I'm back! Two ride reports here, both very atypical both for EBR / this thread and for me. No stats, no maps, and each of these posts describes multiple short rides taken in the same area. The reason for this is that my fitness needs morphed dramatically for the past eight weeks because I was rehearsing (by myself, to recorded tracks) for a series of performances with several rock bands in Connecticut. I played four sets with three different bands in 28 hours-- and, given the connective tissue disorder, and the demanding nature of the material (some very fast punk rock, but also alternative, power pop, and hard rock with far more lead guitar than I'm used to playing) I had to almost completely eliminate all (other) forms of exercise to avoid muscle and joint pain. I stopped riding almost completely three weeks before the show, and even stopped swimming the week before. And sure enough, being away from my beloved Moto and Trek for so long
really reduced pain in my wrists and thumbs. I was able to play some songs I haven't played live in 40 years, and also to pull off a few solos that I've never pulled off before. So it was a serious sacrifice, but well worth it.
FIRST RIDE: After the shows, I was back at my old apartment with my old roommate in New York City, and
very eager to get on my old Raleigh Competition for some acoustic adventures! At the same time, however, I knew I had to be careful, because I hadn't ridden in nearly two months, the bike has a much more uncomfortable riding position, zero suspension, and I was worried about screwing up my back, shoulders, and wrists. Indeed, I wound up in Urgent Care when I returned to Los Angeles and my back still hasn't completely recovered... but not before getting in series of 25-50 minute rides in Central Park, mostly in the North Woods, a little known area in the north west corner of the park that I've grown to love since the late '80s. Here are just a few shots from some of my favorite remote areas... the waterfall and archway are two of my favorites, also beautiful in the winter in deep snow and ice.
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These rides were not without incident. Due to the extreme heat, my first ride out started at dusk and went into full dark-- of course, I'd brought powerful lights front and back, and I know the park like the back of my hand, so I wasn't worried.
Uh, wrong. Some well-meaning but moronic Park personnel had left up massive flood lights from the concert a few days previously. The glare was so bad that I could not see landmark buildings, and got totally lost-- very embarrassing for a native New Yorker, but they were really awful-- I wound up off road and onto dirt paths at one point because I couldn't even see the pavement, they were that blinding.
Then, I heard a nasty scraping sound from my crank with every revolution... it nagged at my memory... oh, yeah, that's right: There are three kind of hollow screws that connects the inner and outer crank, and there's one of them that always works loose! (Locking nut missing?) Bike has had that problem for about 40 years, but I totally forgot about it. I even brought tools, but none were the right diameter to fit
inside the screw and screw it back into place. I went into the woods a bit, took the light off the bike, and finally found a twig the perfect diameter to stick inside the hollow screw and twist it back in, later covered it with duct tape... which was the solution before the last refurb, when my NY LBS must have removed it! The other rides were great, but the night ride a little nasty-- must have been 90 degrees at 8:00 at night, and very high humidity.
Oh, and by the way, I have an update on the delivery e-bike vs. other bike conflict in NYC for some other thread. A long story, but I can tell you this: The delivery e-bikes are a unique hazard, and they are totally lawless, but not the greatest hazard: There are GAS POWERED MOTOR SCOOTERS that are hogging the Central Park West bike lanes at night! Man, that ticked me off!
It was good to see so many cyclists out today, more than I have seen for a very long time! I had a roadie fly past me but unlike Stefan 
) I wasn't going to attempt to chase a 30 something super fit roadie on the flat, no flick of a switch for me to get more power!
