2015-05-10 - Ride IX - Ride to Bear Mountain and Cold Spring - Part I

To the top of Bear Mountain! It is the classic New York City ride and one of the items on my to do list before I leave to start cycling across the country from Bar Harbor, Maine to Seattle, Washington. There was plenty of reasons not to do it, mostly due to my semi-serious bike injury from 1.5 weeks before. I had fallen while riding home at night after indoor rock climbing in Brooklyn. While taking a sip of water, I hit a pot hole I did not see and fell on my right side. I suffered multiple abrasions, hyper-extended my neck, and a piece of my wrist bone permanently chipped off. I had to do this ride though. If I could not do this, how can I expect myself to ride almost 70 miles a day for almost 70 days?

I took the PATH train that morning to WTC and rode up the Greenway. The trees and flowers were absolutely incredible.

It was about a 6 mile ride to the starting point at the north side of the General Grant's Tomb National Monument.

After surprising my group there with my appearance, we rode up to and over the George Washington Bridge with Sam leading the pack. The bridge disappeared into the mist as I rode into the uncertain future.