Rewind 5 days to Union Station where we took apart our bikes and boxed them up and then we said our last goodbyes to our families. 22 hours later our train arrived in New York City. We put our bikes back together and began the walk to our stayover with our backpacks, sleeping pads, sleeping bags, and bikes. When we arrived we went to explore the city. Our first stop was at a pizza place to try New York style pizza. We then walked to time square which was so bright from the lights that it looked like it was daytime. Kelsey, Sean, and I went to a comedy show on Broadway which was hilarious.Kelsey, Sean, Manny, Taylor and I started the day early with a ride along the Hudson River. We stopped to see the Irish Hunger Memorial was a building top that was made to look like Ireland. We biked closer to the statue of liberty to take some pictures. We went to ground zero and then to the Brooklyn Bridge. We headed back to the church we were staying at for a brunch. I tried crapes for the first time and didn't like them very much. We then moved all of our things out of the basement of the church and into the hostel next door. It was great to have a bed to sleep on and showers to use. We walked to the Gotham Comedy Club to see the Other Guys perform. They were very entertaining. We all wanted to see the Bulls game so we began searching for a sports bar to watch the game. It wasn't as easy as you would think to find one, but we did end up finding an Irish pub that had a big screen, karaoke, and great food. 60 miles downhill with tailwinds all da way! On the walk home Katie wiped out on a curb when she was running to get post cards and I walked into a cab while crossing the street. The night ended with laughter.The first day began at 5:45 wake up followed by eating cereal on the streets of New York and a send off from Central Park. We didn't have time to do a tire dipping in the Atlantic so we decided a puddle near the park would have to work. My group was Kelsey, Ellie, Jan, Lauren, Christian, and Yang. Getting out of New York was tough. There was lots of traffic and stop lights that made the ride much longer. We rode over the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey. In New Jersey "parked car" became our favorite call out with a New York accent of course. Christian got a flat in Newark so while the guys changed the tires we went into shoppers world and bought nail polish. The day was pretty warm and the mist felt good. I got a flat near a swampy area and my group was swarmed by mosquitoes while we changed it. We were greeted at the Thakkar home with so much food. They were very kind and let us use there showers. It was a very relaxing night we painted our nails and went to sleep.