Jukebox Cyclist: Bayside Marina

Friday, August 10, 2012

Bayside Marina - Olympic Fanfare

My usual MO for getting ready for a Century ride is to start about 4-5 weeks early and to build my mileage and seat time up. I'm prepping for the NYC Century on September 9th and this was my first ride. The plan was to go from Rockville Centre northwest to Bayside Marina along the bike path on the Cross Island Parkway. Continue along through the park to the end at Utopia Parkway and swing back to home. Total for about 33 miles.

It was a beautiful day on Saturday (8/4) but it was stickier than a freshly baked Cinnabon. I took off and the first thing that popped into my head was of course, the Olympic theme. The 1984 one written by John Williams.

My wife and I have been watching a lot of the prime time coverage for the Olympics, which unfortunately has had a distinct lack of coverage of cycling. Except the last couple of nights I was watching the BMX coverage and that was really cool!

No BMX here, just navigating the streets of NYC on the way to the Crocheron Park bike path which is always nice during the summer as there's a ton of sailboats on the water. And at the end you get a really great sight of the Throggs Neck Bridge while passing a bunch of soccer players. By the way, what's a Throgg? And what's so special about it's neck?

I had a diatribe I posted on NerdNYC that I'll repost here at some point on my assessment of biking in NYC. It's a love hate relationship. I love biking in Brooklyn. I hate biking in Queens. That's harsh. There's some beautiful areas to bike in like Forest Park and the Crocheron path and Alley Pond, but the signage is horrific. Brooklyn's got great signage, but I always get lost in Queens when I try to take the Greenway. So I am forced to take the streets, which I know well but are susceptible to traffic lights and of course those nasty cars. My trip back seemed interminable on Francis Lewis Blvd, but it was such a nice day that I chose not to be negative.

Vitals:

Distance:	33.73 mi
Time:	2:12:23
Avg Speed:	15.3 mph
Elevation Gain:	417 ft
Calories:	2,202 C

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So Why Jukebox Cyclist?

The original name that came to my head during a ride in Williamsburg, VA was "Damn You Boy" but that probably wouldn't have gone over very well in my house. My son, Li'l Zuk is what I call him on the Internet, has a little tick. I had the same one as a kid. He gets a song or a line in his head and he sings it over and over again. A mild annoyance at worst usually, but right before a ride, it becomes something wholly different. I have the same problem, but I just don't vocalize it. So when he does this right before I have a 50m or worse, a century ride, I then get that same song in my head. For the entire ride.

For safety reasons, I don't ride with a music player. I actually get mildly annoyed at others who do, although I usually keep it to myself. So when I get a song in my head and you get the rhythmic movements on the bike going, the song becomes part of your ride. Whether you want it or not. I've had everything from Lady Gaga to Tchaikovsky in my head at times. My tastes in music run the gamut. My Pandora stations are Eddie From Ohio, Spock's Beard, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Billy Joel, P!nk and Mozart. About the only music I don't listen to is Country (although my wife loves it, so I'm not immune to having The Dixie Chicks stuck either) and Rap (although I've had Grandmaster Flash stuck too). Oh yeah, I'm not big on electronica either, but I'm not really exposed to it much so it hasn't really affected my rides.

As for biking, I got into it about 6 years ago when I lost a bunch of weight and wanted to vary my training. I eventually started doing sprint and Olympic distance triathlons and then moved on to some coordinated rides from 30 to 100 miles. I find it cathartic. It's a great relief from a stressful job. I do it mostly alone, mostly due to the fact that I can't dedicate a specific time every week to do it. However I have ridden with groups a bit so I understand the dynamics and some of the dependencies between riders. My normal rides are on Long Island, NY where I live. However, whenever I travel, I end up bringing my bike and love to try new regions out.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Bayside Marina - Olympic Fanfare

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