Our route for the day was a lap out to Orchards and back, a 100 mile loop for the two Brooklynites with around 1500m of elevation, and a smidge over 130km for myself starting on the Upper East side. Starting out in the usual fashion we headed up the 9W before a left turn at Market taking us off the normal beaten track (I should note, the route does ask for the river road on the way out but we gave that a miss due to time constraints). From here you meander through various villages and towns with little kickers here and there before hitting South Mountain Climb which delivers you at Orchards.
Orchards: An Unexpectedly Fun Weekend Ride
Have you ever had one of those rides where everything just comes together? You're with your mates, the weather is perfect, the route is spot on, your legs feel like they have all the power in the world, and everyone is thinking the exact same thing, let's smash it. Yeah? Well this was one of those rides...
"Ride the wheel of someone fast"
These are the sole words that had been put on my training plan for Saturday 23rd August which started everything. Being the typically reserved Brit I am, I had no idea how to make this happen. "Hey Mr really strong person, please can I sit on your wheel for three hours this Saturday while you drain the life out of my legs" just isn't something I could see myself pitching to the team.
Two days later, Josh (fresh off a summer of nailing it at big gravel) posted in our team Slack "Anyone up for a suffer fest on Saturday?", it was meant to be. Que the obligatory three days of unorganised chaos as a group chat attempts to organise something. In the end Josh, Diego and I managed to meet bright and early on 72nd and Riverside at 7am. After a relatively leisurely roll through the city we met Lucia at GWB and headed out on our ride.
Queue comedic moment number one, we followed a strapping young chap across the bridge who was seemingly planning on doing his entire ride powered by a single bar and a box of Zyn taking pride of place in his centre pocket. Legend.
Now, I use the word meander purely to describe the route as our ride was nothing of the sorts. From the get go it was obvious that when Josh asked for a "suffer fest" he really did mean it, we flew along 9W and punched it up every hill as we made our way through the towns. When we made it to the climb (2km averaging 5% with pitches up to 15% in the middle) things really kicked off as Diego, our stick thin compatriot and the obvious climber of the group, announced that this was his time to shine. He was off. Putting yourself in the bin half way around a century probably isn't the wisest move but hey, I don't make the rules. I'd been explicitly told to ride a fast wheel and here we are, I got a PR on the climb and borderline collapsed as I rolled into Orchards which, thankfully, sits at the top.
Spirits were high all around and it was very well received when Diego announced that he had bought doughnuts for everyone. Queue comedic moment number two, Diego bought plain doughnuts. Dry, plain doughnuts. In any other situation this wouldn't be funny and I'd sound like a complete arsehole for making fun of someone as they bought me food, however it was a swelteringly hot day and we were all struggling to stay hydrated as it was. Diego immediately realised the error of his ways as he took the first bite and his mouth immediately turned into the Sahara desert as every ounce of water in his body was sucked out of him. Our dry mouthed friend was educated with a lovely sugared cinnamon doughnut, we laughed, we drank our bodyweight in apple juice, we hauled ourselves back onto the bikes and off we went for the trip home.
The return journey was more of the same, another punchy climb on South Mountain, towns to weave through, lakes to glide across and one final hill to get over after the reservoirs to lead us back into Nyack for the final section of a more classic weekend ride. I really don't know how to describe it, but it was just so much fun. We were all on the same wavelength, giving it our all but seemingly laughing the whole time, little jokes, funny comments being thrown around and everyone just genuinely happy to be out riding their bike. It was great.
As we made our way back across the bridge and into the city we said our goodbyes and each went our separate ways, laden with legs that felt like jelly but smiled firmly plastered across all of our faces.
Memorable rides aren't something you can plan for or expect, they aren't set on a schedule or built into training plans, they just happen. It's days like these that are the reason we ride bikes, you have no idea when the next one will be, but when it comes around it will make you realise why you put all those hours in on the turbo over the winter and seemingly endless laps of the parks over the summer. Riding bikes fast is fun, riding bikes fast with your mates is even better, and it's something I count myself privileged to be able to do every day.
