2023 Bloomin' Metric with Dad

 

My dad is 80 years old and he's still riding. Granted, he mostly rides in doors on a trainer but when I suggested we ride this year's Bloomin' Metric he started riding every day for the last two months just to get ready.  Back in 2010 was the first time I rode the Bloomin' with my daughter, Katie, on a Burley Tandem Bike that I borrowed from a friend and eventually ended up buying from him. I also rode the tandem with my son, Elliot, too.

The last time I rode the Bloomin' Metric with my father was in 2019 and on that ride, I rode 131 KM, starting from Newtown at 5:45 AM, meeting my dad and riding the 40K route, having lunch with him and then riding home.  This time, however, I brought my singlespeed that I built for the 5 Boro Tour that never happened.

On the first climb, on Bronson Road, this guy on a Tall Bike passed us so I caught up with him to take some video and pictures.

While my dad walked the hill I would ride up to the top, turn around and descend to bottom and ride back up again.  I did this for just about every hill we walked up.

We hit the rest stop at Bayberry Lane and selection was awesome. There were cookies, PB&Js, trail mix, crackers, Kind and Cliff bars, pickles, pickle juice, Gatorade, and of course water.  After a little chit chat we headed out to finish the last 16K of the ride.

There were a lot less food trucks afterwards from the last time I rode the Bloomin Metric and very few merchants' tents. There were signs up for where they were supposed to set up but they weren't there. Overall, it seemed this year was somewhat sparsely attended.