Biking Adventures: The Tour de Queens 2011

Last Sunday was my second bike tour so far this year - Transportation Alternatives' 4th annual Tour de Queens! I like this bike tour for a two reasons:

1. because it starts and ends at the beautiful Unisphere in Flushing Meadows, Corona Park
2. because I don't normally do much riding in Queens (other than Long Island City), so it's a great reason to see more of the great borough of Queens!

Here is my day in pictures and words - 

My official outfit for the Tour de Queens 2011

• Bikini top (whole bikini from Strawberry for $20)
• Skirt from Target ($14.99)
• Fishnets from who knows where (10.00ish)
• Shoes from Payless ($20)

Since I get asked this a lot (I will mention it again in my FAQ bike post), whenever I bike in a skirt, I wear *something* under the skirt. On this day I wore these new cotton high-waisted shorts I got from American Apparel for about $16-

If my thighs were not so chubby, I would have considered wearing this as is - without the skirt

Rear view

at 8am I was on the road - My escorts/bike dates, Amanda & Robbie met me at my apartment and we rode to Queens together.

Here I am on the Greenpoint Ave bridge. Goodbye Brooklyn/Greenpoint!

Subway Series mural in Woodside, Queens

Shortly after arriving, I ran into beautiful Natasha (with that amazing hair!)  who you may recognize because she is a blog reader I met and photographed on previous bike tours. We chatted a bit and of course took a photo. Always great to see her! :)

And here is the gorgeous Marcus. You may remember him from my Brooklyn Half Marathon post. (Also, Check out Marcus' inspiring story here!)

My friend Ross was there too. You may remember him as "the dude with that recumbant bike" on this year's 5 Boro Bike Tour.

And here's my BBFF (bike buddy/food friend) Amanda! Although she will say she's "not my food friend". However, I call her that because she is one of the few people I will dine out with. You likely know I'm not a fan of eating out as a social activity, and I keep it to a minimum but since she's also vegan, I make an exception.

Look! It's my adorable friends/escorts and super cute couple: Robbie & Amanda!

The scene in front of the Unisphere before the start of the ride.

When you're in Queens, the planes overhead are gigantic (JFK & Laguardia Airports are in Queens)

Don't worry, the cruiser isn't dead. Her kickstand just doesn't work. This is of course Pee Wee. He's strapped to the back of Ross' sweet red cruiser!

I believe these are also left over from the 1964 World's Fair. I think they are amazing!

Finally the tour begins!

That's my friend Mitch. I see him on pretty much every bike tour. You may recognize him from some previous bike tour pics.

Marcus & Ross - both of whom are doing the Braking the Cycle ride later this year. It's a 285 mile (you read that right - two hundred eight five mile!) bike ride from Boston to New York and it raises money for AIDS services. If you'd like to donate to either of them, here is Marcus' page and Ross' page.

Yay! Me and Amanda - for once she's smiling and I'm the one making the crazy face (it's usually the other way around)

Since part of this tour was swinging by the new Shea Stadium, aka CitiField, they had Mr Met out there to greet us. I have 2 words for you, Mr Met: DEREK JETER!!!! (who hit his 3000th ball the night before this tour.) ok 2 more words: Go, Yankees!!!

This was my first ever attempt to capture this angle of myself while riding. I wanted to get my "Tour de Queens" sticker. It came out perfect!

Riding along, under the elevated subway

Under the 7 Train tracks, probably on Roosevelt Ave?

I had a hard time not stopping like these other cyclists. It was 90+ degrees and I would have killed for a tasty & refreshing lemon ice!

Yay! I met a blog reader! This is the super stunning Shemeka, aka @TriniKandy, who also wore my favorite color combo: Pink & Black! Nice meeting you, Shemeka!!

I am getting really good at these self portraits that include my cycling mates! I managed to get me, Amanda & Robbie! Nice :)

I am so proud of this one - what a lucky shot! I noticed we were about to pass a firehouse and scrambled to get my camera turned on as I was riding. I took this as we rode past. One shot, one chance, total perfection! I didn't even have to straighten it!

Oh did I mention there was a penny-farthing in the tour? No? Seriously! Here he is along side Robbie & Amanda

Yep, there he goes. I can't even imagine the great view from up there!

Did I also mention we did a lot of stopping on this tour? Lots of stopping, followed by walking... a little frustrating, but what are you going to do? It's all part of the bike tour...

Back on the road! and yay! I caught Amanda picking something out of her teeth!

Scenic!

On our way to the rest stop, a man cycled up next to me. He introduced himself as a blog reader (I love all my readers but my male readers hold a special place in my heart!). We rode along and chatted and asked to be photographed *and* put in the blog. I'm more than happy to oblige!! What's up, Will? Not sure this will make you 'famous' but you are now a part of Bitch Cakes blog history! So glad I got to meet you!

When I get to rest stops, this is typically what happens - one person asks for a photo (which is great and fine, and I totally appreciate being asked instead of the sneaky photos going on behind me or when I'm eating/bending etc) but then more people start gathering and taking photos of me. Sometimes I'm standing there for minutes on end, smiling & posing and after a little while I get a anxiety ridden. During this moment, the woman in the black tank waited very patiently to be photographed with me...

Mel, me, Dori

She had a gorgeous sugar skull tattoo that I complimented (Yes, I hate that I'm tattooed but I still appreciate nice tattoos). We took a couple of photos and I only found out after the fact (as in when I got home, on Twitter) that it was a blog reader/Twitter follower, Dori! Earlier in the week she told me she was doing the tour and would say hi if she saw me but then for some reason was too shy when she finally met me. Silly girl! I'm glad I met you anyway... after the fact ;)

And while in the rest stop I finally met up with my girl Malaika, who was gorgeous as usual!

and the super lovely Natasha was there too!

These young women were so cute. They barely spoke English but they had pink balloons and were just so happy to see me. I had to get their photo.

Back on the road! There's Robbie, Malaika & Amanda

Yay! It's me & Panda!

OMG THIS GUY HAD A CORGI IN HIS BACKPACK!!! You don't even know how much Amanda & I squealed. We are always on "doggie watch" when we bike around. <3 the doggies!!!

I look forward to riding through the underpasses during bike tours. Most cyclists ring their bells or yell to enjoy the echoes. 5 seconds of guaranteed good times! (oopsie, my necklace is upside down! But look at the tan line my nameplate left. that always cracks me up.)

Holy moly, that's me, Robbie & Amanda's crazy biking calves! We are riding pretty close to each other! I can't even believe how lucky this shot was to capture all 3 of us!

Me & Robbie (Amanda's man) - world's cutest boyfriend

And before we knew it, the tour was over - we were back at the park! Time for some post-tour snacks, water and more pictures of the Unisphere!

I love this shot

I call this "Victory Arms!" Amanda me & Malaika in an instant classic photo

What better way to refresh after 30-ish miles of biking in about 90 degrees than to cool off in the fountains under the Unisphere?!

How beautiful is this? Seriously, it's like a postcard! These fountains were not turned on when we did the tour last year. I didn't even realize there *were* fountains. I was in awe of their beauty!

There's Panda, running in to get cooled off. After I took this photo, I secured my camera under my clothes (you all know how often I kill my electronics!) and ran in too!!!

Here are those adorable ladies with the pink balloons on their helmets. They wanted a photo with me. I asked for one too!

standing under the Unisphere.

Yay! Panda & me with wet ruined hair, but big awesome smiles

I couldn't get over how beautiful this was.

Time to head back to north Brooklyn. For what else?

Celebratory beer & fries of course!

Bike tour meal of champions!

From there it was a short bike ride home. On cue, Amanda makes funny faces behind me.

And at home I posed to show off my Tour de Queens shirt and the sunburn I got on my legs.

But that was nothing compared to the color I got on my back! Yikes!

Over the course of the day I biked about 40 miles. And later that evening I did another 10 miles because I biked to the East Village for a very intense yoga class (Yoga to the People, on St Marks). That was seriously the most intense yoga class I ever attended. I sweat more doing that yoga than I did during the bike tour (and it was 90 degrees all day). It was no joke. But it felt amazing - especially because you all know I never stretch, so it was a nice way to get some leg stretches in after all that biking.

Here are my heart rate monitor stats for my riding for the entire day (to/from the tour + the tour +  to/from the East Village + around Greenpoint & Williamsburg that night with a friend):

• Total Time: 389 minutes (6 hours, 29 minutes)
• Minutes in Cardio Zone: 208 minutes   
• Percentage of Time in Cardio Zone: 54%  
• Average Heart Rate: 123 
• High Heart Rate: 161  
• Total Calories Burned: 1845 
• Total Miles: 50 ish

The next bike event I'm participating in is this Sunday - the World Naked Bike Ride, NYC Edition (it's free and open to anyone who wants to join!) but my next actual bike tour is the big one... the NYC Century. The FULL century. That's right folks, I am doing my longest ever single day distance: 100 + miles on the HK Cruiser. 4 boroughs. No gears. 4" heels.

Am I ready for that challenge? Sure, why not? It's only 1 mile... one hundred times. Besides, the only thing stopping me is me ;)

Oh, I swear that bike FAQ blog is coming soon. I need a friend (Amanda? Jaci?) to videotape something for me this weekend, but it's drafted and will be up by the end of July. If you have any bike related questions, please include them below and I will include them if I can.