Girls Bike NYC: 2023 Season Start!
2023 marks the start of my second full season riding with Girls Bike NYC! My first ride with the club was their final ride of the 2021 season - the marathon route in November. Girls Bike NYC was probably the fourth or fifth club that I tried riding with after my move to Brooklyn in 2020. I had fun with other groups, but none of them were the exact vibe I was looking for. I remember showing up at the start of the 2021 marathon ride, on the Brooklyn side of the Verrazano Bridge, looking for other riders in the club (i.e. looking for a woman) and Lindsey was the first person I spotted. Our group grew to about 15 people and we were off on the route, trying to finish the course before they closed it off to cyclists. When we finished the ride, I called my friend, Sarah. “Sarah, THIS IS MY CLUB.” Finally, I had found a group that I felt excited to be a part of! Too bad it was the end of the season!
2022 was my first full season of riding with Girls Bike NYC and I will forever be grateful for that year of riding. I rode to so many new places, met so many new people, learned so many new things, and finally felt like I belonged to the cycling community. Here’s to the 2023 season and everything it’s going to offer to all of us!
Without further ado…
Last Tuesday was the first club ride of the season (after canceling the previous week because of rain, booooooo rain) and we had perfect weather. I was being a cranky little bitch that day and when Polly reached out to me, I admitted that maybe I was too salty to get myself out for the ride. Polly told me the sunlight had saved her earlier in the day and suggested it would help me also, hahahaha. Okay, fine, IT DID (thanks Polly). I changed into my kit after I got home from work, scrambled to switch out my training wheel because I was too lazy to do it the night before, and then rode over to GAP to meet everyone for our first ride.
The club starts the season with a few weeks of laps around Prospect Park before we move to our longer rides on Sundays. We had a TURNOUT. The ride leaders stopped counting after 35, but there had to have been 40+ riders (including so many newcomers!) who showed up for the first ride of Girls Bike NYC’s fourth season.
Kate kicked it off with a little intro to the club and some of its leaders, and then reviewed safety and the guidelines we follow while riding together.
Since there were so many people who joined the ride, and knowing the park would be crowded because of the amazing weather, we split up into three different groups. Liz was the leader for the first group, which Polly and I were in, and she asked Polly to pace the group at 10-12 mph. We had our new friends, Rachel and Mandy, riding behind us.
POLLY WAS A SPEED DEMON WHEN SHE WAS PACING US. I had to keep telling her to slow down, and she was insisting she was pacing correctly. Then we realized my computer was reading one speed and her GPS watch was reading a totally different one and we kept arguing about who was right lololol.
Since we were the first group to start our laps, we ended up being the first to finish, and we all met at our original starting point at GAP.
I sat atop my perch to take some pictures as the rest of the groups finished their laps.
I had a good fucking time on this ride and I’m so excited to be back with this group of COOL PEOPLE.
P.S. I guess Polly did an okay job at pacing us at 12 mph…
P.P.S. I did a test ride on the Pack Rat after my brake repairs, and it turns out that I was successful, since I’m still here.
