Bike NYC 5 Boro Bike Ride
I am cycling the 5 Boro Ride next Sunday morning. Is anyone else from this board cycling? I am cycling with my husband Brett and an OH pal Rich. It looks to be a great ride. Anyone cycled it before and have any hints or tips?
Follow my journey to a happy, healthy, active life at TomBilcze.com
i'm not, but that sounds like an awesome ride (and i've heard some chatter in the biking world about how cool it is to ride across some of the big bridges and downtown manhattan). i would probably crash after looking at everything like a tourist and not paying attention to the road.
Where are we going?? And why am I in this handbasket??
right now. somewhere. somebody is working harder than you.
right now. somewhere. somebody is working harder than you.
I have heard it is fun and sells out quickly. They only take 32,000 cyclists. I put it on my calendar and when the registration day came, it took me 2 hours to get through the web registration. It sold out within 24 hours.
Follow my journey to a happy, healthy, active life at TomBilcze.com
Andrew, It's the first time I have cycled it. I'll be sure to report back in my blog and in this room. From the registration packet - It says the front of the pack will travel at about 15 mph and the back third about 6 mph. The first 1/3 is held up in a few places by 45 minutes to allow the pack to come back together. At this time the slowest 1/3 takes a shortcut. The goal seems to be to compress the time the roads and bridges are closed to traffic. From photos I have seen, there are definitely bottlenecks in places like Central Park. I can't see it as a fast ride with 32,000 people. I look at it more as a tour of NYC. Thanks for the compliment on my blog. -- Tom
Follow my journey to a happy, healthy, active life at TomBilcze.com
Here's my trip report. It was definitely not what I expected...
The ride went pretty well. It was perfect sunny weather. My friends Rich Brett and I finished the ride. It is a must-do at least once for any cyclist. When else can you cycle through NYC from Battery Park through Manhattan to Harlem and then across into the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and end on Staten Island with no traffic to deal with? It has plenty of rest stops and even slower paced cyclist can do the ride.
Now for the problem… delays… delays… delays. Registration maxed out at 32,000. With perfect weather everyone showed up. We arrived 2 hours before the starting time and we were waiting back 6 solid blocks of cyclists. We pushed off about 40 minutes after the first riders. It went pretty fast through Manhattan and Central Park. There was a 15-20 minute delay funneling down into Central Park. A small 10 minute delay in Harlem and about the same crossing the Queensboro Bridge. The Queens was fast. Brooklyn had several delays of 10-15 minutes. The big delay of the day was almost 2 hours on the BQE expressway. The cyclists had to funnel down from 4 lanes to 2 lanes due to construction. After that we flew across the Verasanos Narrows Bridge onto Staten Island and to the Ferry. The ferry was backed up and added another 45 minutes. Bringing 30,000+ people back on ferries that hold 1,500 takes some time.
It was a long day. We left the hotel at 5:50 a.m. and returned at 7:10 p.m. According to my GPS, we did about 4 hours of cycling and 5 hours of not cycling. Of those non-cycling hours, 1 1/2 hours was at rest stops and attending the post-ride festival. That left 3 ½ hours to the miscellaneous stops. That was frustrating. According the our GPS, we averaged around 10 mph when we were cycling. Again that speed is driven by the crowd.
Some advice when you do this ride… Arrive as early as you can- 6 a.m. Or be sneaky like a person I talked to. She got off the subway just after the start line at the next block and then just cycled into the crowd when the first cyclists passed. Not real honest but it works! Also don’t go into the ride looking to see how fast you can go. Because of the number of cyclists, you can only get 5-10 minutes ahead until the next traffic jam. Your finish time is pretty much predetermined from your start time. It is called a tour and that is what it is. Take your time and enjoy the sights of the city. You will see all kind of people and neighborhoods. The people were nice and friendly cheering you on.
The logistics of cycling with 32,000 people is challenging. You have to constantly watch out for other people. The ride allows children. So, you need to be extra careful round them. People of all shape and sizes ride. They are on anything with wheels. It was fun watching the cyclists. I think I may do it in the future. As I said at the onset, it is too cool to cycle through a city.
I’ll post some pics once I edit them. I did get nice pics of the skyline and bridges.
Tom
The ride went pretty well. It was perfect sunny weather. My friends Rich Brett and I finished the ride. It is a must-do at least once for any cyclist. When else can you cycle through NYC from Battery Park through Manhattan to Harlem and then across into the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and end on Staten Island with no traffic to deal with? It has plenty of rest stops and even slower paced cyclist can do the ride.
Now for the problem… delays… delays… delays. Registration maxed out at 32,000. With perfect weather everyone showed up. We arrived 2 hours before the starting time and we were waiting back 6 solid blocks of cyclists. We pushed off about 40 minutes after the first riders. It went pretty fast through Manhattan and Central Park. There was a 15-20 minute delay funneling down into Central Park. A small 10 minute delay in Harlem and about the same crossing the Queensboro Bridge. The Queens was fast. Brooklyn had several delays of 10-15 minutes. The big delay of the day was almost 2 hours on the BQE expressway. The cyclists had to funnel down from 4 lanes to 2 lanes due to construction. After that we flew across the Verasanos Narrows Bridge onto Staten Island and to the Ferry. The ferry was backed up and added another 45 minutes. Bringing 30,000+ people back on ferries that hold 1,500 takes some time.
It was a long day. We left the hotel at 5:50 a.m. and returned at 7:10 p.m. According to my GPS, we did about 4 hours of cycling and 5 hours of not cycling. Of those non-cycling hours, 1 1/2 hours was at rest stops and attending the post-ride festival. That left 3 ½ hours to the miscellaneous stops. That was frustrating. According the our GPS, we averaged around 10 mph when we were cycling. Again that speed is driven by the crowd.
Some advice when you do this ride… Arrive as early as you can- 6 a.m. Or be sneaky like a person I talked to. She got off the subway just after the start line at the next block and then just cycled into the crowd when the first cyclists passed. Not real honest but it works! Also don’t go into the ride looking to see how fast you can go. Because of the number of cyclists, you can only get 5-10 minutes ahead until the next traffic jam. Your finish time is pretty much predetermined from your start time. It is called a tour and that is what it is. Take your time and enjoy the sights of the city. You will see all kind of people and neighborhoods. The people were nice and friendly cheering you on.
The logistics of cycling with 32,000 people is challenging. You have to constantly watch out for other people. The ride allows children. So, you need to be extra careful round them. People of all shape and sizes ride. They are on anything with wheels. It was fun watching the cyclists. I think I may do it in the future. As I said at the onset, it is too cool to cycle through a city.
I’ll post some pics once I edit them. I did get nice pics of the skyline and bridges.
Tom
Follow my journey to a happy, healthy, active life at TomBilcze.com
Most Active
Recent Topics
