and Le Tour begins...

A lot of people have been asking me for these pictures so here they are! My apologies for posting so late! Things have been pretty busy for me but I'm going to try to post everything this week so stay tuned!

Anyway, the ride from Boston to Auburn was probably my least favorite part of the tour. The excitement was definitely there but it was scary as hell riding a bike on MA-9. There were just too many cars and the shoulder wasn't exactly ideal. We did try to find another route but we decided to just stick it out. The cars eventually dwindled down but then the hills got longer and longer. I can still remember climbing that last ridiculous hill towards Worcester. We eventually got to Auburn around 4, and we were asleep by 5. What a day.

Stats
Distance - 44.51 miles
Avg. Speed - 12.1 mph
Max Speed - 34.5
Time - 3:39"26

The Fairmont Copley Plaza

here we go...

The Boston Public Library

Trinity Church

REI!!!

on the deadly MA-9

the start of the dreaded hills

refueling

milkyway #1 (somewhere in MA)

more hills

almost there

i love shrewsbury (they also have a fantasia st.)

the beautiful Worcester train station

Korean war memorial

Auburn, MA!
(where the first liquid-fueled rocket was launched!)

home for the night...

@ La Quinta Inn!

dinner at TJ's!

a cheeseburger and a summer ale for jon

linguini carbonara and the house amber ale for me

parked

Bostonians For A Night!

Last Wednesday night, Jon and I took the Boltbus to Boston to kick off our highly anticipated adventure! The bus ride took about 4 1/2 hours so we got to Boston pretty late. Once we got to South Station, we just rode our bikes to our hotel. We booked a room at The Fairmont so that was pretty sweet, but it was definitely weird being in that grand lobby checking in with our bikes and our helmets on! Anyway, our friend Anthony lives pretty close to the hotel so we met up with him for a few beers. It was great seeing him again especially in his own hood. I wished we could have hit more bars but we didn't want to have a hangover for the first day of Tour de Bean so we called it a night and just went straight to our most awesomest beds!

Stay tuned for the Stage 1 update!

boltbus!

lots of space for the bikes

after more than 4 hours

we arrive in south station

this is how we roll

nice lobby

jon testing out the beds

wheeeeee!

beers with anthony!

the gothamist and the bostonian

one for the road

@ Clery's

Vive Le Tour, Forever...

Tour de Bean is officially over! We've done it! Congratulations and thank you to my riding partner Jon for 4 days of epic riding! It was definitely one of the best adventures I've ever been part of. Thanks again to all the people who wished us the best! I'm too tired to post the pictures but I promise to give you a play by play account of our tour in the next following days!

So what's next? Jon already has his eyes on a bike ride from San Francisco to L.A. As for me, I think I'd like to climb some mountains... =)

Booyah and Congratulations again!

P.S. The title is a quote from Lance Armstrong after winning his seventh Tour de France. He is also the uniballer being referred to in this blog (I bet you didn't know that). Go Lance Go!

the perfect way to end the tour... with some beers and with some friends...

Hills, hills, and more hills...

Hello everyone! Jon and I are now in Auburn, MA! It's only about 45 miles from Boston but the ride here was insane! The title pretty much says it all! We climbed so many hills that my thighs are still hurting until now! Tomorrow we ride to New London. We're expecting more hills so wish us luck! I'll upload the pictures when we get back so just visit the blog again!

See You At The Finish Line

This is it. This is what we've been training for. Tomorrow we'll be in Boston and on Thursday Le Tour de Bean begins! Weather forecast says isolated thunderstorms everyday but we will ride rain or shine. I won't be bringing my laptop but hopefully I can do some micro blogging while on the road. So wish us luck and thank you to everyone who supported us especially the ones who rode with us during our practice sessions!

See you all at the finish line!

Pic below is from my practice ride last Sunday. Read what it says on the electronic board.

Hug your Dad!

Anyong Again River Road

Last Sunday, Jon and I did River Road again but this time around we did the whole thing. I almost forgot how hard this route is until it kicked our asses right in the beginning. Those hills especially the mile long one in the end were insane. Our thighs were pretty much dead after but I think we rode better than last time. All that punishment made us hungry so we stopped by this little Korean place at Fort Lee (see pics below!)

Exactly a week from now we will be on a bus to Boston! This weekend will be my last practice ride so stay tuned!

river road 1 - jon 0! lol

look familiar?

stinky log cabin

sporting his new jersey

beautiful day to ride

hills hills hills

fellow biker

this is my artistic shot

lunch at fort lee

kimchi rice!

i love gravvvvy

Le Tour de Brooklyn

Last Sunday was the day that I surpassed my own expectations. I did 2 things that I've never thought I would do in my life. One, ride around Harlem, and two, go around Brooklyn.

Training for a long distance bike ride in New York is a bit of a challenge. There are no long routes available in the city besides doing the Central Park loop over and over again which I've already done. It is even harder if you are what they call the Manhattan snob which apparently I am. I mean I know that there are some great places in the other boroughs but why cross a bridge if everything is here anyway; but honestly I don't even go above 100 so riding around Harlem was definitely an accomplishment for me!

The second half of the day I joined Jon and Bading in their own little Tour de Brooklyn. The actual Tour de Brooklyn happened in the morning but they partied too hard the night before. =) Anyhow, I wasn't really excited about this bike tour because well see above but you know what it was actually pretty fun. We started off in Coney Island, biked along the Ocean Parkway to Prospect Park, headed for Fort Greene for some Cuban food, then crossed the Williamsburg bridge to the Lower East Side for some amazing burgers at Royale!

So Sunday was definitely an adventure. Queens this weekend? Maybe. Just maybe.

this is my artistic shot

Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse (this is where you go if you want to row)

Yankeeees

next stop is Coney Island

the beach

some really tall thing

the boardwalk

prospect park

the drummers' grove

awesome cuban place!

The Human Powered Bike Blender!!!

Brooklyn!

cruisin on the bridge

cheers matey! i love my sierra!

The Royale