“New York, New York”

Before the NY race I flew in a couple of days early to go to Altoona to help Andy Stone/Shimano. I can always use the experience Andy provides me while helping him at the same time. Plus at Philly (our last event) Andy did a favor above and beyond the call of duty. So, a few days of Altoona was an easy pay back for his help. The only problem was I only had three days at home (after the Tour) before going to Altoona. That hurt. France to California (Pacific time Zone) on Thursday the 25th (at midnight no less). Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. Flew to Philly on Monday and drove to Altoona that night. The brain is still not sure if I was on France time, California Time or Altoona time. Whew!
Our truck and van was parked near Philly after the Philly week of racing. So, on Dave flew into Philly Thursday and I met him to get the vehicles so we could drive to NY on Friday morning. We did not get out of Philly before we had truck problems. Luckily there was a big truck service place near where we had problems. Even better was the location of the truck repair shop to other things. While they were determining what the problem was Dave and I had lunch and caught a movie which were both next door to the repair place. The only problem was the truck was not going to be ready till Tuesday at best. So, Dave and I packed the Van with the minimum essentials for the Criterium and headed off to NY.
Friday night at about 6:30 we arrived at the race hotel. Only about 5-1/2 hours later that we wanted to but arrived intact. I think I was lucky the truck broke down as parking was nonexistent. Much worse that Philly. We even had problems parking the team van because it had racks on top and would not fit in conventional parking structures. We met a police officer who worked at a Station only two blocks from the hotel. He was kind enough to move a police vehicle and give us his parking spot. Obviously he could park it anywhere and we could not so we took his spot. That was very nice of him.
We’re in NY so nothing stays the night inside the van. Just as Dave and I were unloading the van into the hotel a good friend handed me 6 Mets tickets. First Pitch was at 7 and we had just started to unload. I sped up to try to finish but we had a lot and did no finish until about 7:30. A badly needed shower was a huge priority so the game was pretty much not goona happen for us. The only lucky thing was it started to rain and the game was rain delayed. So, we did not miss anything.
Off to dinner at a local Irish pub/restaurant near the Police Station. Directly across from it to be exact. Irish pubs/restaurants to this part of NY is equivalent to Starbucks coffee shops in Seattle. You could not walk more than a few blocks before running into another pub.