I’ve just signed up. It’s only $55 today, then $60 for the next few weeks. My brother, John, might join me, too.
I’ll be starting the ride as early as possible (maybe 5:30am) because I’ll be on a g36, but there are many bits of the ride that I’ll have to ride in low gear. That will really slow me down overall, so I figure that an early start is my best chance at finishing within 12 hours.
It’s a pretty amazing ride; I’ve done it twice before (tho the route does change a little, it’s more or less the same from year to year).
I’m interested. I rode in the Five Boro in May and had a great time. My big concern would be keeping up with you, since I’d be riding an ungeared Coker. Still, 100 miles in 12 hours sounds doable. Do you start in Central Park or Prospect Park?
The ride starts in Central Park and then goes right to Prospect Park, as you may know. I start in CP at around 5:30 or so and actually do two unorthodox things: I leave before the official start of the ride (I think it starts around 6), and I go down the West Side bike path rather than Broadway because that way I don’t have to stop until I get to Chambers Street. It adds a mile or so, but it’s totally worth it if you’re riding a geared uni (or even if you’re not). At that point, I’ll switch to low gear, cross over to the Brooklyn Bridge, and head to the Prospect Park spot, arriving perhaps around 6:45 at the latest. That’s the plan, anyway.
My brother would also be riding with me, and he only has ungeared uni’s. Because my gear-shifts require me to stop (and hold onto something), I’m rather slow on uphills (because I only change gear if I really can’t make the hill). But then I’m fast on downhills and flats. In the end, it might even out. John and I are going to do some test runs in the Central Park loop to see how we match up.
Maybe I should consider doing the ride on my ungeared Coker – or just leaving my g36 in low gear most of the time. We’ll see.
A little off topic, but David White and I are wishing you were here today to join us for the Marathon race at NAUCC! The course was reminiscent of Ridt the Lobster, with lots o hills, plus lots of people who rode in RTL! We missed our fastest team member. The three of us have never been in the same place outside of Nova Scotia!
Aw, I’m definitely missing you guys, too. Have we never been to a convention together? I really wanted to go this time but couldn’t manage with all that’s going on in my life. Next year, I think I can pull it off again. I’d love to have joined you!
Give Dave my love; I think about our ride everyday; today, in fact, I wore the cool Lobster cycling shirt that we got at the end of the race, and just yesterday, I put up my race number thingie (with the team #, 100, on it) on my wall. That was some week!