All I have heard for months is how great the Ride to Montauk is.
“The course is so beautiful!” and “It’s flat all the way,” friends continually told me. I wasn’t even really sure where exactly Montauk was, but I figured having a 70 mile bike ride hanging over my head would force me to start training earlier this year than in years past. As usual I recruited my trustworthy training partner, Jenn, and along the way we bullied Megan, a member of Physical Equilibrium’s triathlon team, into joining us as well.
We began training in March and I am happy to say that it went really, really well. We completed a 60-mile training ride two weeks before the event so we would have two weeks to taper properly.
On race day, we were all pumped and excited, especially for the variety of promised foods at the finish line! Since the ride offered distances of 30, 70, 100 and 145 mile courses, I was curious to see how it would be organized as everyone finished at th
e same location. The directions on the website and the materials we received in the mail happened to be extremely thorough and well organized.
We checked our bikes for transport in Manhattan the day before the ride and arrived at Penn Station the morning of to travel to the starting line.
We arrived on time and our ride began at 9:45am. The first few miles went smoothly but disaster struck well before the first rest stop at 14.5 miles as a long stretch of road was flooded from the previous day’s rain storm. At one point we actually had to dismount our bikes and carry them through wet sand to avoid submerging our entire lower legs. Making matters worse, Jenn also crashed into Megan as Megan was forced to stop short to avoid a bottleneck crash along the flooded road.
Not much later, I fell behind the group and was riding solo through a “lake” when a car sped up to pass me in what seemed as an intentional attempt to soak the riders. And after being soaked, I proceeded to get a flat tire. Not even 12 miles in and we were wet, wounded and off of our training pace.
After a quick pit stop, Jenn got her first flat tire and I got my second. My second stoppage allowed Jenn and Megan to ride ahead of me so we made up to just meet up later in the race.
With 10 miles remaining, the three of us soaked, angry and tired women met up. Everyone had incurred at least two flat tires among other hazards to our bikes and bodies.
Finally, finally, finally at 5:00pm we made it to the finish! With dreams of free beer and delicious food I was soon disappointed. We waited in a line to check our bikes; waited in a line to retrieve our bags; set up camp in the food line while taking turns going to the bathroom. By the time we made it to the front of the line, the beer was gone and we certainly didn’t care about waiting in line for the free t-shirt.
Thank goodness for friends who check a bottle of white Lambrusco with their end of race gear! The three of us split this delicious drink while waiting for our food, so at least the edge was taken off and we could begin to relax. By 7:00pm we had barely gotten our food and processed to run to the train only to find out that it was full! We ran back to the finish area just in time to catch one last bus that was leaving for Manhattan.
I am happy that I was able to persevere through this ride, but unless the organizers make some serious changes to next years’ course and the overall organization, I’ll most likely pass on participating again. The weather alone was certainly not the only factor that contributed to this bike ride experience that I will surely never forget!
- Sarah Currie
