Five-Borough Ride

[quint41]

Did anyone do the Five-Borough Ride in New York this past weekend?? A bunch of us are considering it for next year! Sounds fun. Would love to hear any reviews from people who have done it.

Thanks!

[mimitabby]

Wow, are there trails or is it a supported road ride?

[IFjane]

I have never done it - my daughter lives in NYC & has tried to get us to come up and do it but we have not. (she is not a cyclist so she would not have been participating).

From what I have heard, it is HUGE - like, 30,000 people jamming the streets (mimi, no there are no trails - it's through the streets - don't know if it is supported). I read somewhere that some cyclists go off-route just to get around the crowds, otherwise you end up walking your bike for long stretches because of the "traffic jam".

I THINK the total distance of the ride is 40 some miles...?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

We have some friends who went last year. They said it was WONDERFUL. Yes very crowded at the start (don't go if you really hate crowds), but then as it gets going the crowds stretch out and becomes less fender-to-fender. They said the views were incredible- along the river, over bridges, through parks, down streets, all kinds of neighborhoods and scenery.
It is well supported with food and beverage rest stops, some streets and bridges are closed or at least sectioned off to car traffic to accomodate the riders. They said it was a marvelous experience to feel a part of the vast mass of bikers and to see all the parts of the city from a bicycle.

[mimitabby]

wow! that's bigger than STP (Seattle to Portland!) that would be fun.

[F8th637]

There was an article in this past month's Bicycling Magazine with some great pictures from last year. It looked like a lot of fun.

[quint41]

Yes, I saw it in Bicycling magazine the same day that I saw a brochure at my LBS. It looks like an awesome experience. What a way to see the city! 32,000 riders, 42 miles, streets are closed to auto traffic. Must be incredible. We are strongly considering it for next year!

See the website: http://www.5bbc.org/

[lisa_b]

I have done the ride for the past two years (also see report in May 6 rides thread). The previous year I loved every minute of it, 42 miles of traffic free streets! There was crowding at the start but it did thin out and we had a great ride.

This year we were towards the back of the pack of 33,000 cyclists and the crush of people was a bit insane. We didn't even reach the starting point to begin riding until 9:15 am (the head of the ride began moving at 8 am). We had to walk our bikes through a large part of the ride because of the jam of people. At one point we tried to take a side street, but that also was full of people with the same idea! After walking with the bike through a large chunk of Queens and then getting stuck in another "bike jam" in Brooklyn we finally left the ride as the thought of getting stuck in Staten Island was too much.

I would do it again only if I could get there super, super early and guarantee a place near the front of the line. Once you get back in the pack you just get stuck!

[quint41]

Thanks for the advice, Lisa! I'll definitely keep that in mind!

[eleanor]

hi,
i did it last year and this year. It is fun, tho a lot of people. You have to get there early if you don't want to get stuck walking...we got to starting line up at 6:30 am - hardest thing is standing around til 8 am when ride starts - it's a bit chilly and there are long lines at dunkin donuts and bathrooms! but both years i got there at 6:30 and we were actually riding (on the bikes) by 8:15...a traffic jam going into central park (about half an hour of start and stop), but other than that we could ride pretty freely, tho you always have to be careful because there are so many people.

but it is a fun event, and ABSOLUTELY FLAT!!! (except for little teeny inclines on the bridges)....

[Jo-n-NY]

I plan on signing up for the ride next year also. I have done it twice before years ago. The second time we figured a plan to bybass the mass of cyclists on Church St. and it turned out to be a lot of fun and much less walking.

A group from my club rode and had a blast. I didn't realize that they ride it every year.

~ JoAnn

[CycleChic06]

I rode it this year, so much fun! Aside from the start - it took at 1.5 hours to go the first 4 miles up 6th Ave, but once we got through Central Park everything was fine. Like eleanor said it's completely flat, and the only time there were small hills were on the bridges, but due to back-ups caused by out of shape people walking their bikes up the bridge, we ended up having to walk up too. But it was so much fun and riding my bike over the Verazzano bridge at the end of the ride was SOOO COOL!!

I had done the NYC Century Bike Tour last year, which is much small (only a few thousand) and they don't close down the streets, so it's a totally difference experience. Both were fun, I'd suggest doing either of them at least once, it's really worth it.