grunzster

I just signed up last night. This one is going to be my first.

derath

first here. My wife and I will be there.

Bacciagalupe

Meh. It's fun once, but it's just way too crowded.

jeebusaurousrex

First time for me too. Deciding whether to take the full sized or folder considering the speeds will probably be sloooow.

zowie

+1. I last rode it when it was about 10,000 riders smaller than it is now and still found it to be way too crowded then. But I wouldn't discourage anyone from out of town from doing it to tour the city, nor as a first organized ride of some length for a less experienced cyclists.

zacster

This will be a first for my twin daughters, 11 years old. I've done it about 4 or 5 times in the past.

Once you get past Manhattan you're OK, but it is very crowded at the start, and it always starts late.

KirkeIsWaiting

As rides go, this one is certainly different. It's an amazing way to tour the city and I loved the people I met that day.
Take a camera! I mounted mine to my bars with wire ties and got great shots of NY and it's bridges.

hmmm ... maybe I'll do it again this year.

grunzster

Yeah I've heard a few people say that, but I've wanted to it for years, so this will be my at least once.

Yeah considering the slow speed, and the great condition of some NYC street, not to mention, I want to take my sweet ass time and try to get some pictures, I'm kind of considering the MTB and saving the roadie. Besides a friend from work may do it too, and he doesn't have a road bike.

grunzster

So would you say hanging towards the back is the way to go to avoid the crowd as much as possible?

Digital Rebel, right? I think I remember those shots. I'm not brave enough to do that with my 40, but I got the smallest holster bag I could find.

KirkeIsWaiting

Noooooo ... hardly a Rebel.
That camera is a Panasonic FZ1... it was the first of the FZ series with a Leica lens. Looks like a mini DSLR and has an amazing 55mm lens on it. When the FZ series progressed (meaning ridiculous unnecessary megapixels and $$$) it became so cheap I picked one up for $150 new on ebay. Hands down, the best digital for the money. There's even firmware (free) to upgrade to manual settings.
I used a cheap tripod mount and wire tires. Any camera with a tripod adapter can be mounted.
Or ... duct tape.

dpara

I would say the opposite if possible. This will be my third time with the same couple of guys. We like to make a weekend of it and stay with a frien who lives in Manhattan.

The first year we started mid pack and walking for an hour or so the last few blocks into Central Park. After that it opens up OK but it is crowded and you need to pay attention. Last we we cheated a little and cut accross town from my buddies and waited about 3/4 mile ahead of the start. After the head goes by we jumped in and stayed in the 1st 200 or so the whole ride. Still a lot of people but not as bad. We did have our bibs before hand as well.

To be honest I'm not sure which I liked better. They were different in alot of ways. Being in the pack with 10,000 people around you is an experience and once it opened up it wasnt to bad. Out front was a much better pace but I fetlt like we were trying to get done and not really appreciate the ride. Either way its a great weekend for us.


First year - 5hrs 51mins & 10mph
2nd year - 3hrs 55mins & 13.5mph

cc_rider

Sent my registration in this week.
Will be my 5th in a row.

It is an impressive crowd. Last year they reached their limit of 36,000 a couple of weeks before the ride.
I'm not sure if starting near the back really helps with the crowds. I suppose the crowds might be thinner, but if you are not moving fast they may start closing the route around you and force you to take the shortcut back to Manhattan. And I doubt if it would help with the crowds at the SI Ferry crossing.

I've always got there early, before 7:00, and started about 6 blocks back from the start line. So far the only regular bad bottle neck I've encountered is approaching Central Park (because they control the number of riders entering the park.) The first two rest stops are also crowded, so last year I skipped them and stopped at the Con Ed stop instead. Most people stop at Astoria and skip Con Ed, so there in almost no crowd and no lines at Con Ed.

I've talked to people who avoided the crowds by going to Central Park early (above the bottle neck) and joining the tour just after the ride leaders had passed them.

jyossarian

Last year I started ahead of the ride leaders. I had to do it again this year because of peer pressure so I just registered. Two of my friends told me they registered and can't wait to ride w/ me. Now I have to decide between the newly built, but untested for that amount of time and distance roadie (I was hoping to do it quickly and be on the 12:30 ferry) or the tried and true fixed gear that I rode the last 2 years (comfy and still got me on the 12:30 ferry, but also good for riding slow w/ my friends).

Kirke, haven't seen you post in awhile. Welcome back.

henria86

YO,
this time lets meet up

KirkeIsWaiting

thanks....

It's like a second (or 5th!) wind for me cycling.
The shoulder is about as good as it's gonna get and I'm getting a little anxious about gearing up to ride.
And it looks like there's a new ride on the horizon ... I might be posting dumb questions in the SS/FG forum soon!

grunzster

After reading a few of these posts, I'm thinking:

Camera at the start and finish, but not on the route, unless I mount it.
Either get to the front or the very back.
Blow both rest stops (it's short enough that stopping isn't really necessary)

jyossarian

I rode it the last 2 years on a fg and it's easy, even the bridges aren't bad. I was thinking of taking the roadie this year, but I'll probably have to ride w/ some slow friends so I may take the fixed so I can do leg over bar skids down the Verrazano bridge while they catch up. Whatcha thinking of getting?

nismosr

+1 I did it 4x in row I'm skipping it this year.

lammius

I haven't registered yet but I'm in. I'm trying to get some of my Jersey friends on board too. Maybe I can entice more participants with the promise of an afterparty at my place in JC!

jeebusaurousrex

7AM and you were still 6 blocks back from the front? Yowza.

Bacciagalupe

Yep. Again, 36,000+ people.

I would say that it's probably fun to do with kids, since it's not very fast. You can also skip about 15 miles of it -- or may be forced to skip it, since they close part of the Queens route in the early AM.

I vastly prefer the NY Century ride or the MS Ride. 5 Boro is worth doing once though for the bridges.

If you go with friends and/or family I recommend you get a flag or find some other way to make it easy to pick your leader out of the crowd. Otherwise you can easily lose your companions.

cc_rider

Yep. And that's a prime starting spot.
Remember, that's six blocks out of the 20 or so down Church St. And I don't want to think about the crowd waiting at Battery Park.
added - I ride up Church from BP until the crowd waiting is too thick for me to move up any further, but I've seen some people coming up the parallel street and cut over into the thick of the crowd.

I like both but for different reasons.
BNY5B - The slow, early season, mass ride on car free streets. and you get to cross the Verrazano. I also like to do a long solo ride exploring Manhattan after the main tour.
NY100 - The late season distance ride where you can also get some good speed. Better weather and different streets to see.

Lucky07

I haven't done in a few years & might do it again. I think it might be fun on the single speed. We'll see.

grunzster

Isn't there a ferry from Liberty State Park too?

I'm thinking that may be the easiest way from NJ.

cc_rider

The first two times I rode the BNY5B I drove from my parents house in Ridgewood to Jersey City and took the ferry from Harborside. Nice way to start the day. Then the Harborside dock was redeveloped out of existence and the schedule from any of the other ports didn't get me to the start in time. My last two years, and for the NY100, I just drove across the GW and down Riverside to around 122nd St. Plenty of free street parking that time of morning, and I get a nice 10 mile warmup ride down the Greenway.

You might want to check with the ferry company. They've had BNY5B special runs, but they usually don't announce it until a couple of weeks before the event.