Two good rides totaling 102 miles and 7700' for the weekend.

Yesterday was a run up Bear Mountain then the other long-ish climbs of the local Gran Fondo course before a bonus run up and down Bear again. Forgot to turn Strava on until getting to the top of Bear the first time, and bummed about not getting to see how what felt like a good pace compared to previous attempts. I'd joined two other guys for the ride, and even though we had rather different skills and strong suits and our paceline technique was crap, we managed to stay more or less together the whole way. We stopped for a huge breakfast before the final assault on Bear and all in all had a good time - mostly laid back, with just a couple of uphill attacks and downhill bombs thrown in for good measure.

Today was a slightly more spirited ride up to Nyack for Pie. Totally different group - four others at the start, then along the way we invited someone new (whom none of us knew) to join us a few miles in. We'd gotten underway at a much more brisk pace than I normally would have been comfortable with, but fortunately I'd already warmed up with a few hundred feet of climbing and hurrying on my way to the start. Having 11 hours sleep last night helped as well, I think. The rest of the way up was kind of inconsistent, pace-wise - there was some hammering and some casual cruising, but no one seemed quite committed to either. However, since nobody promised or had much reason to expect either, I think a good time was had by all. We certainly all enjoyed the stop for pie.

We stayed more or less together for most of the ride back, but fell apart about 5-7 miles from the end. I'd spent all my bullets attacking some of the longer ramps, including the last one of the route, so after everyone caught up when things leveled off, I couldn't keep up with the time-trial pace they wanted to make. The stranger who'd joined us cramped up shortly after that, too.
Ironically, fly-bys indicate that the guy we'd kept dropping before managed to stay with the remaining three until the end, and did a bit of dropping the others himself before it was over.

If we're throwing Friday in as well, it was a short work day, so I managed to have a bit of fun on a Citibike riding down to the West Village before work for a run up Perry-Roubaix (cobbled segment of Perry Street), and again in the afternoon for a loop around Washington Square before heading up to Port Authority. Couldn't have asked for a nicer day. Actually, couldn't have asked for a nicer weekend.