5 Boro

HOW did this happen to me?! I have 9 days till the 42 Mile NYC Bike ride and I have not yet swung my leg over my bike to train.

Did you read that? Read it again and then send the men in white coats. I'm going to attempt to ride 42 miles on the roadways of the 5 boros that make up the NYC area without having been on a bike in about 5 months, maybe more.

What's worse? I did the SAME THING LAST YEAR. Last year though the ride was the first time I'd been on a bike in 25 years.
Did I mention the kind of bike I have?

That's her. My beautiful pink one speed beach cruiser. My eldest son named her "Bison" because she's as big as a Bison.

While I love her, she ain't fast and she ain't light. Hills are painful with her.

This year however I have something on my side I did not have last year. I have intimate knowledge of the course and what to expect and where the hills are and how to attack this whole pack of insane folks biking along with me.

Did I mention that I'll be doing this 42 mile journey with 32,000 of my closest pals? Oh yeah. That means not only do I have to focus on me and my bike and the potholes and hills, I have to be insanely aware of all four sides and watching for accidents ahead and bikes getting too close behind.

I'm also hoping that while there won't be any surprises and I can better mentally gear myself up for this one better than last year I'll also have better legs in my corner. I've been working on my legs like crazy trying to get them ready for this event.

One of the things that killed me last year was the stopping and scooting along. With that many folks trying to funnel into roadways there are bottlenecks galore and that means you have to scoot along getting bruised and battered.

I have a plan to combat this too and I'm hoping it works. I can't share it with you because it's a little unorthodox and may or may not break some rules. I'll tell you all about it later on, after the event.

I'm prepared to struggle and maybe even shed a few tears. This is going to be an exhausting day and I'll be pushing my poor short stubby stems to the limit.

So why on earth am I doing this? Because it's an amazing opportunity to ride roads that are closed to bikes 364 days out of the year. Because last  year I only made it to 30 miles and had to bail out early.

This year I'm going to do the full 42 miles. I'm stronger than I was last year and I need to prove that to myself.