So this year I guess I won't have to pedal.

My usual routine for late winter and early spring, actually most of the winter, is to try and get in condition for what is called the Five Borough Bike Tour in NYC. It is held on the first Sunday of May. Being that it winds up being about a 50 mile ride in total and being that I am what is now euphimistically described as late middle aged , I always shaped up as I did not want to chafe up, cramp up or have to be picked up somewhere on the ride.

Last year I noticed a little hitch in my ability to turn over a pedal as I made the climb up the Verazanno Narrows Bridge at the end of the ride. This is the place where many people have cramping and have to get off and walk. I got a twinge in my thigh but muscled through and picked up my cadence, did not mash, dropped a gear or two and finished out in fine form. But I attributed that to the lousy winter of last year that interfered with my conditioning. I never once gave any thought to my advancing years and certainly not to the , few extra pounds I was toting.

This year , due to logistical messes the sponsors created last year, they decided to do a lottery entry system. You enter the lottery ---pay 7 bucks for your entry--- Hey the sponsor is TD Bank, they know all about charging extra fees. If you hit the lottery you get to pay the now $85 for a ticket to ride in the form of a bib and number, you had 7 days in which to make up your mind, which you have to pick up in person a day or two ahead of time at a thing called Bike Expo, provided you can show photo ID.

So one of my buddies said NO , not going there. Two said OK were are in and both got notified that they got tickets--they both then decided that a special trip into NYC to pick up bibs was a pain, so they said NO and let their 7 days expire. I had not received an invite in the first mailing, but then I got a following E Mail--telling me that I was in and I had one day to decide,
Well it turns out, one day according to Bike New York is slightly less than 12 hours, for when I went to register I found that my one day expired at midnight on the day of the sending of the E Mail.

I have always enjoyed the ride, but not this year, without ticket I will be hanging out , no demands on myself to get in shape, to get up earlier , ride harder, faster , longer, wondering if I was sufficiently toned to do the ride. The things that most advanced middle agers think of at 60+. I guess I did win the lottery this year. It gives me the excuse to hang up the clipless .