Le tour de restaurant for cyclists

MILLBROOK — Saturday, Aug. 27, as millions of people across the East Coast prepared for Hurricane Irene, 15 cyclists from the New York City area headed out at 6 a.m. for a bike tour. The ride was called the Gennaro to Aurelia Annual Bike Tour. Gennaro is located at 665 Amsterdam Ave. in New York City and Aurelia is located at 3299 Franklin Ave. in Millbrook — both are well-established restaurants owned by husband and wife Susan Nestel and Gennaro Picone. The restaurants offer Italian and Mediterranean cuisine. Gennaro has been in business in New York City for 15 years. The couple opened Aurelia in Millbrook four years ago. Nestel can be found running the Aurelia restaurant in Millbrook while Picone is in charge of Gennaro. “Everyone knows Gennaro on the Upper West Side,” said Nestel. “Every year since Aurelia has been open we have a Gennero to Aurelia bike tour, which ends in a big feast at our house. Which if the weather was nicer it probably would have been 60 people.”The cyclists who participated this year consisted of an adventurous group of men and women ranging in age from 40 to 70.“It’s a group of people that ride together in the city,” said Nestel. “So it’s friends of friends and some find out by word of mouth; the cycling community is tight.”The group met at 125th St. and headed out for the tour. Nestel said that the cyclists rode to the George Washington Bridge only to find out it was closed at 6:30 a.m., so the group rented a van to get the bikes across another bridge then continued on their ride. The tour continued for almost 100 miles before arriving at 1 p.m. in Millbrook.“When they arrived here they were all sweaty,” said Nestel. “The thing is that people want to come up here because when it’s all over Gennaro cooks. People bike all this way and then they can really go crazy cause the food and wine — it’s just really great.” There were no Millbrook residents in the Gennaro to Aurelia bike tour, but Nestel said that anyone who is willing to do the tour could participate. Nestel said that one year she would not be opposed to having an Aurelia to Gennaro bike tour, and perhaps adding a fundraising element to the two restaurants’ annual tradition.