Concrete Beach outside the Concrete Jungle

Just because the Tri is over (detailed post will be published tomorrow!), that doesn't mean my long bike rides are over. I set off this morning at 5:15 to meet my training pals (should they now be referred to as my recreational riding pals?) and we rode across the George Washington Bridge along our usual route to Nyack. After enjoying the customary muffin-like-pastry-thing at the Runcible Spoon, we headed back down Route 9W to the GWB and then into NYC. However, today, since it was so hot, we decided that we'd take the Palisades Park route to get a bit of shade and avoid the big hills. I had never been this way before but it was a nice way to change things up. Not that a 60-mile bike ride can ever become monotonous, but it was just nice to see some new terrain. And the best part of today's ride?


The park route leads to a concrete beach complete with a pier for sunning and a snack shack! Although I have to admit, after 15 minutes of "sunning" myself on the hot slab of concrete, I was ready to hit the road again. The only problem was that in order to get out of the park, we had a HUGE hill to climb and at one point, I'm fairly certain I was going backwards.

All in all, I struggled with today's ride. I was a bit tired when I got up this morning (who isn't tired when the alarm goes off at 4:45am?) but I figured that I'd be fine. After all, I'm a Triathlete! But the heat, coupled with my exhaustion and what seems to be extreme muscle fatigue from last weekend, made the ride almost unbearable. And tonight? My body is hurtin'! Someone remind me of this next Friday night when I set my alarm for Saturday morning, k?