Jarrettsin

Registration is open!

dmanthree

I just signed up, and am looking forward to it, as well as hoping for good weather. Like you, I'll be riding a mountain bike with street tires, and using SPD pedals for easier walking around. I see no need for my Madone on this ride! I've ridden in crowds before, but likely nothing like this. But I'm not a "green" rider by any stretch.

Onward...

zacster

When I saw the price I decided NOT to ride.

deex

Yum mean the ~$100 registration fee?

Ferdinand NYC

For me the deal-breaker is the restriction on bags.

Every day thousands of drivers clog the streets, and no one restricts what they can carry. But on the one day when bikes predominate on some streets, then we're somehow more suspect? This is offensive.

I had actually paid to participate in this thing in 2013; it would have been my first organised tour. But then I didn't go, purely out of disgust with the new bag regulations. I first had several arguments demanding my money back. They changed the bag rule after the original refund deadline. If they are going to change the rules that affect the conditions of the ride, they have the obligation to extend the deadline for refunds. But they refused, a stance which I find completely unacceptable.

After I could not obtain a refund, I just blew the whole thing off. Despite having paid, I wasn't going to fall for the "sunk costs" fallacy, whereby people keep pouring their resources into something solely on the grounds that they have already put something in. These turds already had my money; I wasn't about to lose time on top of that.

They can keep their ride. I have been perfectly content to do my own self-styled tours.

Jarrettsin

The unfortunate reality of the world we live in! After the Boston Marathon this is how all events will be, with them restricting backpack and the like. Can't blame them for trying to protect the public.

Ferdinand NYC

There is no protecting of the public going on. As I mentioned, no one is restricting the thousands of people who drive on the streets on a daily basis from carrying whatever kinds of bags they wish. The idea that bicyclists require greater scrutiny in order for the public to be protected is patently absurd.

Furthermore, even if this nonsensical rule was forced on the organisers of this tour, they should have done the decent thing by allowing refunds for a short time right after the imposition of the new rule.

Jarrettsin

Your missing the point it's the event that draws the attention. It's mass amounts of people in one spot, they don't care about single cars it's about mass destruction and headlines.

But you are right and they should have refunded the money.

Hokiedad4

I'm pretty sure the bag rules were imposed on the organizers by the police. However, smaller bags, like handlebar bags, are fine.

Last year the weather was nothing short of spectacular. Hoping for another weekend like that this year.

mgwilder

There was an incident in Times Square in 2010:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_T...ombing_attempt

One vehicle, illegally parked in Times Square, no event. Potential mass destruction.

I'm not taking sides on this, but they should have refunded your entry fee.

Ferdinand NYC

What I think that you are missing is that there is no good reason for further so-called "security" restrictions on bicyclists in a bike tour. Consider that any person in a car could conceivably carry a weapon and use it to create mass destruction on a road during the traffic jams that characterise every morning and evening rush hour. Yet society would not tolerate a policy whereby drivers and their passengers were prohibited from carrying bags. Bike tour participants merit no extra restrictions beyond those which are ordinarily given to drivers and automobile passsengers; and the fact that extra restrictions are imposed on these bicyclists is offensive.

Similarly, the bags of bicyclists boarding the Staten Island Ferry are subjected to bomb-sniffing dogs. Meanwhile, people walking on with the same sorts of bags do not have to endure this.

It is important to understand that there is nothing legitimate going on here, in either of these cases. The aforementioned policies are simply manifestations of society's relationship to bicyclists as a class; this is proof that we remain a marginalised group and not part of the mainstream.

Yes, that's true. However...

My beef about the bag restriction is with authorities for their irrationally discriminatory treatment of bicyclists in the name of "security" (which is the catch-all justification for every police-state measure imaginable), and, more fundamentally, with the American public for its insanely exaggerated fear of mostly imaginary "terrorism".

With the organisers of the Five Boro Bike Tour my beef is about their refusal to give refunds after the new bag restriction came in.

Jarrettsin

ooooookay guess we won't be seeing you at the ride then

Hokiedad4

I was trying to put a team together but by the time I got my registration confirmation, standard registration was FULL! It was only open for 3 days. Needless to say, none of my buddies want to pony up $300 to go, so it'll be another solo ride for me.

noglider 

@Hokiedad4, maybe you can make friends while you're there. Or put out a notice to all of your friends, asking if anyone else is registered and going.