leob1

I'll be there, rocking my 50+ jersey. If all this snow melts, that is.

Bare Feet

Have you done it before leob1? I checked out the website. I like the idea, but 32,000 bikes? Sounds a little scary. And getting there and home could be a real hassle too. I do live close to a NJ transit line to Hoboken.

Phil85207

Now that's a lot of bikes. I can't believe how they can pull that off. The start line hast to be miles long. I have done the Tour de Tucson with 5000 bikes and I thought that was a lot. Wow.

ThatBritBloke

I've done it twice. While it's nice to be with so many cyclists on closed NYC streets, it can lead to bottle-necks and stoppages. It's also sobering toward the end of the 41 miles to see these little kids bowling along on their Princess and SpiderMan tiny bikes.



Generally, it's well-organised and well worth doing ... see here

Bob Ross

As a New Yorker I get asked that a lot: "Are you gonna do the 5 Boro Bike Tour?"

As a person who actually enjoys cycling, rather than standing around on the street straddling a bike with 32,000 other folks, ~28,752 of who haven't been on a bike in 4 or 5 years, my answer is almost always "You couldn't possibly pay me enough to do it."





(Which isn't entirely true; you could pay me enough.

But no one's made the offer yet.)

Bare Feet

I wasn't thinking about it until this thread. Now I know it's not for me . . . .

huffman 

I'm from NC and have always wanted to do this but isn't there a century that's not so crowded later in the year? Any suggestions on where to stay that's easy to get into & out of the city for one of the events would be helpful.

xyxax

There is the Grand Fondo on May 8th, 100+ miles to Bear Mountain and back (https://www.granfondony.com/) and there is the Escape from NY century in the fall, late September or early October.

berner

My idea of a good bike ride is a day on quiet country roads with dear in the meadows and beaver in the ponds. Great idea but it doesn't always work out that way. On the other hand, riding with 30,000 other people in the midst of 8 million more makes my hermit gene begin to spasm.

martianone

About every third year, My partner and I [plus we took our kids when we were all a little younger] ride the 5 Boro tour - we are from end of the road fumbuck in northern VT. When ever we do the ride, it reminds us why we live where we do.
But we do have a few nice memories - when our youngest was 8 or 9 we took the tandem. On the way to the start we went down fifth ave, stopped for a light [i know - we are from out of town] and this cherub slightly strained voice from the back exclaims "that is the empire state building'. Yep, we rode up on the side walk so he could go put his hand on it. No people in the way. He liked central park, the bridges, a ferry ride and was taken in by all the traffic. Last time we rode was two years ago, the cold rainy one - hard to believe how much complaining there was about the weather and conditions. Sometimes it rains on life, too.

MAK

I've done the ride twice. We go up the night before and stay in north Jersey and get up at 4:30 am to drive to the Staten Island ferry. We catch the first ferry of the morning (no cars allowed on the ferry, just bikes) and make it to the start line and we're within ten yards of the start. Sure we have to wait for the send off but with so many people around it's always interesting. Once the ride starts, we're on our bikes almost immediately and have no problems. Sure, there's a bottle neck at Central Park and at one of the bridges, but we end up averaging almost 15 mph for the day. Note...If you get there only an hour before the beginning time, you'll be a half mile from the start and won't actually start pedaling for a half hour or so while you walk your bike. Those are the people that average 6-8 mph.

The organization of the ride is incredible. There's a cop on EVERY corner for the entire 42 miles. Every corner honestly means four cops at every intersection. Additional police line the route in the Bronx, but you're only in the Bronx for a few miles.

I agree that there are a ton of yahoos riding, but remember, this isn't the professional tour. I'd rather deal with idiots on bikes than idiots in cars.

I grew up in NY and riding the major streets and crossing the bridges without cars is fantastic. It's a bucket list worthy ride.

The choice is simple. You can't just show up and expect a perfect day. Inconvenience yourself (get there very early) to get the best and most enjoyable experience or don't inconvenience yourself and have a horrible time and blame the ride and the crowd.

The best thing of all is that I discovered that Cousin Brucie is still alive. Who knew? I listened to him fifty years ago on WINS-AM and WABC-AM radio. He's the master of ceremonies.

Bare Feet

^^ Good tips. Thanks MAK. I could rethink for another year with fun company. My son told me its sold out already, although tickets could probably be purchased on craigslist.

Terex

Me too. If you really want to see NY City, go in on a Sunday morning and rollerblade around Manhattan. In the mid-90's, my oldest daughter had an art class in the city on Sunday mornings. My youngest daughter, then about 10, and I would take our roller blades and spend about 4 hours each weekend seeing the sights. We did Central Park, China Town, the Esplanade along the Hudson, etc. I will always remember one beautiful Sunday morning, rolling down a back street, holding hands, and skating on either side of a dead rat. In a monotone, I said "Yeh, that would be a dead rat." She, in a monotone, responds, "And that was another one back by Bryant Park.". Good times! She's all growed up now. Well, she was pretty well growed up back then too.

missjean

My husband & I went with a small group of friends in '09 (the same cold, rainy ride that martianone went to).

We stayed in a very pleasant small hotel right in the city, and then on the morning of the ride we rode our bikes to a bagel shop about 2 blocks from the official start. We got coffee & breakfast and then waited for the ride to start. As the pack of riders started streaming by, we joined them.

Getting back to the hotel from the ferry station was almost as much fun. The city opened the subway to bikes so we carried our bikes down the steps and on to the subway car. (One note - as many of the riders do, we attached bright colored items to our helmets so we could keep track of members of our group. Because we were from NH, we had red or gold foam moose antlers) So there we are, in soaking wet biking gear, standing with our bikes, with red moose antlers on our helmets. A lady get on the train, sits down across from us, looks us over for a few minutes and says "I like your antlers."

Even though the weather was bad, we all had a good time.
1st photo: bottle neck getting onto a bridge. In the other photo you can see that the riders do spread out. (I can't seem to get a hang of the attaching photos correctly thing!)

CitizenChain

I am going! It will be my 3rd year. New Yorkers are SO nice it makes me just want to do this ride for the rest of my life! No Really!
So.. should I bring my LHT or a Colnago?.

I still need to book a hotel. Anybody have a place a nice San Francisco bike shop owner can stay?

Kylerk

Growing up and living most of my life in the NJ suburbs of NYC, I've done quite a few bike tours around Manhattan and the boros over the years, but always with a small group of friends or by myself. It was always a little difficult due to the lack of bike lanes and required careful preparation in route planning in order to make the most of the outings. But things have changed in the last few years - many miles of new bike lanes have been added, and a few years ago the NYC DOT began putting out a nice map for cyclists that you can get for free in any bike shop in NY. You can order one or download a pdf copy from here.