Five Boro Bike Tour

The cycling season means different things to different people. For some it means climbing into a hurt locker to test yourself on the racing circuit or on your next local club ride; but for others it means gearing up for your next century, charity ride, or bike tour.

One bike tour that is fast becoming an annual rite of spring, and not just for the great majority of New Yorkers who participate, is the Five Boro Bike Tour. The 42-mile ride, sponsored this year by TD Bank, was held on Sunday, May 3rd.

Last year, I had the good fortune of participating in this event. And while I wasn't sure what to expect when I signed up, the anticipated adventure quickly turned into a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

New York, NY – An early spring illness placed my participation in jeopardy. But despite a lingering cough and over 600 miles of driving the night before, I was determined to line up with the other 29,999 riders in Lower Manhattan for the start of the 31st edition of the ride, which was then known as the Commerce Bank Five Boro Bike Tour.

Riders were asked to enter the start lineup from Battery Park, at the southern tip of Manhattan, but wily veterans of the ride often bypass all the congestion on Church Street to find other entry points farther along the route. As it was my first Five Boro, I wanted to garner the full experience and entered the lineup as prescribed. After walking and standing with my bike for approximately half an hour, I began to regret my choice of entry point until I realized where I had ambled to, Ground Zero.


The remnants of the previous night's rain had blanketed the area giving it an air of stillness usually reserved for remote areas in nature. At the time of the ride, it had been close to seven years since 9/11, but the area still held its sense of reverence as the thousands of riders waiting to put foot to pedal seemed more like parishioners mulling around the inside of a church. Someday the area may lose its solemnity, but at its current state of perpetual construction Americans will always be reminded of the events that occurred on that fateful day.

Once past Ground Zero, I was finally able to saddle up and ride. I'm not sure whether it was the feeling of finally being unbridled or the sheer fact that I was riding down the middle of New York streets usually inundated by automobile traffic, but the first few yards were simply exhilarating. Up Church Street and the Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), I rode unabashedly through Midtown Manhattan under a canopy of brick, mortar, and steel provided by the surrounding skyscrapers.

But like all good things coming to an end, gleeful freedom abruptly turned to gridlocked constraint. At the iconic Radio City Music Hall, a massive standstill of riders, a scene that would be replayed multiple times over the day, prevented me from reaching the next destination, Central Park.

Growing impatient to regain my new found freedom, I followed a small subset of riders and did something I had never intentionally done in all my 13 years of riding the streets of Chicago, rode the wrong way against one way traffic. It wasn't the smartest thing to do, but the scene of the Park at full bloom was certainly rewarding.


Out of the park, the Tour traveled "through Harlem and then over to the Bronx and back on bridges spanning the Harlem River." For those looking for a greater sampling of the Bronx or perhaps a spin by Yankee Stadium, this isn't the ride for you. The course description and the corresponding map are truly indicative of the time spent in the Bronx, "over and back." Once back in Manhattan, I headed down the closed off section of the FDR Drive to the first rest stop at 116th Street.

Pedal Partners at Rest: Anne, Rob, Charlotte, and Rose

After a brief respite for a quick accounting of my riding partners, I set off once again down the FDR Drive to the next standstill at the foot of the Queensboro Bridge (the "59th Street Bridge"), which would take me to the third of the five boroughs, Queens. Once in Queens, I came upon the next rest area in Astoria Park. Although I was somewhat surprised to see another rest area so soon, I understood the need of so many riders to once again climb off their bikes and relax. The stress of riding in a pack during a club ride or in a race, which at times can be unnerving for even the most seasoned cyclists, is markedly less than that of riding among a group of cyclists of varying skill sets and road awareness.

After another quick accounting, I headed out of Astoria Park and followed the throng of riders along the East River, which provided views of Wards and Randall's Island, the Manhattan skyline, some of Queen’s industrial neighborhoods, and even Roosevelt Island.

Bypassing the third rest area at the Con Edison Learning Center in Queens, the tour once again began to open up as I crossed over the Pulaski Bridge into Brooklyn. I actually took a spill while riding through the neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Williamsburg as I attempted to stop at a gas station for a nature break. Needless to say, entry ramps fortified by an under layer of steel should not be approached at an angle. Suffering more from embarrassment than any physical damage, I soon reached and bypassed another rest area at Commodore John Barry Park, adjacent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, before running smack into the Brooklyn Bridge.

After a few photos of the, at then, 125-year old structure, I found myself on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. Although the Five Boro’s website stated that the BQE is "miraculously clear of its usual traffic jam on tour day," that descriptor was only partially correct. With temperatures ranging in the high-70s to the mid-80s, the scene of air conditioned passengers comfortably sitting in traffic juxtaposed against a weary, sweaty and sundrenched mob of bicyclists standing and walking with their bikes made the idea of riding on traffic free roads somewhat ironic. Once we were able to get going again, a quick jaunt over the Gowanus Canal and along the South Brooklyn waterfront landed me at the last rest area at John Paul Jones/Cannonball Park in Bay Ridge.

The last major hurdle of the tour was the crossing of the iconic Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. After circling around an on-ramp the most arduous climb of the tour was met with long breezy descent into Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island. While most choose to relax at the Festival, buy lunch, have a massage, check out the vendors and exhibitors, or listen to live music, some head up the road a bit to some of the local watering holes before riding the final 3 miles to the Staten Island Ferry.

Although we may have been packed like sardines (with bikes) in a large orange can, for those who have never experienced the ride on the Staten Island Ferry, it provides some of the best views of the city, passing the Statue of Liberty and bringing you into Lower Manhattan.

Each ride is an adventure, but the Five Boro Bike Tour is like no other. If you long to simply ride rather than sightsee, it may not be for you. Perhaps our own 53rd Tooth summarized it best in saying,

"I actually rode in this one year. It was like pushing a herd of cattle through a straw. Something worth doing once in a lifetime just to see NYC from that perspective. Bring your defensive riding skills; however, because given the great disparity of riding skills, it can be a horror show."

Photos: Leonard Basobas (second through eighth)