MikeBikes725

OK, riding in the 2017 5 Boro Bike Tour, do I ride my 2012 Cannondale CAAD 8 or My 2017 Specialized Roubaix? And do I use clipless pedals? or platform pedals with sneakers because of the sheer amount of times I'll be unclipping?

Mike Bikes

NYMXer

I did the ride yesterday, on my fat tire bike. A whole group of us went and we really enjoyed the ride. It was nice and cool, threatened rain but we missed 2 periods of rain. The first one we were on the ferry coming back and the other was on our way home.
The ride was well managed, high security and impressed me.
This is the Strava, https://www.strava.com/activities/975927517
Group pic (I'm in the black windbreaker)

NYMXer

Oh, a side note.... I bever felt slowed down by riding the fat bike, we averaged about 11 mph and unlike many others, we had no flats.
Those NYC streets are rough on skinny tires and flats were a problem, as were a few accidents too.
The fat bike tires "hummed" loudly enough that people politely moved over and let us roll past them.

Jerrys88

I noticed a couple of fat tire bikes. You guys must be strong. I understand weight doesn't have that much effect on flats, but what about the hills? What surprised me this year were the amount of elliptigo riders. I didn't know those could keep up with bikes for that distance and with those hills. One rider told me his has 13 gears. Good way to get weight-bearing exercise, which bike riding apparently is not.

Yeah - I got a flat on my road bike, fortunately at the very end, only a few blocks from where my car was parked in Weehawken, NJ. Tiny piece of glass embedded in my tire. Wonder if it happened during the ride (and took time to migrate to the tube) or closer to where the flat happened. No biggie. I don't mind risking a flat now and then as a trade-off for riding my beautiful road bike!

NYMXer

If you passed our group, we stayed together and wherever we rode, people yelled encouragement at us. So, if you came upon a group of 5 fat tire bikes, wearing bright red and yellow jerseys with "Fat Bastards" printed on them... that was us.
We passed many bikes, even on the bridge climbs, yet we did not race or ride hard, as indicated by my HR average at a low 119 BPM averaging about 11 mph. With 15 pounds of air in the tires, the bikes rolled pretty fast, pot holes were never an issue and no one had a flat. I bet we encountered at least 100 bikes with flats, all skinny tire road bikes.
The elliptical and tandem bikes were definitely out there and doing well. I remember one tandem rider with no passenger, so I joked at him that he lost his passenger, we laughed for a few seconds and then I rode off. I hope to be able to repeat this ride again next year.

FBinNY 

OK, get a quarter. Assign a bike to heads or tails. Toss but don't look yet.

Now, here's the trick. Take a peek. if a particular bike come up, and you're first reaction is a sense of disappointment, even fleeting, then you know you really want to take the other.

OTOH - if the first reaction is great!, then all is right.

But remember hat only the immediate fleeting reaction count, so don't think about again unless you decide that you want to change your mind.

sh00k

i did the tour this year and loved the experience. this was my 2nd tour. first one was on a trek hybrid and this one was on a rocket - trek emonda sl6 - all carbon. this bike literally flattened the entire course for me and i felt like i could have done it twice and still not have been exhausted.

no flats but you're right, we saw a ton of people with flat tires/changing out tires. unfortunately, i think i saw someone having a heart attack at the end of the festival, on the way to the ferry. several other riders stopped to help. there was an older lady and an older gentleman that had crashed and both were on the floor, the guy was holding his chest and freaking out. i hope they made it out okay (((

jwalther

My wife and I are planning to ride this year, and are trying to decide whether to bring our road or hardtail mountain bikes. While I understand you can push the pace if desired, I'm curious what the "average" pace of the ride is? With 30k riders, I've got to believe it's pretty slow, meaning the mountain bikes make more sense. . .

MikeBikes725

If you can get into wave one you can push, but the farther back in the tour the more likely you will experience bottlenecks. There were points where we had to dismount and walk for a period of time till we could get past the bottlenecks. Our average pace excluding the walking was 14mph.

FBinNY 

Here's an alternate strategy.

Register, then head up north a bit and find a nice place to have a leisurely breakfast. Watch the front go by, and give it another hour or so until the rear comes up. Join the group at the back and it'll soon be accordianed open enough that you can ride it at your own pace,and most likely won't catch up to the congestion up front.

SBinNYC

The front of the first wave is constrained to 15 mph. The rear of the last wave must maintain a 6 mph speed. Riders can ride at any safe speed between the tour's front and rear.

Faster riders will experience bottlenecks on major uphills that are caused by slower riders in front of them. The major climbs are: Cat's Paw Hill in Central Park; from the FDR Drive to middle of the Queensboro Bridge; the Pulaski Bridge; Hamilton Ave Bridge on the BQE; the Verrazano Bridge.

There will be unforeseen bottlenecks due to evacuating injured riders. Other unforeseen bottlenecks or delays in previous years were caused by: a gas leak along the route; a steam main break that turned the road surface into a tar pit; an inability to clear the route of vehicles and many more.

There is a shortcut that bypasses 4 miles in Queens, including Astoria Park. You must cross over the Queensboro Bridge before 11:30 to avoid this shortcut. There is a cutoff that eliminates the Verrazano Bridge and Staten Island, if you don't go past DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) by 2:00.

If you do decide to forego the start area and join the tour along Sixth Avenue, stay on the sidewalk until the front of the tour passes. The front of the tour is scheduled to enter Central Park at 7:45. The tail is scheduled to be there by 10:35.

Garminator

Does anyone know how quickly registration for the Five Boro Tour sells out? I'm planning on riding with a buddy but were not sure whether we have to register in, say, the first hour it opens or whether we have a day or two (or more).

If anyone else is considering it, registration opens on November 14.

NYMXer

It won't sell out in a few hours, but it does sell out every year so don't wait too long.

MikeBikes725

deephate

I am quite a long way from New York but I really want to ride this ride.

leob1

People come from all over the world to ride this ride, surely you can make it from Iowa.

1nterceptor

Riders use all kinds of bikes; usually not a problem. Have volunteered as a marshal a few times on different bikes.
Here, I'm on a folder(Brompton S6L-X):
Here, I'm using a roadbike(Fuji Newest 1.0):

And yes, registration fills up. Sometimes in a day.

Mannym21

Great ride but I wouldn't suggest clip in pedals if you aren't comfortable enough to make so quick dismounts. People were wiping out constantly last year. I lucky enough to be in wave 2 last year and there was times where it was wide open and other times where it was dead stop congestion.

Central Park was a treat with no traffic. We were able to pick up some good speed and enjoy those curves. Fun ride but you can never lose sight of the fact that it's meant as a family event, not a race.
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1nterceptor

Happy for you that you had a good time. Would you recommend
it to somebody whose never done it?

Have done it many times in clipless pedals; no problems.
I only ride clipless. Doesn't matter if it's a 100 mile charity ride,
short trip to the store, exploring another country, etc.
Here's me volunteering on another charity ride; even slower
than Five Boro Bike Tour. Clipless as usual:

Mannym21

I would certainly recommend it. Especially if your not a native New Yorker. Taking the ferry from SI and ending up on Verrazano Island side was a well planned move by my buddies. Whenever you have the opportunity to ride on NYC roads with traffic completely block while absorbing all the scenery you jump on it!