NYC at 18MPH

Saturday in NYC was time to meet everyone and try to out drink them. If not for Thursday and Friday nights before I wudda taken the trophy. We took in the sights before meeting at Fraunces Tavern for $16 dollar burgers and $10 glasses of wine. The tab was only $305.00. The NY locals didn't bat an eye. Us Cape Cod "wash ashores" couldn 't help but wonder what 305 dollars could have gotten us at our local pub. But hey, we're on vacation and put money aside for this.

We spent the pre pub time walking around Manhattan and over the Brooklyn Bridge and back.





Five AM wakeup got us on the 7:15 ferry from Staten Island to Manhattan on Sunday morning. One of our gang, Dave, who came in from Seattle stayed at the Sheraton on 52nd and 6th. We disembarked the ferry at Battery Park and had a 60 block warmup ride to meet him. Five of us were just coasting along until we got onto 7th Ave. At 22nd St we decided to cut loose and went to after burners. Sunday morning gave us great vision and allowed us to blast through most of the lights. Steve was very spooked riding in traffic so we had to wait a couple of times for him. At 34th Street when he finally caught up, we considered it a miracle.



The start in front of Radio City Music Hall

At the starting line this crazy guy with a cane came out of the subway ready to take on the world. Straggly beard, trench coat, shoulder length scruffy hair, and no teeth. He slammed his cane on the trunk of the car and started calling people on. A NYC cop came up and we wondered how he was going to diffuse this. From behind the cop grabbed the cane out of the bums hand. When the guy turned, the cop held up a can of mace about a foot from his face and let loose a stream that looked like an exploding can of shaving cream. Problem solved in less than 10 seconds.
Blured, but the point is made.


A couple of places really got bogged down during the ride. Crossing the 59th St. Bridge and the Verrazano Pkwy.




A couple of our rest stops turned into photo ops. You know, the ones that seem so apropos at the time. Like these.

Queens rest area


The six of us in Brooklyn



One flat tire in our group of six. Actually it was the first in three years of riding the event. I almost said something to John when he was checking the pressure of his tires before the ride. Actually I said, "sheesh, how much air you puttin in".

In Queens we heard the bang like a "gunshot" and hoped it was not one of our group whose tire had blown. It was, but we got everything back to normal with good teamwork.

Team work


Brandon doing his part for the team


The last leg of the ride took us over the Verrazano Bridge from Brooklyn back to Staten Island. Before leaving that Boro it's a must, as you know, to sample authentic Brooklyn style pizza. The place never lets us down.

The reason why I seldom eat pizza at home


If you try authentic pizza in Brooklyn, it's close to impossible to find something comparable. Trust is needed on this. "It's the best you will ever have". Naturally I didn't. My plate was filled with potato sticks and garlic popers. (a tiny sandwich of pepperoni, mozzarella, sauce and garlic butter. Un-bee-leeeve- ible.


The ride ended after crossing the huge Verrazano Bridge into some fort or park. It was called the festival area for today. Coast down the bridge, speed around the corner then brake hard. The tour people tell you to keep riding into the festival grounds for a while then dismount at the white line. We got to the white line and syscokid fell. It looked pretty funny and harmless at the time, but within a half hour his knee turned an ugly shade of blue and began to swell. He also had a cut on the outside of his leg.(Thank goodness he wore his helmet).

Sysco has to fly back to Seattle today and when I called he told how his knee looked like a golf ball was embedded. Since he spent the evening bar hopping in Manhattan, he did not notice the stiffness till this morning. Five dollar cocktails on the six hour flight should keep the swelling to a minimum.