23 May 2008

Oh, River Road

I was feeling pretty good about my legs after cruising through the Montauk Centruy last Sunday. My first trip on River Road today put me in my place. I averaged a whopping 15.6 mph. Wow.

I was climbing like an old man and descending like an old lady. I couldn't let go of the idea that around every curve was an SUV waiting to make me into a hood ornament. Getting passed by a jackass in an SUV going about 35 mph did little to assuage this fear. Going up the climb to Alpine I held steady at 9.5 mph. The climbing, whatever, it'll get better. It was the nancypants descending that upset me. I just couldn't bring myself to lay off the brake. Hopefully that will get better too and I've not condemned myself to ride like a geriatric for the rest of my life.

How was the ride out there, you ask? Well, it was awful as a matter of fact. Riverside Drive was a parking lot of cranky people trying to get to New Jersey. It goes without saying that the cut through Central Park was as big of a PITA as always.

How was the ride home, you ask? Well, it was also awful. Some douchebag on a POS bike rode right into me on the GWB. Thankfully, I had slowed to almost stopping because of a couple pedestrians and the fact that we were all negotiating one of the S-turns. Not so for the brain-genius on the gaspipe Schwinn. Despite my best efforts to get out of his way without running into the peds, he managed to stay right on target and knock me off my bike. I landed on my shoulder and hip which are a little sore. Hello my old friend 401 Plasters! How are ya? My bike is thankfully fine except for a small cosmetic crack around my right brifter. I don't know what I would have done if my bike had been damaged. Call the police? Threaten the guy? Thankfully I don't have to know.

All in all, a joyless ride. Kind of depressing. I love cycling so much, but the rides in NYC are soooo limited (ie go to Nyack or go in circles in Prospect Park) and full of idiots. My first thought was "this is not a good place to live and love bikes." But perhaps it's really just not a good place for me to live and love bikes. Hopefully I'm just getting ahead of myself.

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