only cyclists would not think I'm crazy

Warning: no baby pictures.

Since I had planned to spend most of February in Brooklyn helping the girls wrangle a newborn, I brought cycling shorts and shoes, figuring I'd ride Annie's cyclocross bike on the Wahoo smart trainer that I bought her for xmas 2021 so I would not get fat and lazy. Here's the set-up (staged). Thanks also to Walter for cluing me on to Rouvy.  

But Annie's bike is small for me and she doesn't have a front-wheel block, so I felt like I was always falling off the front of her seat. I had already raised the seat and I didn't want to screw around with any of the other settings because it would be impossible to get it back to her optimal fit.

I decided to buy her a block and planned a trip to her favorite bike shop that had them in stock, about 2.5 miles away. It was a little far to walk, so I researched a trip that would take just a couple of subway stops. At that point, Lara said: "why don't you ride there?" The ride went through Prospect Park, so most of it was off city streets (although I almost got killed anyway). It was one of those nice days in February (57F) that even climate-change deniers have to admit is more than just an anomaly, and it was so nice to be outside on a bike that I never made it to the bike shop. Instead, I did a couple of loops around the park and headed home.

Prospect Park is a lovely urban park with a loop around the perimeter that runs about 3.5 miles. It is heavily used by walkers, joggers, cyclists in full kits, and (unfortunately) moped and ebike delivery guys, but no cars. 

Here is my latest run:

https://www.strava.com/activities/8561845877

It is pretty flat. And I am pretty slow.

So it will be important to try to get some riding done in the next two weeks (indoors or out), because I have only one week between the time I go back to Syracuse and when I leave for a warm-weather bike trip with the boys to Cuba. 

(https://www.backroads.com/trips/BCUQ/cuba-bike-tour)

Wayne Grove called it "tapering". Pretty funny. That would be true if I was in shape to begin with and it wasn't a whole month of inattention to fitness.

The cycling is going to be challenging, and no matter how much I train in the next two weeks, I will still likely be the slowest rider in the group.

While the cycling will still be fun, slow or not, I am looking forward to the cultural/social part of the trip. I will blog about it once I'm there.

After spending a week with the girls and Sol, I checked in to see if they thought they needed my support for the full 3 1/2 weeks we had originally planned. They said "yes". 

Since I enjoyed the ride in Prospect Park so much and the park was so close, I decided to go back to Syracuse overnight to get a bike and proper gear.

For $20, Amtrak let me use their bike locker. 


My bike got a reserved seat. I did not.

And taking the bike on the subway to Brooklyn was no problem. 

Here's the stable of bikes.


Now that I dedicated 30 hours of travel to bring a bike back to BK, you know that it is going to snow, rain, the temp won't go above 30. It is February, after all.

I'm still glad I did it. Crazy, no. Obsessed, maybe.

Update: I'm still not fast, but I am fast-er on my own bike. Unless I am George Santos in which case I am fast-ish. And it is a lot more comfortable.

Here are the data from the first ride at the park with my bike:

https://www.strava.com/activities/8589494330 

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