The 5 Boro Bike Tour Wrap Up 2010

Yesterday was a day I had been waiting for all year: The 5 Boro Bike Tour! The weather was great - 88 degrees? Hazy? Hot? Humid? I'll take it! Anything is better than the cold wet miserable rain of last year!

I was sooooo ready! I couldn't even sleep. I woke up at 4:30 instead of 5:00. Here are my photos!

Official 5 Boro Bike Tour 2010 Outfit:

• Same bustier as yesterday from Orchard Corset Shop in Manhattan ($40ish)
• Skirt from Target, $15
• Fishnets from Target $7?
• Open toe slingbacks from Payless $20ish
  

Biking on Driggs shortly after 6am, I saw that "pink" graffiti and had to pull over to get a shot of my bike in front of it. (That's the L Train @ North 7th)

If you recall from my last post, the theme was "One Weekend, 5 Bridges" make that: "One Weekend, 5 Bridges and 5 Boros. In 4 inch heels". And here is Bridge #3: The Brooklyn Bridge (which connects Brooklyn & Manhattan)

Headed to Manhattan on the Brooklyn Bridge around 6:30am:

The scene in lower Manhattan when I arrived. I was not alone-

Here I am, about an hour before the start -

I hung out with these guys while I waited-

The guy on the right (above) took this shot for me-

Boro #1: Manhattan
Finally!! At the starting line in Manhattan!

From there, we rode north on 6th Ave. I loved passing by Radio City Music Hall-

We made our way into Central Park and this was one of the most frustrating parts of the day. We did more walking than biking in the park. The only good thing was that I ran into a friend (Suhair)-

After leaving Central Park, we continued uptown. Here I am waiting for a light in Harlem-

Boro #2: The Bronx
Approaching the Bronx from Manhattan via the Madison Ave Bridge:

(We don't spend long in the Bronx...)

Leaving the Bronx and headed onto the FDR (one of my favorite parts of the tour!) via the Third Ave Bridge, back to Manhattan:

On the FDR/East River Drive (I've driven on this road more times than I can count)

Under the 59th St Bridge sign on the FDR south (I took a photo by this sign last year, too)

Bridge #2, revisited. Remember how I purposely rode 2 miles out of my way on Saturday so I could cross the 59th St Bridge? Yeah, well I didn't need to do that. I forgot we cross it on the bike tour. Duh! This is definitely the steepest climb on the whole tour.

I have always loved the 59th Street (aka Queensboro) Bridge. (This bridge connects Queens and Manhattan over the East River) And the bike tour is the only time we get to ride in the car section (the wrong way, too! Woo hoo!)

Self portrait riding over the 59th St Bridge (Manhattan behind me)

Boro #3: Queens
On the 59th St Bridge-

Look at this handsome young man - he approached me at the FDR rest stop earlier in the day and told me he was a blog reader (my commuting blog, not this one)! I was eating at the time, so I didn't take a pic with him then. I was excited to find him on the 59th St Bridge and get this shot:

Oh the 59th St Bridge - I was still on the ramp headed Queens bound but had a great view of the middle of the span-

View of the Silvercup Studio sign from the 59th St Bridge (They film a ton of shows there including 30 Rock and formerly The Sopranos)

Leaving the Astoria (Queens) rest stop, I stopped to pose with the beautiful Triboro Bridge (connects Queens, Brooklyn & Manhattan three boros. Get it? Triboro! We do not ride over this bridge. Also, note: I refuse to EVER call it the 'RFK')

Somewhere in Queens. I love this shot!

Leaving Long Island City - (on the right is my bus stop where I wait for the B62 at night)

You may recognize the background - that's the view of the Manhattan skyline I photograph (and show here) pretty often. It's the view of midtown from the Pulaski Bridge (connects Queens and Brooklyn)

Boro #4: Brooklyn!
The Pulaski Bridge, approaching from the Queens side - something I do almost daily; but usually on a bus.

"Welcome to Brooklyn! Like no other place in the world!" That's for sure! And the boro I am proud to call home!

Riding on Franklin by Greenpoint Ave (the only shot I took in my neighborhood of Greenpoint)-

After leaving my neighborhood, we traveled on Kent through Williamsburg - something I've done hundreds of times before. But I've never taken a photo of the Domino Sugar Building. This is a great one!

After leaving Williamsburg, we rode through DUMBO. I got SO lucky with this shot - taken while riding by. I think it looks like a movie lot of NYC:

We passed through DUMBO, where I had been the day before. Here is my 'predictable' shot with with Manhattan Bridge in the background. But this time, with me and my bike!

Riding on the BQE in Brooklyn. We were on a major NYC highway normally only open to car traffic:

This was only the 2nd time I stopped during the tour - I have never been so thirsty in my life. It was a scary feeling. I downed several bottles of water and had a banana - something I'd been looking forward to all day. (I'm not kidding, I couldn't wait to eat a banana!) That's the Verrazano Bridge in the background, where we were headed next...

Bridge #4: The Verrazano Narrows (the longest suspension bridge in the US). It connects Brooklyn to the final boro of the tour, Staten Island. This is also the final bridge of the tour and though it's not the steepest (I'll give that honor to the 59th St Bridge climb), it is the longest. I am not going to sugar coat it: It's challenging! (We ride in the lower roadway, which is why it isn't that scenic)

This bridge is never open to cyclists normally, only on 5 Boro Bike Tour day. And at any point in the ride, this would be a tough portion of the route. But the fact that it's after 37+ miles seems somewhat cruel. Many cyclists drop off before this part and of those that push on to the end, a lot of cyclists get off and walk their bikes over this bridge. As I was slowly pushing myself one pedal at a time to make it across, I was looking at a woman walking, in shorts, and did start wishing I had her legs. And from somewhere inside me, I heard myself say "Look at what your legs are doing right now! Look at what they are capable of! They are strong enough to pedal this huge, heavy, one speed bike over this bridge! Give your legs some credit, they're amazing!" And I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I started to cry. I don't think I would have had that moment if I hadn't blogged about my legs the other day and had everyone's feedback, so thank you for reminding me of that and for helping me to reframe.

Boro #5: Staten Island
After making it over that bridge, there's a festival in Staten Island - vendors, food, all sorts of stuff. Random strangers congratulate each other (though technically, the tour isn't over. There are 3 or 4 more miles after this) and as happened all day - people asked me about my bike/footwear. After talking with this guy, he took a photo with me. So I made him take one with my camera too. I forget his name - I met so many people yesterday:

Also at the festival in Staten Island, I ran into my high school friend, Eila! Here we are:

I think other than finishing, this next moment was the highlight of my day... While I was standing there waiting for the ferry (in the sun, feet killing me) this guy came over to talk to me and asked if I had biked the whole thing in heels. So many people had asked me this already and I was so exhausted, I barely looked up, but said that yes, I did. Then he said something like "You don't take the 7 Train anymore?" I looked at his face and realized it was my favorite subway conductor, Alex, who I haven't seen since the MTA changed my bus schedule this January! I was so happy to see him! I gave him a huge hug! Turns out that he did the tour too. Good for him. Congratulations, Alex!! Here we are together:

Finally we boarded the ferry. Here are some shots from on board the Staten Island Ferry (it felt GREAT to sit for a while - in a real chair, without having to move my legs!)

I met these characters - tour veterans and marshalls. That's Frankie Hams, Anthony "Bike Fish Freak", Me and Iron Man Mike. Hi guys! Thanks for entertaining me on the way back to Manhattan *and* for the autographed souvenir t-shirt (Anthony gave me his official t-shirt he received for being a marshall. You can't buy those)!!

Now that I was pretty much where I started, lower Manhattan, I had to make my way home - back to Brooklyn. In fact, this is the exact spot I had stood 8 hours earlier, waiting for the tour to start. It was back to 'normal'-

As I mentioned on Saturday, this weekend's theme was "One Weekend, Five Bridges" "One Weekend, 5 Bridges and 5 Boros. In 4 inch heels" And here's the last...

Bridge #5: The Williamsburg (links Manhattan and Brooklyn):

As I've done so many times before, I made my way over the Williamsburg Bridge and back to Greenpoint. I stopped at Habitat Bar on Manhattan Ave for a celebratory order of waffle fries and beer. Oh beer, I fantasized about you all day! (Thank you, Rowan & Jeremy for stopping by with high 5s and congrats!)

Finally, 10 hours later, back at home... I took this close up for those of you that tell me I don't look awful enough after my workouts. Enjoy - I look terrible!

And in 'event tradition' - here I am with messy hair and make up, showing off my event t-shirt:

Lastly, these are my stats for the day-

Heart rate monitor stats:
Tour from starting line to finish line (Note: I never stopped my HRM during the day, even when I had to walk or made my two rest stop breaks, so this includes everything that happened from mile 0 to mile 42):
Total time: 6 hours, 10 minutes
Time in Fat Burning zone: 47 minutes
Time in Fitness zone: 5 hours, 22 minutes
Average heart rate: 139
High heart rate: 180
Total Calories: 2,867

I re-started my heart rate monitor when I got off the ferry since I had to ride from Manhattan back to Brooklyn. Here are those stats:
Total Time: 47 minutes
Time in Fat Burning zone: 0
Time in Fitness zone: 47 minutes
Average heart rate: 141
Hight heart rate: 165
Calories burned: 376

So in total, I pretty much worked out 7 hours and burned over 3000 calories. No wonder I was so exhausted!!

I don't have my total bike mileage because I couldn't get my new cyclometer set up correctly. But considering the tour was 42 miles (plus) my ride to the starting line and home from the finish (minus) the times I was walking my bike (not riding) through the bottleneck portions (equals) I think it's safe to say I biked somewhere between 50 and 55 miles.

It was a terrific day and wonderful experience! I don't know what I ever did before my bike. I love her so much!


(Note: All of today's photos are in this set on Flickr)