30 Miles Day 2 (hills)

On Sunday I left Brooklyn early, I had the car packed with bike gear, dog gear, dog crate, dog and I picked up my friend Jen Davino and we headed out of the city.
I am lucky to have friends who have great parents that are willing to help out with our special needs puppy while we went for a ride- in this sense, 'help out ' means let him run around and nap in the back yard since he doesn't have a lot of trust in anyone outside of our imediate family (poor guy).
So we dropped Otis off in Monroe, NY and got him acquainted before we headed over to Harriman State Park. Like many cyclists I have a love/hate relationship with Harriman. I love it when I am done because I feel the sense of accomplishment, of challenge, but while riding well I hate the hills- and Harriman is all hills!
I got to Ride with Jen Davino, also a JDRF rider, but who will be competing in the Lake Placid Iron Man on July 24th! That is amazing, she is incredible determined and fearless I am so proud of what she is able to do! She was looking very strong as a rider and I know that she will take on this challenge and overcome with no problems.
It feels good to ride with other Type 1 diabetics- we learn from each other and support each other and I was thankful to have her there when we came down that killer hill and I felt unstable, I tested in at 44 (LOW) and she helped me get through that! It put a little strain on my energy, but I was able to get through another 15 miles of riding and finished strong!
We had a great ride and a lot of fun at the Barbecue back at the Levine' s house!

Two days- two Rides- 60 miles day 1

This weekend my bike and became good friends again. With Burlington only 45 days away, it is about time.
Saturday I joined the NY Crankees Ride team for a training ride from Brooklyn to Nyack.
We met at 8am in Brooklyn, rode to the West Side Highway via the Brooklyn bridge where we met some other riders and took off for the George Washington Bridge, crossed over and met some other friends. At that point already 17 miles in, we headed up to Nyack via River Road. The weather great for riding, despite thunderstorm warnings we stayed 'ahead of the storm'
Aly Levine and I worked on our pace lining- riding on each others wheel and exchanging effort between us for less exertion on the back rider- this allows us to ride consistently at a faster speed, when the lead rider gets tired, the back rider pulls to the front. You ride close so there is a lot of trust involved, I definitely trust Aly, and she is a strong rider, look out for this in Burlington.
The 9W/Nyack ride is a popular one for the city people, because it is easily accessable our of the city ride and it can be challenging. The ride takes you from the GW bridge on the Jersey side, back to New York State and up the Hudson river. Long stretches of roads, some challenging hills, and cute little river towns- I fell for it!
We stopped for a snack break at the Runcible Spoon- a little cafe frequented by cyclists (they provide bike racks for parking outside) there it was decided we would add an extra 10 miles in to our Ride- led by the Wonder Wheel Rider himself, Lewis Runion, which meant one thing- hills.

We finished up early afternoon and headed back to Brooklyn before the rain started. It was a great ride with the team and a great way to spend a Saturday morning!