Getting ready for the 5 Boro Bike Tour (18 miles)

Tonight my bike started in one home & ended in another. The weather was overcast & misty but I wanted to get in a good solid ride, since next weekend I am riding in the 5 Boro Bike Tour. Well I dusted off my bike from the long winter and did a few laps in Central Park. 18 miles in the end! Left my bike in my new apartment on the Upper West Side. Wow I like a half a block from Central Park, folks! Amazing. So excited to clearly get in more biking this summer.

Hope that is enough preparation for next Sunday.

Who wants to join me?

Just read about this event in NY Times Sunday Magazine (thank you Luz).

Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle
May 13 - August 15, 2010

It's taking place over at the new Museum of Arts and Design. Great museum, as I was over there last year for an exhibit. Looking forward to this one!

"Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle displays the designs of six internationally renowned bicycle builders whose work in metal, as well as graphics and artifacts, elucidate this refined, intricate and deeply individual craft. Organized by Michael Maharam, owner of the eponymous textile company and an avid bicycle collector, along with master builder Sacha White of Vanilla Bicycles in Portland, Oregon, this survey is presented as part of the MADProjects exhibition series, which explores emerging trends and innovations in the design world.

The twenty-one handbuilt bicycles exhibited sit squarely at the intersection of design, craft, and art, and include a range of contemporary designs: fixed-gear, road racing, cyclocross, mountain, and commuter bicycles, as well as the stripped-down radonneur, designed exclusively for long-distance racing. The exhibition features bicycles by: Mike Flanigan, Alternative Needs Transportation (A.N.T); Jeff Jones, Jeff Jones Custom Bicycles; Dario Pegoretti, Pegoretti Cicli; Richard Sachs, Richard Sachs Cycles; J. Peter Weigle, J. Peter Weigle Cycles; and Sacha White, Vanilla Bicycles."

Eating Animals

Last night Sara and I went to hear Jonathan Safran Foer speak about his new book Eating Animals. It was also a Hazon event & launch for the summer ride. I was able to catch up with some folks I rode with last summer & buy some great products that the Adamah Farm cans & pickles. Time to start training & fundraising for this year!

Signups!

Spring is upon us and my bike is itching to get some mileage! I signed up for The Five Boro Bike Ride and The 2010 New York Jewish Envirnomental Bike Ride.

Jen & Matt also signed up for the 5 Boro Bike ride and we can't wait to see all of New York City including the bridges from the seat of our bikes.

The Hazon ride is the 10th annual and they have a bunch of new routes and surprises up their sleeves. I am so excited for the chance to participate in the ride again. Fundraising and more e-mails from me to come.

Stay tuned!

Ride Wrapup

Food. All the fruits, vegetables were grown locally and the recipes were out of this world. Each dish had a card saying what farm the vegetables/fruit came from & what was in the recipe! I was able to get a few of them from a steering committee member! Purple potatoes, soy milk options, teas (we all know how much I love my hot water!), and desserts from Chantilly in Brooklyn. Yum. The ride was a month ago & I am still thinking about all the food.

People. Over the course of the weekend I met so many interesting people. From a shochet, (kosher meat slaughterer) to a nutritionist. Tevaniks to Adamah fellows. My weekend roommate, Sarah, even gives tours at the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side. (Let me know if you are interested, I want to arrange a private group tour!)

DAY 1 Biking. The routes that were prepared were picturesque and challenging! The Hazon Steering Committee worked so hard to create new, exciting, and well thought out routes. I biked 55 miles on the first day. It was COLD beginning a 7:30am ride in the country, (Good thing Daniel made me go back to my bunk to get my hoodie) After reciting the traveler’s prayer in Hebrew, Arabic* & English, the shofar was sounded and off we went. Every 15 miles or so a pitstop with water, bathrooms, and cliff bars, were there to keep us energized & hydrated. (A great opportunity to reapply suntan lotion as well!). 55 miles was the farthest I had ever ridden and I was quite proud of myself. After biking all day swimming in the lake was so refreshing! To top off the evening they had a BBQ with lots of veggies.

DAY 2 Biking. Early rising again & 50 more miles to go! All that training paid off, because I was up and rearing to go the next day. After hearing a nice little lesson the night before about better GEAR usage, I was feeling more confident about the enormous hills we were going to face. We started near Bear Mountain and rode into Manhattan. The views over Bear Mountain Bridge were spectacular! The day consisted of so many hills, biking through Nyack, then through Piedmont, down the Palisades, over the George Washington Bridge, and into Manhattan!

Thank you all for your support, financially & emotionally! This was such an amazing weekend and I’d love to talk about it in length with you.

I learned so much about food, environmental programs Hazon supports, and priceless bicycling tips. The people & cheering support over the ride was amazing.

I am still fundraising for this amazing organization until OCTOBER 31st. Any amount will be appreciated by me and Hazon. You will be supporting a great cause and a getting a tax deduction. You can find out more information and make a donation online at www.hazon.org. Here is my personal donation page.
http://hazon.kintera.org/2009nyride/sarivictoria

You will get an acknowledgement letter from Hazon for tax purposes. Thank you so much for your support!
Sari

*Hazon Supports & sends funding to The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (AIES) which is the premier environmental education and research program in the Middle East, preparing future Arab and Jewish leaders to cooperatively solve the region’s environmental challenges.


Michal & Michael--They got engaged!!!