Sunday, May 25, 2008

Squid of Wheels -- Tour de Brooklyn 2008

Let me start by saying -- a ride can't be all that bad when it starts here.

Today was the 4th Annual Tour de Brooklyn. Moderately obsessed squid that we are, we had to ride in it.

The ride took us in and out of various Brooklyn neighborhoods including Williamsburg, Crown Heights, Bedford Stuyvesant and Stuyvesant Heights.

We passed cultural institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum of Art (below).


Paused occasionally to let the rest of the group (over 3000) to consolidate.


And ventured into places that do not usually seem like biking destinations.
We even got to ride inside the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Unfortunately, shortly after the picture above was taken, another rider collided with Little Squid, causing a four-bike pile up. Little Squid was uninjured but his back brakes locked into place. Two marshalls assisted us and finally we were able to totally release them, this however, required Little Squid to finish the day with only his front brakes. Not to worry. Turns out that he tends to mostly use the front ones anyway. Needless to say, I stopped taking pictures for a while.

We finally rejoined Papa Squid and Squidette at Cadman Plaza and the official end of the ride. Little Squid took a few minutes to melt down and then, composed again, insisted that we go find the telectroscope.
Not the Telectroscope, just a cool sculpture seen as we headed to the telectroscope.
The Telectroscope, parabolic mirrors set up in a long forgotten tunnel that links Brooklyn and London. We were able to people in London. Cool! I'd love to ride through the tunnel some day ...

Tomorrow we might head back and flash the url of this blog to the Londoners.

Having satisfied our curiosity, and stocked up on chocolate, we headed home by way of Sid's.
Brakes repaired, we are already for tomorrow's adventure.

Actual mileage including the ride to and from the Tour: 29.5 -- recorded mileage, 30 miles. We figure the trauma of a bike crash qualifies for another half a mile.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad little Squid was not hurt and you were able to get his brake fixed.

Looks like it was a beautiful day for a ride.

Anonymous said...

http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/tour-de-brooklyn-2008/

Streetfilms coverage of the ride is up.

Susan said...

What a great day! So glad Little Squid wasn't hurt and his bike survived after a bit of attention. I watched the video that anonymous linked and it just looked awesome!
But whoa..that Telectroscope. I'd not heard a word about it and now I'm just fascinated. Could you actually ride in it? Could you ride all the way to London if you were super strong and didn't need to eat or use the bathroom???

Ina said...

Ooh, *must* try the Tour de Brooklyn!

knitseashore said...

So glad Little Squid and his bike are all right! It looks like you had a great day out there. I always love your bike tours.

Anonymous said...

Wow awesome sights!!!! I am so very glad that L.S. was fine and only his brakes hurt.

Hugs!!!