Anyway, another famous Michael, Michael LaRocco (who now capitalizes the R in his family name, after living in the South for years and listening to constant mispronunciations – until he started using the cap R), has sent in some pictures and a description of a day of challenge and adventure in New York City with some of our other classmates. I hope other pictures and articles of his and maybe yours too will follow.—BG [Click on photos to see larger version.]
By Michael LaRocco
OK, mates, brace yourselves. I know it’s a little hard to see with the helmets and sunglasses, but here is what we look like now. I am talking about my buddies, the distinguished Branko Galunic (neatly trimmed beard), the ever-athletic John Markert (rear-view mirror on his helmet) and me (smiling through it all), proud finishers (and survivors) of New York City’s 2008 Five Boro Bike Tour (“the largest recreational cycling event in America”), which happened on May 4. We three amigos did it, 42 miles worth of the Big Apple, along with about 30,000 other riders, including my second-oldest daughter, Michelle, 25, who took the pictures.
Since we three look about equally ridiculous, the resulting jokes should be spread around evenly (hey, do I know the audience or what?) Then again, perhaps you won't even recognize us, which might be a good thing!
We three first did the event in 2006. Branko and John had both done it before, but I had never even heard about it until they mentioned it (kinda like life-long New Yorkers who never visited the Statue of Liberty). Anyway, in '06, our group totaled five: Branko's two sons Nicky and Jamie both joined the old guys. Two finer young fellows you'll not find, perfect gentlemen, bright, creative, responsible, and tall. How the generations seem to keep outgrowing the one before!
In 2007, work kept Branko away, so it was John, me, and my cyclist daughter Michelle, for the first time (work had kept her away the year before).
Sunday May 4, 2008, in New York started out cool as we gathered at Herald Square (our rendezvous point) around 9 a.m. The early arrivers passed the time in conversation with small groups of European tourists emerging from the mid-town hotels. They watched in awe as an unbroken wave of 2-wheeled humanity whirred past, especially amazed since they remembered the spot snarled with auto traffic not 9 hours earlier. As the last of us arrived, we prepared to roll. We were near the middle of the herd as we joined it around 10 a.m. among the skyscrapers along the Avenue of the Americas. Rockefeller Center saw things slow a bit, allowing us the first photo op just after Radio City (as you can see by the picture among the skyscrapers).
The congestion quickly opened up as we left Midtown by crossing 59th Street and began zipping past the lush green meadows of Central Park. The obligatory short spin through the Bronx was equally quick, and we were literally "on a roll" pedaling back downtown on the FDR Drive along the East River. The sun broke out just after we crossed the Queensboro Bridge, and by 11 a.m., the clothing layers were coming off as we made our way through Queens. In the shadow of the Williamsburg Bridge (the "Willy-B" in traffic-radio parlance) the gentrified brownstones beckoned, as did the artsy lofts of DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and the trendy moonstruck walk-ups of Brooklyn Heights.
The best was saved for last, as we ascended a 1.5-mile grade, to 275 feet above sea level, to the apex of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. With New York harbor and the open ocean below, we made a thrilling, rapid (40 mph) descent to a landing in Staten Island. It's as close as any mere mortal since the Wright brothers can feel of the exuberance of flight.
But neither the touring enjoyment nor the kinetic excitement could beat the pleasure derived from conversation-in-motion with my pals. It's amazing how much catching up you can do on two wheels. The years melted away with the miles as we chatted about our families, our careers, politics, popular music, health, food, our memories of days past, and our plans for the future. We even talked about our HCHS classmates! But fear not, because it was mostly remembrance and not gossip on our minds. Thanks to Barbara Groark, who tenderly brought us all up to date in the “Moment of Silence” blog on those joining us but in spirit this October, we sadly but fondly reminisced.
Our spin on two wheels taught us to count our blessings.
