And what would the perfect tonic to a weekend’s over-eating in the name of giving thanks be?  That’s right kids, a bike ride.

Andy and I had already decided we fancied a ride before heading back to work we just hadn’t really thought where we’d go to or who we’d ride with.  Thankfully (there we are again, giving thanks) Lucia emailed the crew to suggest Piermont on the Sunday and so it was.  Easy decision that was.  As it turned out, it would just be the three of us that day and although riding in a big group is tremendous fun, there’s also a lot to be said for keeping it small and powering away.

We all know this route pretty well.  The ride to Piermont is the fall-back ride for just about all NYC cyclists, much to the annoyance of Piermont residents it has to be said who could do without hundreds of bikes ripping through their quaint town every weekend.

Even though we know it well and are well trained on the hills leading out on good old River Road with the demon Alpine at the end and the rollers on the way back on 9W which seem to roll only one way and that would be up, we all found it pretty tough going today.  Perhaps it was the hangover from Thanksgiving dinner, perhaps it was the cold or the wind that pushed against us like an invisible hill but we all certainly got a good workout in.

The three of us shared many laughs along the way the best of which, for me at least, was seeing some chap pull over after the sole of his cycling shoe had come away from the rest of the shoe and was left dangling from his pedal.  I really wanted to take a picture but thought his good humour might soon disappear.  Of course my English sense of humour likes nothing more than a little bit of suffering to someone else.

Feel I have to say that Next year’s Escape New York flat fixing competition has to be entered by Andy who upon getting a flat on his rear tyre had the wheel off before I’d even come to a stop.  The kind of bloke you want with you when you suffer a puncture. 

Could this have been the last ride for me this year?  Perhaps, especially as I only have one weekend left to go before heading back to the green and pleasant land of mother England but you never know, Lucia, who signed off riding for the year on her Facebook weeks ago, might once again rally the troops for that last hurrah and I for one will be right there.