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Published: July 26th 2019
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We woke up to a nice surprise today--the heat wave broke! We also received a nice delivery from a local alum of DD coffee and bagels--K2C runs on Dunkin'! While packing up the trailer, Carly found the plastic roadway blockers to be an ample place to pretend to nap, lol. On Bike & Build, everything and everywhere looks like a good place to nap. We packed up the host, trailer, and vans, bid our farewells to the home office staff that had joined us the past few days, and had route meeting. It was the usual confusion of who is riding with who, and I asked NJ if she would like to ride together. She warned me that she was in a funk and may not be a ton of fun to ride with. I told her I didn't mind and its not always about having fun, but being there for each other. As ride groups starting riding out and with Sarah in the van, Mikey tagged along with us as we started to ride out together. We got as far as the corner before NJ broke down and cried a bit. We could tell she was going through something and
tried our best to console her, wipe away her tears, and give her hugs.
We rode on through Brooklyn and crossed the Brooklyn Bridge one last time. I really wish I had kept my GoPro running because as we were descending the bridge, a middle-aged woman was turned around looking at some of the buildings and in the bike lane, Mikey quickly swerved around her, clipped her shoulder, and she went down. Mikey kept riding from the speed and fear and I slammed on my brakes and stopped to help her, quickly followed by Nora Jane. We asked if she was okay and quickly learned that there was a bit of a language barrier (Russian? German? Not sure). Luckily her adult children were with her and her husband and her son was able to translate a bit for her. Mikey came back up the bridge and I pulled out my med kit (Thanks Tay from NC2SD14 for the adventure medical kit, coming in clutch, again!) and offered her a sanitizing wipe and a few bandaids. Though she hit the deck pretty bad, it seemed she only had a few minor scrapes and some potential bruising on her knee and
pinky. I offered a few extra Band-Aids in case the ones we applied came off throughout the day. We kept asking if she was okay and her son assured us she would be fine.
After they walked away, we had to take a few minutes to recollect ourselves. NJ was a bit anxious that they would ask for insurance info and was grateful they didn't since she was worried they may sue Bike & Build or something. After we decompressed and laughed a bit (it WAS funny & I will never forget that image of her getting clipped and spinning in a circle before hitting the deck!) we got on our bikes and rode on. We rode west through Manhattan and then north (north is the path!) up the Hudson River Greenway, back tracking the way we came into the city. We rode past the George Washington Bridge and past some cool stacked rocks that I wished we had stopped to take pictures of, but already with our delay, we rode on. We rode (or walked) up the steep climb ramp off the trail (boo to being stuck behind slow walking men and not able to crank the pedals
anymore and sharp turns) and rode until we hit some restrooms. Some of our friends passed us and I played some music while we waited.
We then continued to ride north and then east through the Bronx. At times Mikey decided to go rogue and ride in an unsafe manner, which bothered NJ bc she "doesn't like being a dick" and hates being put in the position to have to enforce safety rules (esp at this point in the trip). We rode through a park on some trails and discussed some of the things that were bothering NJ. In typical form, we were on a mission for coffee, so we found a sweet shop that offered iced coffee and empanadas--perfect. Beef and chicken please. We nommed and shared our empanadas and sipped our iced coffee as we let friends riding past of the treasure we found. We continued riding and stopped at one point for Mikey to talk to a jammin gentleman about his jazzy music. We love Mikey and so appreciate his passion for music and dancing--his hips don't lie!
We rode on to lunch after accidentally overshooting it, which was in the shade of a small
gas station. We were all amazed at Carly's tire that decided to split open, though not pop or deflate the tube, all the while looking like the grand canyon of tires. Eating left overs, left over Dunkin coffee, and springing for sour multicolored tape candy, we enjoyed our roadside lunch. We then had a surprise from Jana's friends that were tracking her on Find My Friends--so fun and so sneaky! Ditching my apple, we get on our bikes and ride on. The afternoon sun is warming up as we climb out of a neighborhood where we then run into 2004 Bike & Build alum--those exist in the world?! He said he saw that we would be riding through his town and was trying to track us down. He offered to buy us pizza for dinner (God send!) and that he would see us at the host. While riding through the busy suburban streets, after passing a Rita's, NJ got a flat. Not too thrilled about it, she pumped that mofo up fast, diminishing my hopes of walking down the hill to get Rita's for us while we waited for it to be fixed.
We ride on and cross over
into Connecticut with the most anti-climatic sign yet--a blue chalk line across the road crossing a small waterway written by the vans/riders ahead of us with NY under it and CT above it. State lines seem much less exciting now that we are officially in New England. We stop again only for a bathroom break at a fun, beautiful park (Rye Town Park) where everyone was enjoying the afternoon summer sun. I laid in the grass for a moment and wished I could just lay on the beach and enjoy the summer not on a bicycle. Since we're close to home, we ride the remaining few miles to the host, The Greenwich Country Day School.
We spend the afternoon laying on the cold hard wood floor, appreciating the break from the hot sun, scootering around on those square scooters you played with in elementary school, hunting for the showers in the maze that was the hallway full of gyms and locker rooms, prepping our laundry loops, hiding I
Our evening consists of cleaning bikes, painting nails, NJ getting locked out of her/the leaders sleeping quarters & thus being panicked, our hosts not answering or coming to our rescue
to let us in, NJ & Beth passing is 100xs while on a walk, and leaving the door propped open for Aiden & Jana. I settle into my sleeping bag near the bike tarp, with fresh clean clothes nearby, and try to get some sleep despite the various lights, noises, & snores that comes from sharing a large sleeping space with 15 of your exhausted & hard working friends
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