The heat is on!

The 5 boro bike tour is a 42 mile loop in New York, first Sunday of May every year. I woke up this morning at 6:30am for a 8:00am start in Battery Park. Let me tell you that the pouring rain did not stop the 30,000 bikers, at all. Americans are so great in these types of situation, they cheer, they honk, they have fun, they talk to people they don't know. We're all in it together and that's what really matters. The atmosphere is just perfect.

In the Bronx, I passed a guy with a boom box on the back of his bike, playing The heat is on. I sooo wish he would have pedaled faster to be with me the whole time. All along, there were these 2 men biking on each side not far from me, the serious biker types with the leggings and the funny shoes. At some point in Queens, the first one smiles at me, I smile back. He smiles again, I smile back again. A few miles later he says: "keep going, you're doing great". Nice, right? Then, in the end, halfway up the Verrazzano Bridge, after this long and painful up hill, the second one says: "So you've done the whole thing?... You started in Battery Park this morning?..." and I naively answer: "Of course, where would have I started from?"

I know I don't have the proper attire, nor equipment, that my cute shorts are not comfortable, my white Converse soaked and turning gray, my bike weights a ton and the basket in the front does not look very professional...well guess what guys? I went as fast as you did, and next year I'm planning on getting the whole attire/equipment and spending the race with the winners.

See you next year!