09/12/20 – Garden State of Mind

Throughout the summer, the Brompton club of New York organized cycling trips in and around New York City. Up until now I was reluctant to join the group: some rides were to places I’d already been and others were just too short. Today, however, I joined a group of Bromptoneers on a relatively long ride to a relatively new place. The ride was called Tour of New Jersey, although only a small portion of it passed through New Jersey. There were fifteen of us on Bromptons.

The ride commenced at the Brompton Junction on Bleecker Street in Manhattan but I first cycled and hour just to get there. From there we cycled through the city’s East Side, then through Harlem to reach George Washington Bridge to cross over to New Jersey. There was a “traffic jam” on the bridge: in places the cycling path was so narrow and there were so many cyclists going in both directions that it was almost impossible to ride.

US Route 9W in New Jersey and New York is very popular amongst cyclists, so on a Saturday there were plenty of cycling teams. Somewhere along the way I decided to extend the ride beyond what was planned to clock in 100 km, so after crossing Mario Cuomo Bridge, I skipped the final stop in Tarrytown and cycled all the way back to the Bronx, where I caught a subway ride back home. Past Tarrytown, I cycled on a trail that was so badly paved I think the workers who did it not only should not have been paid but rather should pay cyclists who have to endure their crappy craftsmanship.

I am so used to cycle alone that cycling with a group requires adjusting my habits. Maybe a smaller group would be a better fit for me.

Today in numbers:

106 km – distance cycled
11th – most populous state, New Jersey is also the 4th smallest