I just got off of what ended up being an almost 2 week vacation. I stayed in NYC for most of it. My brother and his fiancee were here, and he brought his new Cannondale CAAD10 with him.
I started off back in my hometown of Rochester, NY, and spent a couple days with my family. After I returned to the city, I went on the Rapha ride (posted earlier). The next week was spent eating and drinking a lot (especially on the 4th), and of course, riding.
My brother hasn't really done any good long rides, so I decided to take him on an excursion outside of the city. This is a normal route for me, but I was excited to show it to him for the first time. On the way to pick him up, I got doored by a cab. Getting doored is the fucking worst. When it happens, it literally comes out of nowhere. Both times its happened to me it was instantaneous and inevitable. I actually didn't fall. My friend Chris who was riding behind me said that I went completely sideways and somehow avoided the brunt of it. I hit my hand and wrist and had a golf ball size lump on my wrist. This was before I put in 60 miles.
All that and pain aside, the rest of the ride was awesome. My friend Chris and I took him down 9w via river rd. Alpine climb on river rd can be pretty tough. I was worried my bro would have trouble as he doesn't ride nearly as much as us, but he made it. We rode on to piermont, ate a little, and headed back. I took him on some side routes, and made sure to stop at Strictly bikes to oogle some bike porn. Basically I gave him the scenic tour. Even though I've done this ride 100 times, being able to show all this to him meant a lot to me.
A few days later my brother and I drove to Amagansett in the Hamptons for the weekend, and brought the bikes. My grandfathers friend owns a house there, so we're lucky for that hookup! Aside from consuming beach beers, fish tacos, lobster rolls and other random seafoods, we had a great ride out to Montauk point. It only ended up being about 40 miles, but we put in a pretty hard effort for most of the ride. It is mostly a flat ride with some minimal climbs, but its very scenic and bike friendly.
I returned to NYC late Saturday night. A bunch of us had planned to do a chill food ride to Staten Island on Sunday morning. We went to the Blue Fin Grill. We were there a few months ago and had to go back for the all-you-can-eat brunch. The place was full of families and well-dressed Sunday brunchers, and I'm with a group of Lycra clad cyclists clomping around in their bike shoes. Nevertheless, it was awesome and I left full as shit.
All in all I put in a ton of miles, hung with my family and good friends, and consumed some great food and drinks. Within 20 minutes of being back at work when I got back, I was ready for another vacation! I guess that goes without saying...
Some photos via iPhone and instagram:
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| west side highway |
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| my brother, top of alpine climb |
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| Montauk point |
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| Bayonne bridge on the way to Staten Island |
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