Perkins Tower

I didn't finish the bike climb to Perkins Tower at Bear Mtn, NY yesterday. My friend Jim didn't have it in his lungs to make it all the way up. It was just too much for him.

Our group of 7 riders started at Mike's house, which was about 17 miles south from the peak. We biked 12 miles along the Hudson River through loads of rolling hills (at too hard of a pace IMO) and just reached the Bear Mountain area into a long climb when Jim couldn't take it anymore. He pulled to the side for a long gasping breather and then said he was turning back. He was really spent.

Jay accompanied him to make sure he was alright. I went ahead to catch more of our friends further up, told them to just keep climbing, and then turned around and chased down Jim and Jay for a threesome ride back to Mike's house. The 4 others of our group eventually reached the Perkins Tower summit, made a fast descent (40 mph max, they said) and met with us three about 90 minutes later at the house.

To celebrate, we grilled burgers and hotdogs, sat around Mike's backyard deck and listened to the guys' war stories of the day's climb. Oh, how I wished we all could've made it up there. Maybe before the end of the summer, Jim, Jay and I will do our own Perkins Tower ride to make things complete (and at a much easier pace this time so as to not burn out). Already, we were starting to plan a date as we were eating our burgers.

So the lesson learned this weekend: there's no 'i' in 'Team', but there's an 'e' in 'We'. :-). All for one and one for all. Birds of a feather stick together. We three kings of orient are. "In good times and bad times, I'll be there forever more ... that's what friends are for." Ummm, yeah. And I'm glad Jim's okay.

Now on to the next tour! Allez!