Memorial Bike Ride - Day One by Cheryl

We started off the morning with a ceremony at the FDNY training academy at Fort Totten, the weather being cool and misty. The FDNY bagpipe crew did and excellant job. Amazing Grace always makes me cry, but especially so, when it is played on the bagpipes. Then we had a police escort that took us from the Bronx to downtown Manhattan, all the way to ground zero. The roads are not in the best of repair, so I spent a good deal of time out of the saddle, protecting my bike more than my butt. But how cool! A police escort, no stops, tourists snapping pictures of us, right through Times Square, past Central Park and THEN, a ride to Statten Island on the Statten Island Ferry, with a beautiful view of the Statue of Liberty. By this time the weather was perfect for riding, having lost the mistiness and growing steadily warmer. We rode to another fire station, where we were fed lunch and then had to load up to drive across the bridge (no more police escort and too dangerous for bikes). We had biked about 30 miles by that time and had another 30 to go to Princeton, New Jersey. BUT, we got lost/seperated after about 20 miles and had to get in vehicles again for the final part of the day. Turns out, it was probably for the best, since I did see lightning just before the skies opened up with pounding rain and wind.We finished up at Hillsborough Fire Department, who fed us at least four different kinds of pasta, salad, fruit, beer and wine. Did I mention that the food was fabulous? It was.
For my Group Cycle and RPM people: Just think of a nice warm up, then LOTS of jumps. For the bagpipes, remember the Warp Brothers song in RPM 30? Or you can look for a song by Afro Celts that does have some nice bagpipes in it. Follow that with a flat, into gentle hills and end with a strong push as you head into an increasingly stronger wind. The network connection at this hotel won't let me "see" this page the way I would like and my son has to use his computer for work, so I will try to make up yesterday and today tonight.