — that’s something to which I aspire at some point — I did go 35 miles, plus another 5 to get home. So 40 miles, for me, was a major accomplishment. (Better than any sugar spree!)

 

I’m telling you: I’ve never seen New York like I did yesterday in the six years since I moved here!

As our groups of bicyclists covered the streets — mind you, traffic
was NOT closed — we were bombarded by awesome sights galore.

For instance, we rode through
the heart of the theater district, down Broadway, into the village.
Then we traversed the Brooklyn Bridge and rode quickly throughout
gorgeous Prospect Park, where the 15-milers stopped, including all these cool people I met, including my two
new friends Renee and Nadine.

Incidentally, we won’t talk about all the junk food — except for
the oranges, apples and bananas — that awaited us at Prospect Park and
various other major stopping points! (Suffice it to say that I skipped
the sugary peanut butter, the wheat bread that surely contained high
fructose corn syrup and all the dessert foods. But I did remember to
bring a special biking lunch bag with me, filled with healthy goodies.)

Anyhow, while at Prospect Park, I decided to go for for the whole 35 miles, as I’d previously planned. There, another new friend caught up with me.

Off we went, guided by a nice marshal. (They are folks in orange vests who know how to fix tires should you get a flat.)

Well, at some point, while trying to pick up speed, we left behind the less experienced bikers (like me) and joined the hard-core bicyclists — the ones who regularly do 50, 75, 100 miles. That was actually pretty fun!

Imagine me, pedaling like crazy to keep up with the hard-core riders and I’d be just hoping that the lights would change red so I could rest for a few seconds! Of course, I didn’t want to let them know that I’m one of the biking wimps!

Meanwhile, the hot-shot bicyclists — with me, tagging along — went whizzing by various neighborhoods, confronted periodic unfriendly motorists (no comment). Alas, I encountered one of those insensitive car drivers in Harlem, and because the driver cut me off, I got separated from my group of fast-moving bicyclists. I had to scramble to find another group.

Of course, the challenge all day was:

1) to keep your eye on the road,

2) still take
in the amazing scenery while

3) averting pot holes and other traps and well, for
those of us striving to be in better shape,

4) keep up with your fast-moving group and not let a little thing like getting out of
breath get in the way when it came to climbing ubiquitous hills. (Shh, don’t tell anyone! LOL!)

And naturally,

5) you hoped that your bicycle would stay in tip-top shape.

Given that I’ve never done anything like this, the day was full of intriguing challenges. For instance, I had one scare while on the Triborough Bridge where my gears just
wouldn’t move. It turns out that my bike wouldn’t budge, because I’d picked up a piece of string on
the road. Thank goodness for that nice guy who helped me.

Anyhow, as I rode with the much-much-better-than-me riders, we rode over the Triboro Bridge (where we had to carry our bikes up the stairs or slip them into metal slides); past Long Island City, Travers Island, etc., etc. til we arrived at our final end point back in Central Park near 100th Street.

I am now officially hooked.

In fact, I’ve lost no time. A few minutes ago, I signed up for the Tour de Bronx on Sunday, Oct. 21.

I’ve even committed to going 40 miles (instead of 25.)

They’re expecting some 3,000 to 4,000 bicyclists to join their free event.

Stay tuned, because I’m now going to present a special Stop SUGAR SHOCK! Radio Show in which I interview folks from the 2007 NYC Century Bike Tour and its sponsor Transportation Alternatives and the upcoming Tour de Bronx event.