Start - Central Park - Loeb Boathouse (9:15 a.m.)

End - Tavern On The Green inside of Central Park

Mileage - 50 miles

We started with six riders and one leader.

The theme was to ride north from Manhattan into the Bronx (northwesterly) into Westchester County. Our final destination was the town of Elmsford, New York. Mayor DiAngelis was waiting for us to offer a tour of the American Revolutionary War cemetery which is located on Saw Mill River Road and Van Wart St. Next to the cemetery is the Oldest Dutch Reformed Church which still has services and a one-room schoolhouse from Revolutionary War days.

Buried in this cemetery are famous patriots from the immediate area - mostly Dutch. Isaac Van Wart's grave is historically marked by an official marker, his wife rests next to him. He helped capture Major Andre who was a traitor to our independence. Andre was carrying papers in his boot which described Washington's West Point and the "famous Hudson River chains". If those papers got into Benedict Arnold's hands, the British would have succeeded in alienating Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire from the main colonies. The British needed to capture Albany - but the only way was up the Hudson.

Elmsford is located just east of Tarrytown, New York. It's name comes from the meetings held at an Elm tree.

Alex is a very good rider who just completed the NYCC 200K Brevet in just over 11 hours. He's been riding the 5BBC and NYCC rides since last year. He's a long distance cyclist who can ride solo or groups.

Chuck - don't know much about him - only that he's also a very good cyclist. On our way back to the City, he joined an NYCC A group coming back from Scarsdale. AND he rides a mountain bike. So much for "road bikes only" on A rides. We thought we lost him, since we weren't on the route sheet. He found us on Broadway near 200th St.

The mayor if very nice guy - so nice that he bought our lunch at the El Dorado Diner. That was unexpected - especially since I offered him a lunch to meet us in the cemetery.

Rowena is not an NYCC member - but she has a strong will to ride. She'll be on a Montana Aids ride this summer too. Although her knee was bothering her and claiming she couldn't read a route sheet, she still kept up with us. We just couldn't drop her! I don't know how she managed!

Michael - lives next to Central Park (my neighbor) - met me earlier in the week in Central Park and joined the group - just like he said he would. That was a nice surprise! He's a good rider and fun too. He just moved from California recently, so if he's on your ride, be kind to him and don't drop him! (He's strong too)

Emily, Emily, Emily! Good thing for phone numbers of leaders being listed. She phoned me the night before - she's new to the club. I assured her we would take care of her. She enjoyed herself - learned some new roads - and will probably be seen a lot this summer!

We didn't take typical roads to get to Elmsford, and I don't think many riders have Elmsford as their destination. It's a nice town - full of history.

I could write more, but... I'll save it for the next ride.