Squid on Wheels -- The New York City Century 2008

Today was the 19th annual New York Century , A century, for those of you not in the know, is a 100 mile bike ride. The New York Century ride features five routes, ranging from 15 to 100 miles. This is the third time that Team Squid has participated in the ride and the furthest that we have ridden. We have now done the 35, 55 and 75 mile portions and no, we will not be doing the 100 next year -- we have an affair to attend that weekend , we'll try to find a different Century to ride -- maybe the Covered Bridges Metric Century in Lancaster.

I'd be lying if I said the ride was perfect. The kids got tired but were determined to finish. We offered to abort several times but they both insisted on continuing. Even after a bike fell on Squidette (she was sitting on the grass at a rest stop and my bike tipped over on her) she kept going.

Injuries were minor -- a branch scratched Little Squid's arm and I have some friction burns where my legs meet my saddle. (There is also some mild sunburn. Even our super duper sunblock can't beat 11 hours in the sun.)

Equipment malfunctions were non existent. 5 bikes (we had a friend riding with us), 10 tires and zero flats. Pretty amazing.

Now we are a bit sore, a tad tired but hey, we did it! 85 miles total including the ride to the subway to get to the start and the ride all the way home.

6:15 a.m. (Notice the new jerseys -- large Squid on the back, of course)Times Square -- about 7:00 a.m.

The Cyclone -- around 11:30 a.m.

The Kissena Park Velodrome (that's Little Squid on the track) -- around 1:00 p.m.

The Finish Line, 79 miles later -- about 5:00 p.m.

Honorary Squid -- He planned on riding the 35, maybe the 55, and stayed with us for the entire 75 (really 79).

Squid on Wheels: The New York City Century -- 2007

As a culmination to all of our training this summer, today we rode in the New York City Century, participating in the "55" mile portion. 55 is in quotes because even on the written turn sheets, they admit that it is really 57 miles. We clocked the Century part of the ride at about 58.5/59 miles and then had the additional few miles to ride home. Total mileage: 66 miles. The map of our ride, as approximated in Gmaps Pedometer can be found here. You can see how we added about a mile to the ride by missing a turn here and there.
This year's ride was as pleasant as last year's ride with the participants, marshals and other volunteers all contributing to the overall experience. In particular, we noticed that the marshals were very attentive and immediately came to the aid of a cyclist in need. Fortunately, we did not need their services but one did stop to check on me and Squidette as we pause to wait for the men at one point. Yes, that is right. 4 bikes, 66 miles and no mechanical problems. Mike got a slow leak coming off of Randall's Island but was able to reinflate the tire and ride home on the tire without any trouble.We arrived at the start point in Central Park at 6:40 and left a few minutes later, riding with the 75 and 100 milers. Yes, we "jumped" the start because we knew that we would be going slower then many, if not most, of the 55 milers and wanted to finish at a reasonable time. Unlike the 5 Boro Bike tour, the Century starts people in groups of roughly 50 or so and the groups were filling up about as fast as they were releasing them so we did not cause anyone to be held back by starting early. The strategy worked as we did not seem to meet any other 55 milers until the last rest stop at Astoria Park. There were probably some with us at the Carnarsie rest stop but the people we chatted with were all doing the 75 or 100 mile rides.In Astoria Park we met former students of Mike's and had a nice chat as we rested, relieved and refueled. Throughout the ride we chatted with other cyclists and received many comments on the new Squid-on-Wheels bike jerseys as well as tons of positive comments directed toward the kids. People were uniformly complementary in their praise which, of course, made all of us proud. We met up with another family with a 7 year old doing the 35 mile portion but that was the only other kid that we encountered this time. We do think that Little Squid was the youngest on the 55 mile portion and milked the fact that, for today, he is still 9. Tomorrow is another story. More ride photos can be found here and here. Look for some really good shots of Times Square in Mike's album.

65.6 66 Miles

And that's all I have to say. More after we rest and recover.

(Correction -- we did 4/10 of a mile riding to the subway in the morning)