SourDieseL

https://nyccentury.org/event_info

I'll be there knocking on the 100 miler once again, everyone ready?

lukasz

They don't close the streets? 100 miles within city limits sounds kind of hellish.

cc_rider

Nah. It's fun.
Only about 6000 riders on staggered starts. It never feels that crowded, except maybe at the rest stops. The streets they send us on are mostly very bikeable, often low traffic, and they use MUP's when available.
And NY drivers are sooooooooo friendly.

v70cat

I did it last year and it was the best organized ride I have every been on. The staggered start makes a huge difference and it was very well organized.

My only suggestion is that they could use a rest stop in Forest Park.

I will plan to ride again this year.

akonikoff

Is the $1000 fund raising minimum only for TA Team members or is that also required for individuals as well?

v70cat

No the funding requirement is for a Team rider, you can do it a regular ride.

lukasz

How is the route through the Bronx? I'd like to get more familiar with the borough.

billm45s

The ride through the Bronx is near the end and has more hills then the rest of the ride. You'll see some of the Bronx, but I would suggest if you want to see the Bronx, do the longer version of the Tour De Bronx come October or look at some of the Five Borough Bike Club (5bbc.org) daytrips on their website. I know there is a ride to City Island through the Bronx coming up fairly soon.

cc_rider

OK. So, when the online form asks me how much fundraising I want to do and suggests $1000, I can ignore it and put in $0?

FrankieV

yes....

v70cat

https://www.nyccentury.org/brochure_request

NightHawkHat

I did it in 2009. It was a terrific ride. You go through Manhattan in gray light. You cross the Brooklyn Bridge at sunrise. Enormous sections of the ride are on bike paths. I've lived in NYC for 25 years, but biking through Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx on this ride showed me the city anew. This map of the 2009 ride seems pretty accurate: https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...,0.727158&z=11

I highly recommend it.

pgoat

I should be marshaling again. It's not a fast ride overall, but enjoyable from a 'see the city' perspective - much more so than the Five Boro ride in May, imho. There are a few sections where you can hammer a bit, and if you do the longer routes you'll depart earlier and beat most of the weekend traffic.

I recommend this ride.

lukasz

Thanks for the map!

jyossarian

I'm gonna try and do this ride again. It's a blast. I wanna make it out to Kissena and do the lap around the track.

ichitz

Anyone had the Kissena track experience? I'm interested.

SourDieseL

I rode this last year, I took a bad spill in brooklyn over the "wood bridge" that was still wet, 2 bikers infront of me slid out and I had no choice but to tap the brakes and down I went. I am considering riding again this year though, hopefully there are more notifications and no rain prior to the ride.

pgoat

it's fun! Very smooth tarmac and the bank is a trip.. . also quite humbling to see what it feels like to try and max out in your highest gear.

pgoat

ouch! sorry to hear that! I heard about lots of crashes; i must have been lucky, i didn't see any myself

Stacy

What counts as a Kissena track experience? I took two laps around the track on my little Sirrus as part of the NYC Century. Pretty cool.

pgoat

yeah, I think that's what they meant (certainly not racing! - though I would LOVE to try that someday)

The main thing there is to be careful when getting on/off the track. You go through a tiny gate and there are lots of people and bikes around the gate so it's confusing and dangerous if you just scoot in sideways across the track.

I think there are usually events going on the same day as well, so it's best to approach with that in mind and make sure you;re going in when it's not interfering with a race or warm up laps.

Stacy

I must have reached Kissena at a good time. There were only one or two others on the track and I don't remember any congestion at the gate.

SourDieseL

I was part of one crash and witnessed another. I believe I was pace lining with another member here going from BK to Queens I think on cross bay blvd over a bridge when the lead tapped his brakes, the marshal behind him touched her front tire to his back and went down. The marshal infront of me swerved out and I swerved out into traffic and slowed down. We were coming over the apex of the bridge so it was quite dangerous to be in that spot since the descent was fairly even and curved so we'd be on the blind side of the drivers.

The bridge in BK was just wet, I slid out cuz others braked so my choice was to run them over or brake and swerve, choose the brake and swerve and my whole back end went out. Next time I'll proceed into that bridge with caution, it's a bad setup since there is cobble stones both at the entrance and exit of that bridge with a nice climb coming out so keeping speed would be the ideal thing to do.

pgoat

Yes, I believe that is where I recall hearing about problems....you must have left real early? I think it was sunnier later and it dried things out pretty well by the time I got there (I had to stop and help with lots of flats, etc. so it took me forever)

billm45s

The wooden bridge in question is the Carroll Street Bridge and I was surprised that the route this bridge as there are much better alternatives. I got there fairly early and it was still wet, but there were no crashes, just one close call. A few of us from Brooklyn were calling out a warning about the cobblestones and the wood as we approached.

Overall this is a great ride, one of the best in NYC, though when I arrived at Kissena the track was packed and a little dangerous with too many people to feel safe. Luckily I got to ride it on a Queens TA ride in October when the track was empty and you could really get a feel for the banking.

BTW, this year the NYC Century will have two starting points, the usual one in Central Park and another one in Prospect Park.