Biking Across the Border (to Jersey)

Sundays are often the only day the fella and I can spend any real, relaxed, unhampered QT together because of our hectic and oft-conflicting schedules. Though I often take the spinning class he teaches, we rarely have enough time to take our bikes out together, so we jumped at the chance to ride out of Manhattan and spend the day cruising. Destination- Nyack.

40 miles, we're coming for ya. #cycling #NYC #nyack #bicycle

A photo posted by @keeliesheridan on May 17, 2015 at 8:40am PDT

This was my first time riding a bike across the GWB, and I found it pretty horrifically stressful. The bridge was packed, the lane is insanely narrow and shared with pedestrians and I'm not the world's most technically proficient rider, so you do the math. We made it across and started heading up 9W when our plans were quickly dashed.

The Gran Fondo was happening and 9W was closed TO EVERYONE (including bicycles that were not registered for the race). A police officer at the barricade cautioned us against a few of the side roads that could re-route us to Nyack. "Full of potholes. Insanely steep." He was probably just trying to avoid congestion in Nyack and deter more riders, but it worked. 

Yelp to the rescue- we scouted out nearby towns with lots of talked about restaurants and then veered off course. 

We spotted the outdoor seating at Simply Vietnamese and our minds were made up.

We each ordered a Vietnamese iced coffee. There is no doubt in my mind that if I do well in this life, I'll be reincarnated as one of these in the next. I drank A LOT of this stuff when I was in Vietnam. Read about that love affair here, here and here.

We split a Pork Bahn Mi sandwich and Lemongrass Chicken. I was expecting something grilled, but the curried, peanutty dish we received was pretty tasty. 

Food makes my boyfriend smile. Always.

We hopped back on our bikes and cruised down Dean Dr. to Englewood, where I had heard tell of Cupcakes by Carousel. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup and Snowball. Awwwww yeah.

Washed it all down with some amino-y fruit punch-y thing (BLAH) and we headed back to Manhattan. The delightful downhill rides betrayed us on the return- the hills were punishing and even though we only ended up doing 25 miles, it felt like a whole lot more.

Trainer Jorge recommends you treat yourself to the following stretches after a nice long bike ride.

Important questions:

-Ladies (or anyone)- do you wear underwear under your padded shorts? I didn't... and I regretted it.

-What is the absolute most padding I can get in a bike short? Because seriously, ow.