I'm not sure how old my second century makes me, but I sure feel younger. (just don't ask me how I felt monday morning!)

Yeah, the traffic/pedestrians/potholes/traffic lights in NYC can make me crazy but I try to ride at times that minimize the traffic and pedestrians.

My training is not optimal as I can only ride on the weekends, so bad weather on a weekend reaches the level of tragedy.

I belong to a few bike clubs and try to do one longish ride (50-75 miles) with a group and one shorter ride (20-40 miles) on my own each weekend. The group rides either meet in NYC and ride out of the city *or* take a train to our start point. When I ride on my own, I go up to Central Park and do loops (from home to the park plus 11 loops plus home again is 75 miles).

So I manage without doing much riding on city streets. I consistently do cardio and strength training at the gym during the week so that helps me build a fitness base and cross train. It's the best I can do now.

I'm hoping that when I get faster (and presumably my speed will improve when I go clipless, get a road bike, get more experience), I'll be able to ride with groups that go faster and longer distances on the weekends.

Where do you usually ride in NJ? My club rides are usually go over the GW bridge for the northern area of NJ and then up into Rockland.