Century Training - Week 6; Day 6

Week: 6

Day: 6

Ride: Pace

Route: Combination of hills, flats and city traffic

Scheduled Mileage: 53

Actual Mileage: 54.86

Average Speed: 12.7 mph

Max Speed: 26.7 mph

*Includes city street speed average

Average BPM: 143

Max BPM: 174

Calories: 1889

Central Park at nine o'clock in the morning was full of wonderful sounds. A beautiful wailing violin when I passed the East Drive entrance to The Mall on each lap. The cheer from Little League baseball games in the North Meadows. The brief chime of pedicab bells. The clip clop of horseshoes, followed by the rickety scrape of carriages on the pavement. The hum of light, breathy conversations between joggers and other cyclists.

After three laps, I exited the park on West 59th Street and pedaled north on the Hudson River. I reached the 25-mile mark under the George Washington Bridge so I took a break next to the little red lighthouse that inspired this children's book. There are two short hills near the George Washington Bridge that deserve mention because the sharp incline will kick your ass and shoot your heartrate up to the 170s within seconds. After eating a Clif Bar energy bar, I continued north for another mile, attacking those hills, before turning around and heading toward Battery Park and the South Street Seaport at the bottom of Manhattan. The diversity of my first half-century might best and most easily be depicted by the following photos.

Central Park in the morning

Riverside Park on the Upper West Side

West Harlem

 

Along the Amtrak lines to Penn Station

Jeffrey's Hook Light under the George Washington Bridge

Looking south on the Hudson River under the GW Bridge

Along the Hudson River in Inwood

Little League baseball in the shadow of the West Side Highway

Ground Zero

Financial District

Chinatown

Cruising up Third Avenue in Gramercy Flatiron

Hit a street fair at East 23rd Street and cut over to First Avenue

Central Park in the afternoon

 

It's still incredible to me that all the above photos were taken with twelve miles of each other.

For the sake of pace, target heart rate and maximum calorie burn, I could have finished my first half-century in a lot less time if I hadn't gone all Dora The Explorer on mi bicicleta in Downtown Manhattan. But I found a second wind while heading north on First Avenue, keeping speed with the traffic and weaving in and out of lanes when necessary. I meant to pause along 34th and 42nd Streets and take photos looking west toward the Empire State and Chrysler buildings, but the next time I peeked at the street signs passing overhead, I was suddenly at East 70th Street.

Though the Upper East Side is generally more posh than other neighborhoods, I'm always surprised when the streets aren't paved in gold - considering how the cast members of reality TV shows like The Real Housewives of New York City and High Society make their tiny world, which virtually exists within less than a 20-block radius, seem larger than life. I often wonder if these masters of the universe ever realize how small their world really is and how little it truly impacts the deeper, diverse and more culturally rich nature of New York City, dwindling though it may be at the hands of inflated real estate value and of the trite and contrived. Do the people in those worlds ever form genuine relationships or are all of the "friendships" simply networking opportunities with agendas? But I digress.

I was shocked at how good I felt when I re-entered Central Park at West 90th Street along the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. I tackled the Harlem Hill for a fourth time just to feel like I was rounding out my 53 miles with a real workout - since I had broken pace for so many photo opportunities throughout the morning. Exiting the park at Columbus Circle, I cruised down Broadway through Times Square, made a right and I was home.

Century Training - Week 3; Day 7

Week: 3

Day: 7

Ride: Pace
Route: Hilly

Scheduled Mileage: 11

Actual Mileage: 21.82

Average Speed: 13.5 mph*

Max Speed: 29.1 mph

*Includes city street speed average

Average BPM: 136
Max BPM: 188

Calories: 651

Random Notes to Self:

• Had my first fall today; how fast was I going at the time of my tumble? I'm so excited you asked and not at all embarrassed to reply that I was going 0 mph.
• Need to memorize the gears on my cassette; these are my gears: Gear 1 = 25; Gear 2 = 23; Gear 3 = 21; Gear 4 = 19; Gear 5 = 17; Gear 6 = 16; Gear 7 = 15; Gear 8 = 14; Gear 9 = 13; Gear 10 = 12 (the latter numbers are the number of teeth on each cassette).
• Learned what was causing the scratchy tick on my front plate last Thursday.
• Found my new favorite springtime streets in Brooklyn: 5th Avenue and 3rd Street.

According to Bike 101 on The CARE Exchange, it's almost impossible to come up with a truly original way to embarrass yourself on a bike. The rest of us have already, as they say, been there, done that. Just ask your fellow cyclists for their stories about their first clipless pedal fall.

I might have an original story since I have consciously tried to avoid doing anything stupid while pedaling, and my continuing education as a rookie cyclist has now also taught me that I need to likewise avoid doing anything stupid while not pedaling. But we'll get to that.

As has become customary on Sundays, I left job #2 around 4:30am, snagged an hour catnap and met my cycling coach at 6:30am a few blocks from my apartment, at one of the half a dozen Starbucks stores in the Times Square vicinity. He put my bicycle in the car (quickly removing the front wheel for compacted backseat loading) while I bought our vanilla lattes (grande skinny for me; tall regular for him), and we headed over the Brooklyn Bridge to meet his other clients in Prospect Park.

We began by counting the teeth on our cassettes as a first step to becoming more familiar with all of our gears. It was an important individual drill because not all cassettes come with the same gears; the number of teeth can vary slightly. My coach also showed me how to clear my chain with my left shift lever if it starts rubbing above the big plate on my chain ring, which is what was causing the scratchy tick on last Thursday's ride.

We had a nice size group this morning - aside from me and the one other regular. Another indication that spring is finally bringing in the warmer cycling weather. We biked over 20 miles in Prospect Park, focusing mainly on spinning and floating drills in 39/21, 39/19 and 39/17. During the final two laps, my coach had one of his more seasoned cyclists work us out. I quickly dubbed that guy "Bringer of Pain."

Afterward, as I was quickly losing my caffeine buzz and feeling the weight of my eyelids, our group of half a dozen or so gathered briefly along the bicycle lanes to chat about what we had learned. Utilizing my new favorite stationary pose, which I had just learned from a more advanced cyclist prior to our ride, I was half-seated with the length of my right thigh balanced on the top tube. Propping my body and my bicycle with my left leg and resting my elbows on my handlebars, I was feeling like a real cyclist in my super cool seated-cyclist pose. And it was Maddy's turn to teach me the lesson that I should never get too comfortable. As I animatedly recounted a story of a prior ride, I lost my balance and - with my right foot locked firmly into my clipless pedal - I plunged sideways mid-sentence, landing with a thud on my right buttock. I immediately recognized a legitimate need for beginner bicycle shorts with padding throughout the entire rear region and over the hips.

Later this morning, while I was waiting for the mechanics at R&A Cycles to install my new Tacx Tao water bottle cages, I happened across an article by The Bike Snob in the March 2010 issue of Bicycling magazine called "You're Going Down". The gist of the article, followed by advice on how to prepare: "When you start cycling, three things are bound to happen. First, you will try clipless pedals. [...yep] Second, you will start receiving Nashbar catalogs. (Nobody knows why this is. It just happens.) [...sort of like I'm not sure how Victoria's Secret and Eastbay catalogs started arriving] Third, you will crash. [...or just topple over for no apparent reason at a moment when you are feeling at your coolest and most comfortable on your new bicycle; he didn't offer any advice for that].

The Bicycling magazine article wasn't on his blog, but here's another good Bike Snob read: The Indignity of Commuting by Bicycle: Falling Down in Public. Extremely relevant since I live in New York City, number 8 on Bicycling.com's list of America's Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities.

Total Miles Cycled in Week 3: 108.53

Century Training - Week 3; Day 6

Week: 3

Day: 6

Ride: Pace
Route: Combination of hills and flats

Scheduled Mileage: 38

Actual Mileage: 39.40

Average Speed: 14.2 mph*

Max Speed: 25.9 mph

*Includes city street speed average

Average BPM: 142
Max BPM: 172

Calories: 1196

Random Notes to Self:

• There's a reason why the speed demons I usually see on weekday evenings aren't in Central Park at noon on warm, gorgeous Saturdays.
• Dare I say it? Are my long rides (and the hills) starting to get easier?

There were so many things that I wished I could stop and photograph on today's long ride. The rows of cherry blossoms in full bloom; the families waiting at carts for hotdogs and snow cones; the lanes of colorful joggers; the checkerboards of picnic blankets on various lawns and fields; the firemen lounging on a hillside next to their parked red engine, enjoying lunch in their overalls (the universal public servant attire for "sexy"); the T-bone-like lats of the shirtless cyclist in black lycra shorts that I purposely trailed for several laps ...

... So many things of beauty on my three and a half laps around Central Park, but my legs felt surprisingly fresh, and I wanted to keep my pace. Halfway through lap number 4, I exited at Fredrick Douglass Circle - as I had done last Saturday - and braved the hill to Amsterdam Avenue, cruised down Riverside Drive, linked up with the Hudson River bicycle lanes and took a break with a Clif Bar and Gatorade at exactly 30 miles at the Pick A Bagel in Tribeca. Returning up a sparkling Hudson River to West 88th Street, I looped back down Riverside Drive and arrived at my Midtown apartment just under 40 miles.

Along the way, I also made note of a place I'd like my boyfriend to take me when he returns from this year's bj League season in Japan (hint-hint-HINT).

Century Training - Week 2; Day 6

Week: 2

Day: 6

Ride: Pace
Route: Combination of hills and flats

Scheduled Mileage: 34

Actual Mileage: 34.74

Average Speed: 13.5 mph

Max Speed: 24.6 mph

*Includes city street speed average

Average BPM: 144
Max BPM: 169

Calories: 1137

Random Notes to Self:

• Found a good break spot close to the bicycle lanes on my Hudson River rides - the Pick A Bagel at Battery Park.
• Spring is slowly making its way into Central Park.
• Headwinds are your enemy.

I rode two laps around Central Park this morning before deciding to head west to the Hudson River halfway through my third lap, but not before I took a quick second to capture some welcome hints of spring on my cell phone camera. I really need to start carrying my digital one.

At Frederick Douglass Circle, I exited the park onto 110th Street. My legs, relieved to avoid the merciless incline of The Great Hill, were greeted by an equally unforgiving climb to Amsterdam Avenue. Drat.

Once on Riverside Drive, however, I cruised comfortably along the rolling hills of the Upper West Side to the Hudson River bicycle lanes and pedaled south to Tribeca, where Maddy and I took a little break at a bagel shop. Even though I was in one of Manhattan's wealthiest neighborhoods, I kept a close eye on Maddy while I sipped my Gatorade and munched a Powerbar Protein Plus.

Then, I retraced my pedal strokes, returning north along the Hudson River, facing headwinds all the way to Harlem. At 140th Street, I crossed town to drop by a friend's housewarming brunch just as I passed my 34-mile mark. After a delicious snack and pleasant conversation, I cycled south on Lenox Avenue to 110th Street, where I linked up with Central Park West and followed it to where it becomes Eighth Avenue. A few blocks further south, I took a right and I was home, a grand total of 39.68 miles and 1335 calories later.

Century Training - Week 2; Day 3

Week: 2

Day: 3

Ride: Pace
Route: Hilly

Scheduled Mileage: 11

Actual Mileage: 11.85

Average Speed: 15.7 mph*

Max Speed: 25.8 mph

*Includes city street speed average

Average BPM: 150
Max BPM: 173

Calories: 378

Random Notes to Self:

• Love the bicycle lanes on Broadway in Times Square; you don't get anywhere particularly fast, but they're convenient.

It often amazes me that my dim, quiet Hell's Kitchen apartment, nestled just beyond Eighth Avenue, is only a block away from the bright lights and boisterous hustle of Times Square. If I don't wander around the corner or ride through it on my bicycle when returning from Central Park, I often forget it's there.

Century Training - Week 1; Day 5

Week: 1

Day: 5

Ride: Pace

Scheduled Mileage: 10

Actual Mileage: 12.15

Average Speed: 12 mph*

Max Speed: 23.9 mph

*Includes city street speed average

Random Notes to Self:

• Found my new favorite spot in Central Park.
• Need to start carrying my digital camera in one of the back pockets of my cycling jacket.

I was in the office a little later than usual for a Friday evening so I didn't get home to grab Maddy and head out on our bike ride until well after 7 o'clock. Encouraged by the pleasant ride I had in Central Park after dark earlier this week, I headed out feeling confident and ready to ride despite the long evening shadows.

And I discovered that the most beautiful view of the Manhattan nighttime skyline is over Central Park South from East Drive along the Lake. I was suddenly jealous of the people who are fortunate enough to live on Central Park West between West 72nd and 79th Streets. Not that residential jealousy is anything new for me; I've had to deal with mild bouts of real estate envy since I moved to New York City.

While stopping to take a photo on my second lap, I also found another favorite spot in the park where there is a small cabana on the Lake below East Drive. One of my other top favorites is the Bow Bridge, which is also nearby. Google images and you'll see why it's one of the city's most popular attractions.

My cell phone photo doesn't do the view any justice, but if you're ever in New York City or you live here now, you should definitely put an evening stroll - or bike ride - in Central Park on your list of things to do.

Century Training - Week 1; Day 3

Week: 1

Day: 3

Ride: Brisk

Scheduled Mileage: 12

Actual Mileage: 13.3

Average Speed: 13.2 mph* 

Max Speed: 24.3 mph

*Includes city street speed average

Random Notes to Self:

• Love the smooth, wide roads in Central Park (click here for a map).
• Hate pedestrians who start crossing the street before the light turns red; even worse - I am one of those.
• Need to remember to carry tissues; my nose begins to run on the longer rides; will my nose ever get used to this?
• Noticed a tendency to prefer clipping in first with my right foot and clipping out first with my left; will practice the opposite on my next ride.
• Good to keep my helmet on when "wearing my bicycle like a purse" while climbing the four flights of stairs to my apartment - for when the saddle knocks me in the back of the head.

The beautiful weather brought out all sorts of people. I followed the bicycle lanes from the Merchants Gate at Columbus Circle, looping south of Heckscher House and headed north on the west side of Wollman Rink. At the 65th Street Transverse Road, just below Sheep Meadow, I merged onto East Drive and pedaled east of The Mall, passing between the Loeb Boathouse and the Conservatory Pond.

After Cedar Hill, I crossed over the 79th and 86th Street Transverse Roads that border the south and north edges of The Great Lawn. And I was once again struck by how small Central Park became from the seat of my bicycle. Again, I had to battle urges to stop and take photos. By the time I passed the entrance to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir at East 90th Street, I was barely two miles into my ride and running out of daylight fast.

I hopped back on my bicycle and followed East Drive beyond the North Meadow to where it zigzags along the Conservatory Garden, Fort Fish and Lasker Rink & Pool before circling back just below the northernmost boundaries of the park between Harlem's Duke Ellington Circle at Fifth Avenue and Frederick Douglass Circle at Central Park West.

As the road loops back south over The Great Hill, where East Drive becomes West Drive, I was breathing hard as seasoned cyclists breezed right by me one after the other. Actually, seasoned cyclists had been passing me since Columbus Circle, but I suddenly became very aware of how easily they seemed to be pedaling over the hills.

There I was - in Pearl Izumi attire from head to toe - in "full regalia" as my roommate likes to joke (but she really hasn't seen "full regalia" until she checks out some of the real, hardcore cyclists racing in Central Park). As they zoomed by in their drafting lines, I suddenly felt a little hokey. I had the look of a cyclist, I had the bicycle of a cyclist, but I couldn't help but feel like I was denying my Trek of a worthy ride. Although I was seemingly cruising at over 20 mph on the downward slopes, I listened to the subtle tick of other bicycle wheels constantly humming by. Even a guy in plain clothes with no helmet and a messenger bag overtook me at one point.

My mind wandered back to days not so long ago when I walked my bicycle everywhere - to and from the bicycle shop, to and from my cycling coach's apartment. I had purchased this cool bike, but I was so intimidated by the seemingly-complicated gear shifts and the clipless pedals that I walked it whenever there wasn't a licensed professional present. And then I thought about how far I've come in so little time; time that has been even further limited by schedules and weather. And I reminded myself that it's ok to be a beginner. I wasn't going to let the faster, stronger, sleeker cyclists intimidate me based on my own personal hang-ups. The sooner I can get over myself, the more I can learn.

I spent the rest of the ride down West Drive shifting my crankset and rear cassette, trying to find gears that would allow me to pedal as efficiently as the decked-out, colorful lycra billboards that swooped by. I closed in on my first lap as I approached Columbus Circle and looked down at my cycling computer. I had only gone five miles and the sun was gone.

However, Central Park did not immediately become the fated dwelling of darkness and evil of which I have been warned. The bicycle lanes were well-lit and since plenty of cyclists and joggers were continuing their evening jaunts, I decided to go for another lap.

I was able to get in the full 12 miles after roughly two and a quarter laps around Central Park. For the "quarter lap", I cycled as far north as Bethesda Fountain & Terrace and cut across the park to Cherry Hill and Strawberry Fields before returning south to exit where I had started at Columbus Circle.

I had completed my first 12-mile ride all by myself. I rejoiced in that.

Century Training - Week 1; Day 2

Week: 1
Day: 2
Ride: Pace
Scheduled Mileage: 10
Actual Mileage: 7.87 (ran out of daylight)
Average Speed: 10.5 mph* 
Max Speed: 22.5 mph
*Includes city street speed average

Random Notes to Self:

• Need to do something nice for my roommate for being my consummate Google guru; this evening, the search words were: how to wear a cycling headband; your ponytail does go through the hole (Thanks, B!)
• While the avenues are fairly evenly paved, there are a lot of potholes and craggy pavement in the cross streets of Manhattan (at least from my experience thus far in West Midtown); it's one thing to expect the ruts when you're posted on stilettos in the cobblestone streets of the Meatpacking District, but it's another to have to dodge them on a bicycle going 10 mph in city traffic.
• Biking north on the Hudson River during a beautiful sunset is incredibly relaxing and reminds you that Hell's Kitchen, the Upper West Side and Harlem are all within less than five miles of each other; it's a startling reminder when public transportation between these three neighborhoods alone can take 30 minutes to an hour.
• Cycling south on Riverside Drive is a smooth ride with relatively even pavement and an easy, cautious disregard of most of the traffic lights since the Upper West Side cross streets dead-end on the east of Riverside and the Hudson River parks scroll along, practically uninterrupted, to the west.
• With the progressively longer days and the additional delay of sundown created by Daylight Savings Time, it currently gets dark around 7:30pm; a 6:45pm ride would work better with my work schedule at job #1 and the short weekday rides if I could focus more on pedaling and less on sightseeing (at least the days are still getting longer).
• Lugging my road bike (though it is very light) up the four flights of stairs to my fifth floor walk-up apartment is easier if I pull the top tube over my shoulder and wear my bicycle like a purse; I'll have to remember that on subway steps and all of the other New York City stairways.

A bicycle is to New York City what an airplane is to the world. A bicycle shrinks Manhattan with the vigor of technological globalization. Neighborhoods that feel worlds apart by foot, subway or congested traffic are redefined in smaller grids by easy pedal strokes.

I coasted onto the bicycle lanes on the West Side Highway and headed north along the Hudson River just as dusk was creating the blend of blue, green and orange skies that gives Manhattan a shimmery glow at the end of beautiful days. Today was a welcome hint of spring.

Before I knew it, I was passing the West 79th Street Boat Basin Café and cycling through Riverside Park. I glided through the garden where Meg Ryan saw Tom Hanks with his dog "Brinkley" at the end of You've Got Mail and thought about how much I love watching movies that were filmed in New York.

Suddenly I was in Harlem, just blocks from my old apartment and realizing that my old neighborhood was not a world away as it often seems. When you live in New York City, it is so easy to forget that Manhattan is only 13.4 miles long and only 2.3 miles at its widest point - or barely 23 square miles. Since moving to Midtown, I rarely venture above 72nd Street, below 14th, or crossover Fifth Avenue. I'm not one of those trite and contrived urban snobs, who brags about never leaving Soho or boasts that the only time they leave the island is to go to the airport; it's just that everything I regularly need is within a 2-mile radius of my apartment.

Thanks to my CATEYE V3, I've found that I am currently most comfortable cruising along at about 15-miles per hour - on wide open streets or bicycle lanes, of course. However, returning south on Riverside Drive, I was surprised that my cycling computer was recording speeds of over 20 mph - courtesy of the rolling terrain, I'm sure. I also made a mental note that 7:15pm on Riverside Drive is a pleasant time to coast with reasonably light traffic along the gorgeous Upper West Side pre-war architecture. I should have stopped to take more photos. I could ask my roommate to google some good ones, or I welcome you to check out the pictures from my city walks (Upper West Side 1: The Gold Coast; Upper West Side 3: Riverside Park and the Boat Basin; Upper West Side 4: Church and Gown). In the meantime, I leave you with this Hudson River sunset ...

I may have to eventually invest in a cheaper commuter bicycle so that I can make cycling my primary form of city transportation. It has already brought so much more of New York City to me.

Maddy & Me

Since I began working weekends as a part-time cocktail server at a lounge in Midtown Manhattan [job #2] to fund my big cycling adventure, I haven't seen nine o'clock on a Saturday morning in months. That changed this weekend when I cut my shifts down to one night. Unfortunately for my 7:30am cycling lessons on Sundays, that one night per weekend needs to be Saturday since it's generally a better money-maker than Friday, but at least I will have Sunday afternoons to recover.

I woke up this morning and went straight to the gym for a strength training workout. I tend to interchange upper and lower body weight training workouts on alternating days and supplement daily core exercises. This morning was an upper body day. And I was greeted by such a beautiful, blue sky and a shimmering Manhattan that I decided to face fear head-on and take Maddy out for a bike ride. Have I mentioned the mounting fear (no pun intended) of riding my bicycle by myself?

Oh, I haven't introduced Maddy in this blog yet, have I? My Trek Madone was dubbed Maddy after several days of deliberation over suitable bicycle names. Going to ponder bicycle names while I serve overpriced alcohol at job #2. Do I want something exotic like Veronica? Or asexual like Pat?, I had tweeted one evening. Pat received a high approval rating from my friend Patrick. No surprise there. Among the other Twitter responses, my friend Christine suggested Muriel. I mean, I'm not riding somebody's 55-year old aunt, I tweeted back.

"Ah ha!" I yelled to my roommate through our shared bedroom wall at the exact moment of nickname conception. "I shall dub thee Maddy!"

My [job #1] coworker Madeleine seemed to appreciate my bicycle's name most of all. In response to moderate praise for her assistance in the office one day, she later replied via email: After all, there are bicycles named after me.

But I guess I can't bring up the fear in this blog post without addressing it. Yes. Sigh. Fear. I've had gradually building anxiety as I lay in bed at night, staring at Maddy's darkened outline against the exposed brick walls of my tiny Midtown Manhattan apartment. The sparkling lights of the Time Warner Center and the Hearst Tower giving my bedroom its nightly incandescent glow and reflecting off the black, gray and silver carbon frame in the corner. The Shimano STI Levers. The clipless pedals. The sleek, racing geometry. I was beginning to feel like I had bought a machine that was too much for someone who occasionally rents rusty bicycles in Central Park.

Today, with only one cycling lesson under my belt (last weekend's lesson had been canceled due to snow), I decided to just go for it in the streets of Manhattan. I pulled on my Pearl Izumi '09 Women's P.R.O. Shorts, AmFIB Tights and Shimano SH-M161G Shoes. I threw on a light jacket and crammed my Bell Array Road Helmet over my roommate's black Nike sweatband (thanks, B). I peered into the full-length mirror hanging in the four feet of arbitrary space between our bedrooms that we call a hallway and, again, saw a wanna-be cyclist standing awkwardly with the chamois between her legs. And I don't mean this chamois. I mean this one.

And what happened? Maddy introduced me to an entirely different Manhattan. Manhattan by bicycle. And I loved it.

I took to the streets briefly as I cautiously pedaled through Midtown to the bike lanes along the Hudson River, where I found hundreds of cyclists, skateboarders, rollerbladers and joggers taking advantage of one of the first beautiful days of 2010. Before I knew it, I was downtown, being lured by Water Street to explore the architectural canyons of the Financial District. I yielded to the traffic exiting the bottom of Broadway and then pedaled right in.

"Bicycling Street Smarts" by John S. Allen, a booklet that was included in my America By Bicycle Tour Kit, had initially created an intimidating and seemingly overcomplicated view of street cycling, but I was grateful to have read it as I utilized various traffic maneuvers. I'm not naive to the fact, however, that I have a lot more to learn before I jump into the weekday rush-hour flow, but I was reminded of some of the most fulfilling moments I've had in my life thus far. They were the ones where I just went for it.

And suddenly I was under the Brooklyn Bridge, half a Manhattan from home, and falling in love with Maddy and a new New York City.