capejohn

If you ever wanted a great way to see NYC, try riding a bike on closed roads with 32,000 like minded people at 14 MPH.

This is my 7th tour and I can't help testifying how much fun and how interesting the weekend can be, especially for those who life far away and NYc is a vacation destination.

Here is my edited Wikipedia version.

The tour starts at Battery Park in Lower Manhattan and ends with a festival in Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, (the car free route continues from Fort Wadsworth to the Staten Island ferry allowing participants to make a complete 42 mile loop back to Manhattan). There are three groups of 11,000 doing a staggered start, which is a vast improvement from the mass start of the past.

The tour runs north up the Avenue of the Americas, past Macy's, before entering Central Park. After exiting the park the tour heads north through Harlem on Seventh Avenue, crossing into the Bronx for a short 2-mile (3.2 km) section before re-entering Manhattan via FDR Drive. The FDR portion of the tour runs south through Manhattan under Gracie Mansion before crossing the East River via the Queensboro Bridge into Queens. The first major rest area of the tour is at Astoria Park, Queens.

From Astoria Park the tour crosses south through Queens, over the Pulaski Bridge into Brooklyn, where it follows the waterfront, past the Brooklyn Navy Yard. After crossing under the Brooklyn Bridge, the route follows up and onto the elevated Brooklyn Queens Expressway. Before 2012 it dropped onto the Shore Parkway; in that year it continued on the below-grade Gowanus Expressway and climbed over the Verrazano Narrows Bridge into Staten Island.

Once in Staten Island the tour makes a stop at Fort Wadsworth for a festival, before continuing the last three miles (5 km) to St. George where most riders take the Staten Island Ferry back to Battery Park in Manhattan. Some New Jerseyans return home over the Bayonne Bridge instead.

The tour sells out very quickly and this year is closed, but for a unique fun weekend, the Five Boroughs Bike Tour is a good item to add to your bucket list.

1nterceptor

I'm going as a volunteer marshal this Sunday. Some registrations are up for sale in craigslist.org and facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/bpedrojose?...eborobiketour/

The 1st time I did it in 2012 I had a lot of fun. At the end; I rode over the Bayonne Bridge to leave Staten Island.
That's not possible for cyclists and peds this year, the bridge is closed for construction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdA_...6zPoymgKaIoDLA

blacknbluebikes 

See ya there. I'll be the guy on the black bike. Can't miss me.

leob1

You too! My bike is black also! We can hook up.

I'll be wearing my Plus 50 jersey. Look for me, say high.

We, wife and I, did the ride in 2011, what a f'n nightmare. We skipped 2012 because it was on my sons 21st birthday. We did it again last year and only stopped when we wanted to, and for traffic control as well.
BNY does great at thier rest stops, so it's kind of worth it to see what may be going on at each of them.
Last year on our way back to the SI ferry, we saw a bar that had a lot of bike in front. So my wife had the great idea of stopping for a burger and a beer. It was a great idea! Just what we needed at the end of the ride to get us back home. And I had never been in a bar that was filled with guys wearing tights!
It's a good ride, you just have to pay attention to the other riders all the time.
BTW I'd love to average 14 mph. HA!

1nterceptor

https://www.bikeforums.net/folding-bi...l#post16728662

capejohn

Nice video. It was a great day.

1nterceptor

It was a bit cloudy most of the time, I was a bit under
dressed. So I was chilly for the most part. This is the
2nd time I volunteered as a safety marshal; just like
the 1st time I had a lot of fun. Will be back next year.

FIVE BORO BIKE TOUR by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

leob1

Thank you for volunteering, I saw lots of those vest on the road, some of them on the side of the road taking care of mechanicals and\or flats.

rvp7777

Nice video, thanks. My GoPro battery died way to early.