Well, my wife and I had a great time at this event. We got to NYC on Sat afternoon and spent some time exploring the upper west side and CP on our bikes. Sunday we got up at 5:00AM and left the hotel at 6:00AM which got us to the start at 6:30. We decided to do the 35 mile ride rather than the 50 because we had theater tickets and didn't want to be rushed trying cleanup, eat, and get to the theater on time.

We started at 7:00 and rode the 17 miles through the upper west side, down through Manhattan and over the BB, then up Prospect Slope to Prospect Park and the first rest stop. From there we rode through several neigborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens to the next rest stop at Astoria Park. That was around mile 30. The final leg was over the Triboro to Randells Island, then the pedestrian bridge back to Manhattan and a couple miles back to CP. We pulled back into CP just before noon.

Overall the ride was alot of fun. I saw all manner of bikes from Xmart specials to classic steel to expensive roadies, all kinds of riders, and every jersey ever made. It was very interesting riding through the local neighborhoods and crossing the bridges was very cool. The route was marked pretty well and the marshalls were at the tough spots to help direct you. The only complaint I have is that the road conditions were mostly terrible. There were even sections where they were paving and we had to ride on the trenched surface. Man, will that rattle your teeth after a while. If I had known I would have put slicks on the MTB and rode that.

The one thing that suprised my was how high the bridges really are and how tough riding Prospect Slope was, it seems to go on forever. Much to my surprise, when I downloaded the GPS data it had 3970 ft worth of total climbing, much more than I thought.

Here is the map from the GPS


The Start


Riding in the upper west side


On the BB


Prospect Park


View from some unknown bridge in Brooklyn


Astoria Park


On the Triboro


We're done


At the Finish