Did the Five Boro Bike Tour yesterday. 42 MILES!! A few days prior I was considering selling my number on craigslist…I didn’t know if I was up to 40-something miles for my once-or-twice-a-year bike ride. Over PB+J sandwiches from Sparky’s with Eduardo, Fidencia and Evan I was convinced. Besides it is part of my goodbye to NYC.
Woke up at 5:00 AM. Registration was between 6:30-7:45AM according to the website and ride was supposed to start at 8:00AM…I could have woken up at least an hour later. Since I had my vest already I just had to show up – even getting there at 7:30 AM was early – since the ride didn’t start until at least 8:15 AM.
At the beginning and at some points in the middle there was so much congestion with 32,000 riders that you had to walk your bike, and generally the ride is a slow one. While this might suck for an experienced rider this was perfect for me. My mom went to the Salute to Israel Parade and ran into a family that decided to leave the ride because of how frustrated they were….she didn’t mention that what frustrated them was actually ideal for me :-)….
There was some entertainment at the beginning of the ride and along the route in the form of flying inflatable balls being passed along the crowd during the wait for the ride to start, some folks on stilts, Cousin Brucie announcing where people were from, a man in little girl drag with blond pigtails sitting on a large tricycle wishing people a good ride and some jugglers. One bus shelter along the route held a steel drum band and Commerce Bank who sponsored the ride had people in sections to cheer.
The rest areas also sometimes had music and food for purchase. Being given out foodwise there were bananas and oranges being handed out. Drinks were slightly more varied with water and different juices. Tour de Brooklyn rules with their peanut butter and jelly bagels.
People in groups decorated their helmets to make them more visible. Attached to helmets were flowers, ribbons, stuffed animals, beer / energy drink cans, palm trees, arrows and flags – nationality and sports teams. My favorite were a group that had furry rats attached on little platforms, each rat wore a little fluorescent bike helmet.
The basic route info can be found on the Bike New York website. The detailed route is on the NYC.GOV website. It is really neat to ride on highways and bridges without cars.
Anyone considering doing the ride who is intimidated shouldn’t be. You might feel ridiculous for feeling scared when you see little kids doing the ride on their tiny bikes with even tinier wheels (I did, a bit.). There are parts where you walk because of congestion and there are plentiful rest areas (5 before the end.) The pace is really comfortable / easy, partially because of how many people there are. The ride was capped at 32,000 this year and was sold out before ride day. Definitely register before ride day to ensure you will be able to ride and there may be a discount for early registration.
On my way to the Staten Island Ferry I ran into Steve. Hung out with him at his place for a little while. The stopping moving made it very difficult to move later when I walked the 2 miles to the ferry. He accompanied me and either way don’t think my body was willing to get back on the bike. I was completely stiff. To make things worse we went up the ramp to the regular ferry entrance only to be told we would have to go all the way around – bikes (and their riders) were being loaded on the lower level (that used to be for cars). From the ferry caught the R train and then transferred to the Q. Then the hardest ride of the day was the 1 mile from the train station home. I’m hoping my ass will forgive me someday soon :-) or at least before June 3rd.
Lining Up for the Bike Tour
