2012 MS Ride - It Will Rain

October 21, 2012. A day that will live in... no I can't go there. I hadn't done as much prep for this ride as I wanted to. As you can see from my previous rides, I didn't get the climb training in like I should have. This ride, I knew, was going to be a really hard one. Start in Manhattan, go up through the Palisades, play in the hilly terrain of Rockland County for a while, and then head back to the city. Cake ride, right? NOT!

2012 Bike MS Map

Yes, the shaded parts are 8 rated hills. For those of you who don't ride much, these are hills that can be considered "professional grades". In other words, ones you'd find on rides like the Tour De France. The lower the number, the higher the grade. Generally when I ride, I may encounter 1 cat 5 hill. But never this much. So it was easy to psych myself out.

I've been on a diet recently to drop some unwanted weight I gained with all my shoulder problems for the last couple of years. But I knew I had to leave that behind and start carb loading for the ride. I had been slowly introducing the carbs throughout the week (quinoa, whole wheat wraps, etc.). On Friday night I had a nice pasta meal and then Saturday I was going to have about 2500 calories (my usual intake is about 1500-1600 on a diet). By 6pm I realized I hadn't had much at all that day so I was getting nervous. But that night we had a birthday party to go to and I went to town on some lasagna, meatballs, a few cookies, some garlic bread... hmmm now I'm hungry again. Let me get some dinner.

...

The next morning I woke at 4:30 and was out the door on the train and arrived onsite at 6:30. I was riding for my company team and they had a nice shirt waiting for me so I put it on and one serious biker on the team wanted to ride as a group. I told him I'd do it so long as I could stay with them. We inched close to the starting line and saw the police escort which was to take us through the first part of the century ride.

2012 MS Ride Starting Line

The police also provided a nice rendition of the Star Spangled Banner before we took off.

National Anthem

Once we were ready it was packed in pretty tightly. They gave us the "Go!" and we started down the West Side Highway. Immediately, I lost the group I was going to ride with. I was going about 19mph and they were flying. I didn't need to burn out on the first leg. I was one of the first 100 or so of the total 5000 bikers to reach the Holland Tunnel. This was a first for the MS Ride apparently. Unfortunately, they didn't think about the grates at the beginning of the tunnel because a number of bikers either blew out their tires or at the very least had flats. By the time I got there, one of the marshalls had already dismounted and warned people of the hazard. I caught the tip of the first grate but my tires were rock solid. Then I was able to navigate my way over a seam on the second one so I was ok. I passed a bunch of people in the tunnel already changing their tires.

I will say though that riding through the Holland Tunnel traffic free was really cool!

The Holland Tunnel

We got to the other side and then made our way along the Hudson on River Road. We then got to Palisades Park for the first major climb.

Palisades Park

Putting the climb aside, Palisades Park was one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had on a bike. The date was October 21st, right at the height of the fall foliage season. It was magnificent. The above picture does not do it justice because I was on my bike when I took the picture ("blind" click every once in a while"). I didn't want to pull over to the side because then I'd have to start the climb from a standstill which was not going to be easy. If I looked to the left, there was a cliff that rose high above and was covered with oranges, reds, browns and greens. To my right, there was another cliff (going down) with much of the same and the Hudson River at the bottom. Off in the distance was the skyline of northern Manhattan. It was breathtaking. Or maybe that was the climb, because it was VERY steep at times. We got a few downhills, but it was primarily a 3 mile climb through the park and at the top I took a breather in front of one of the park buildings.

Northern Palisade Park HQ

It was also during the climb in the park that the song came to me. No it was NOT a good biking song: Bruno Mars's It Will Rain.

My wife is a big fan of this song and I imagine it was on the radio in the last couple of days. I said to the kids on Saturday morning that they weren't allowed to sing around me because the last thing I wanted was Lady Gaga for 100 miles rolling around in my head. But there's so much exposure to music, it's hard to avoid it. This song is played on the radio incessantly and despite the fact that I listen to ESPN, FAN and NPR most of the time, my kids don't want any of that. So we put on the radio or the iPod and whatever gets played I'm exposed to.

It Will Rain is one of Mars's more whiny songs. I'm not a big fan of the beat track in the background. Give me Neil Peart or Mike Portnoy or even Phil Collins any day. And he repeats the same note progression throughout the entire chorus which has the effect of just searing itself into my brain. It isn't until he gets to the "Ra-a-a-a-a-ain" at the end of the chorus where you get some type of resolution. This is not a bike friendly song. It's slow, it's monotonous and repetitive. What was funny was as soon as I got out of the first rest stop which was not that far along from the top of Palisades Park, I had temporarily the Gym Class Heroes and Adam Levine song Stereo Hearts in my head because they were blasting it at the stop. But Bruno came in like a... well... Bruno and pushed it out within a mile or two and I was stuck with this one. Grrr....

I should also say at this point that leading up to this ride, I was looking at it as just that - a ride. I knew it was a benefit and to be completely honest with you, I thought of that as secondary. But leading up to the first rest stop there were some signs on the road that told the story of Lisa who was battling with Multiple Sclerosis. It hit upon all of my own insecurities about what would happen if I got diagnosed with something like this. I do have a close relative who has a mile case of MS, but even with that, it wasn't real. When I got to the rest stop, I saw a woman who was signing orange bandanas. It was Lisa herself. I walked up to her and really had no idea what to say. "I'm sorry you have to go through this" just wasn't going to cut it. So I just walked up and smiled. She handed me a bandana and said, "Thank you for riding, it means so much to me." I got it. I knew why we were doing this. This was such an enormous thing for those who suffer from this illness as we raided over $2 million with this ride. I took the bandana that Lisa gave me and wrapped it around my head (I never wear bandanas by the way). For the rest of the ride, Lisa and her story and the story of all the others that she represented rode with me and honestly gave me strength during the more difficult moments of the ride.

Me with Lisa's bandana

I came out of the first rest stop and continued the climb through the Palisades. Again, I wasn't able to take many pictures due to the terrain, but I did get one nice foliage shot here.

And another coming across a bridge.

There were of course many ups and downs. At one point in the ride I broke my personal record and hit 45.2 mph. During some of the climbs I dipped below 4 mph. I tried every trick in the book on climbs. Breathing exercises, standing climbs, sitting climbs, anything I could think of. It was just tough. One thing that was interesting was that I had been on 3 centuries before this and all of them spaced out their rest stops about 20-30 miles apart. This one had them about 10 miles apart. I was poo-pooing the distraction, but after some of those climbs I thought it better to just stop at each rest stop for 5-10 minutes rather than take longer ones every 25 miles. It definitely helped.

Congers rest stop

Another funny thing about this ride was the guy who organized the group ride at the beginning. Remember they just took off? Well he couldn't stay with that group either. He hooked up with a few others, but had trouble sticking with them too. So invariably with each rest stop, I came in and there he was. It was a joke but I saw him at every single rest stop. I would come in after him and then leave before him. He'd pass me on one of the climbs and by the time I got to the next stop, he was there.



I must have done something right in my diet leading up to the ride and hydration throughout because I didn't really cramp until about 75 miles in, despite all the climbing. Then it hit hard. I rested at the side of the road for about 8 minutes and then went pain free for the rest of the ride.

The category 4 hill came at around mile 81 and that was brutal. I was going about 3.8 mph and just needed to get through the climb and there was a rest stop at the top off 9W. I rolled into the rest stop and happened to run into a former co-worker there. And my co-worker told me the rest of the ride was a cake-walk from there. Good to hear because I was running on fumes.

The last rest stop was getting ready for the Halloween season

They weren't too far off, a couple of mini-climbs approaching the George Washington bridge, but for the most part it was relatively flat.

George Washington Bridge

We cleared the bridge and it was just the rolling hills of Riverside drive on down to the finish where I was welcomed by a man with a microphone and a hearty congratulations and medal for finishing the century.

I finished!

This was truly an incredible experience. More climb than I have ever done in a single ride and I can honestly say I learned something about myself. It's more than the ride. I was touched by the knowledge that what I was doing, and what those who helped me raise money for this event, was going to help find a cure to this illness.

WHY WE RIDE

Vitals:

Distance:	100.82 mi
Time:	7:21:16
Avg Speed:	13.7 mph
Elevation Gain:	5,253 ft
Calories:	7,884 C

NY Isles - Stronger

My last ride before the MS benefit ride was going to be a little shorter than I would have liked. My family was having dinner with my in-laws, so I had an opportunity to bike into the city, shower at their apartment and then go out to dinner. Issue was I had commitments in the morning, so I had to do about 55m. I programmed out a cool ride but then after I started, I realized that it was a pretty easy ride, technically speaking, so it wasn't going to be a great training session. Of course, I didn't know what the winds would be doing...

I set out at about 11:30 and the winds were pretty strong. Probably around 15-20mph with gusts up a little higher. They were coming from the northwest, so I was going headlong into them for quite awhile. Well, there would be my workout! I made my way into Queens via Dutch Broadway and then up north to the Greenway. Once I got into the tree-lined bike path, the wind cut down a bit. Which was good because I was only averaging around 14mph so far. The path had a lot of people on it, so I wasn't going to improve much there. This is why I like to bike a little earlier in the morning, but it was still a beautiful day. I got to Flushing Meadow Park after going through a network of bridges over the highway system and then over to 34th Ave. I snaked through Queens and then found myself staring up at the Queensboro Bridge.

The song hit me very quickly in this ride. The night before was game one of the American League Championship Series (my poor Yankees!) and Derek Jeter broke his ankle trying to field a ground ball in the 12th inning. The morning of my ride, I was listening forlornly to the radio and they played Kelly Clarkson's Stronger as kind of a motivator for the fans that were upset. Of course, once I heard it, I had the song in my head for the rest of the day.

I have to be honest with you, I'm not a huge fan of overplayed simplistic pop songs, especially from American Idol alumni (although I really love David Cook), but you really can't do much better than this song when it comes to biking. I didn't remember how the verses went, so I had 55 miles straight of just the chorus. Annoying, yes, but it's got a really driving beat. And the fact that the vocals rise with energy as the chorus develops makes it even better.

I got to the East River and then headed north a little bit with the intent to get onto Roosevelt Island. I'd been there once with my father-in-law and family and it's nice, but I wanted to do a loop around. The only thing I hated was the site of a giant power plant on the mainland before the bridge. That was an eyesore. But once I got on the island I noticed that everything got quiet. There weren't many cars and the sounds of the Queensboro bridge were muted off in the distance. It was really nice. I couldn't go very quickly on the island because of the mass of walkers/fishermen and the cobblestones weren't great to ride on. But it was almost like a haven in the sea of chaos that is Manhattan and the other boroughs.

This was a boat going under the Queensboro bridge while I rode along the west side of the island. I took a break at about 28 miles at the northern lighthouse.

That's my bike on the left by the way. I had a little snack and then left to return to Queens, go over the Queensboro and then along 1st Avenue in Manhattan. After kicking over to the shoreline of the East River, I then took my next Island on (that would be the 4th - Long, Roosevelt, Manhattan and now...): Randalls Island. I went over a walking bridge and ended up in a nice park.

This was an interesting looking shot across the river. I have no idea what that building is, but it looked nice enough to take a snapshot. I've been biking on this island a lot lately, but this time I was on the western edge. I then got to the RFK/Triboro bridge and ended up back in Manhattan again.

From there I went north to the Macomb Dam Bridge, one I had never taken before. I was a little worried about where in the Bronx I'd end up, but to my surprise, I found myself staring right at this.

It was about 2pm before a 4pm first pitch, so there were a lot of people looking to enjoy the game. Unfortunately, they didn't enjoy it much - unless they were a Detroit Tigers fan. I headed north and then over another bridge back into Manhattan again. Then it got a little hairy...

Once I got back into Manhattan, that area is extremely hilly. So much so, that the GPS incorrectly had me on a path that was along the water line, but I was about 300 feet above it on a parallel road. I wound my way around a bunch of switchbacks at the top of Manhattan crossing my way over and missing my route. Eventually I found my way back onto Dyckman and then got to Broadway and headed south. Again, I had cliff problems as my GPS wanted me on the shore - heck, I wanted to be on the shore - but I had to climb a 300 foot stairway to get there (and I did). I also had to use an elevator at another point to get down to the shoreline, so I was a little frustrated. But finally I found my way into Riverside Park and then headed south to the 90s and cut over to Broadway again where after 50 miles, I found my parents who had a booth in a craft fair.

I spent a little time with them and even helped them clean up a bit and then headed to Central Park. I went on the main roadway and looped around the southern end and finally exited on the East side in the 90s, where I found my in-laws apartment on Park.

Road conditions and pedestrians and wind slowed me town tremendously, but it was a very enjoyable ride.

Vitals:

Distance:	56.15 mi
Time:	4:16:56
Avg Speed:	13.1 mph
Elevation Gain:	1,941 ft

Lloyd Harbor - Some Nights

OK, this one's a little late. The ride was on September 30th. The night before, at a birthday dinner for a friend, I asked another friend who used to be a serious biker if he could recommend new routes. He mentioned Cold Spring Harbor, which I hadn't done much around so I was eager to try. We looked at a map and the route took me into Lloyd Harbor, but I apparently had forgotten how incredibly hilly that area is. Oh well.

I set out at around 10am after looking at the weather app and it said rain at 4pm. So I'd better hurry! I took off east parallel to Sunrise Highway and made decent time to the Massapequa Preserve.

This is a beautiful natural area with a nice, although sometimes busy, bike path that winds its way up to Bethpage Park. Because of the amount of people that are usually on this path, you can't really get any good speed, but it is very peaceful so I like it. The ride north is pretty much all uphill, although at a fairly gentle grade.

The ride went north and before I got into Bethpage Park I turned off onto Plainview Road and headed up the long hill that is Plainview. Eventually I crossed Northern Boulevard and I got to Cold Spring Harbor.

I have to say that this area is beautiful. I went along the harbor to my left and then eventually made my way to a tough stretch: Snake Hill Road.

View Larger Map

This street is has a nasty little switchback due to it's extremely steep grade. My cousin once took it with me as a part of the Long Island Harbors Ride (which was the most awesome ride!) and he registered it on his GPS as a 13% grade. I realized I was coming up on it as I recognized the area on Shore Road and at that point I cursed my friend. But I took it as best as I could and then go to the top. One of the most demoralizing features of this hill is that there's no payoff at the end of this. That's just wrong.

As I traveled through the town after the hill, I saw one of the strangest street signs.

I named them. The mother's name is Broomhilda. My favorite is Skeeter, the guy who's trying to fly. I got into Lloyd Harbor and then pulled over alongside the water for a well deserved break.

The ride along the harbor continues up a hill to Caumsett State Park and Preserve and I did a loop through the beautiful park. The most interesting part of the ride was the mansion.

While I was riding through Caumsett, the song finally solidified. My wife fell in love with this song the first time she heard it. It's got a good beat, if not a disturbing video.

Fun. launched themselves into stardom last year with their hit "We Are Young". Tender verses give way to a driving chorus that is more insidious than The Dating Game theme. This one is the same format, but the harmonies are intoxicating. The lead singer has a repetitive, but complex vocals through each of the individual verses. He jams a large number of words with the urgency that is caught in the lyrics and backround beat of the song and it works. the harmonics are mesmerizing though. There is such a full sound in this song and based on the simple rhythms, but fast moving vocals, it is a great song to ride to.

I finished the beautiful ride along the Caumsett trail.

I then made my way back the way I came. Down Snake Hill Road and back to Northern Boulevard. From here though I turned west. Apparently I was riding along the route of a different coordinated ride and I was seeing "GC" markers on the ground. I was immediately hit by a very steep and long hill. After Lloyd Harbor I was kind of tired so this one took a lot of effort. The people who had marked up the road realized this was a tough one and offered words of encouragement on the way up. The road was painted with "Almost there!" and "You can do it!" When you got to the top of the hill there was a nice "You made it!" I then turned south and headed towards Syosset where I took a bagel break.

On the way to the food stop, I got passed by about 5 fire trucks. One of them blared his horn as he was on top of me which almost made me fall down it was so loud and jarring. After cursing the driver I started wondering what was going on and when I got to the Syosset train station, I found that there was about 20 different fire trucks from different areas of Nassau County. Apparently it was fire prevention day.

After the stop, I went west through Muttontown and then turned south to Old Westbury. There I had an incredibly visual ride down IU Willets Lane. There's some serious money here. This is someone's house.

Sorry, no zoom on my camera. But that is a giant fountain in front of that house. Also note the sky above the house. Picture perfect, right? Not for long. I went another couple of miles and came out of a tree covered canopy at Glen Cove Road. At the light I looked up to the sky and noticed that the entire area was covered with storm clouds. I looked at my watch and noticed it was only a little after 2pm. My arthritic knees were screaming but it was at that point that I realized the weatherman (gee big surprise coming here) was wrong. So after the light turned green I tore ahead at 19mph. I forgot about the knees and was able to keep up the pace even through the beginning drizzle. Then the sky opened up.

I had to slow down because I was afraid at that speed I wouldn't be able to stop for lights or hazards. So I continued between 14-15mph the rest of the way in a full fledged storm. No thunder or lightning thankfully, but I felt like a soaked rat. After about 45 minutes, I finally got home.

The ride was great, despite the rain at the end. Looking forward to the MS Ride on 10/21!

Vitals:

Distance:	65.80 mi
Time:	4:34:46
Avg Speed:	14.4 mph
Elevation Gain:	1,974 ft