█████ and I rode in the Multiple Sclerosis NYC Bike Tour on Sunday. We chose the 60-mile route, expressly so we could ride through the Lincoln Tunnel.
We started in Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan at 7:30 am. The weather was gray and misty, and the forecast was for rain all day. We were released in stages onto the beginning of FDR Drive which runs up the east side of Manhattan. The FDR was completely shut down northbound, as was the Harlem River Drive. As the island narrowed we were shunted over to 10th Avenue, where we rode all the way to north to 218th Street or so. Then we cycled south to the Henry Hudson Parkway and the West Side Highway, which were shut down for us southbound.
In the 40s, the 60-milers and 100-milers were shunted over to the Lincoln Tunnel. (The 30-milers continued south, as they were almost done.) A group of us at a time was released into the Tunnel approach, where police examined our backpacks. Then we entered the Tunnel itself—a glorious zip downhill which soon had us burning along faster than we could pedal even in our highest gears, with plenty of speed left over at the bottom to help us up the far slope. The Tunnel was over far faster than we wished, and then there was a rest stop with water and bananas and muffins before we tackled New Jersey.
This is where my geography gets a little vague, but we cycled north on city-ish streets (where █████ and I collided when I braked hard to avoid being hit by a Mercedes who for some reason wanted to go through a green light) until we entered a gorgeous state park with spectacular cliff views of the Hudson and brutal uphill stretches. Most of the bikers, including us, walked their bikes up at least one of the hills, which was about a mile long.
When we crested that last long uphill, volunteers were there to tell us that we had reached mile 43, and that the next rest area was only 2 more miles. There we had more water and Powerade and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and █████ had a mechanic fix her front wheel, which was a little out of alignment and rubbing her brake from our collision.
Then it was south along a highway (Route 9?), where we first began to be passed by packs of 100-milers in tight formation and identical uniforms who had cycled farther north into New Jersey than we did and were already on their return leg. In Fort Lee we turned left onto the George Washington Bridge, which we crossed via the pedestrian/bike path; we were too strung out by this time to make closing the bridge for us practical.
Finally there was a long, long, long haul downtown from 180th Street, mostly along Riverside Drive, then West End Avenue. Eventually we were shunted onto the West Side bike/skating/pedestrian path, which we stayed on until Pier 54 (the actual pier, not the store). Along the way, the same man on rollerblades passed me four times, I was moving so slowly. At the pier, approximately at 14th Street, a crowd of volunteers was waiting to applaud and cheer as we straggled in. A photographer snapped our pictures, although █████ was too close behind me to end up in her own picture. You can just barely see her behind me in the first of these snaps:
It was 2:15 pm. We had been riding for 6 hours and 45 minutes.
After a couple of bags of chips and a free turkey sandwich from Subway apiece—and more water, lots more water—we biked to Union Square and loaded our bikes onto the W train. Which was rerouted and skipped our stop in Queens. That's okay. We got out at the next opportunity and biked home. And then barely moved the rest of the day.
The whole point of this exercise, besides making us feel like athletes, was of course to raise money for MS research. Between the two of us, we've collected $295 so far toward a team goal of $500. Donations are still being accepted. If anyone feels like contributing online, even as little as five bucks, you can do so here:
- Contribute in █████'s name (highly encouraged)
- Contribute in Bill's name
- Contribute in the team's name
(Our team is named "The Heelan' Coos," after those loveable shaggy beasts from the Scottish highlands. See █████ and the one she wanted to adopt here.)
