NYC 5 Boro Bike Tour, May 1, 2022
On May 1, 2022, Candace, her stepdaughters Jill and Laura, and I rode in the Bike New York 5 Boro Bike Tour.
Jill and Laura started from Battery Park (the official start) about 9:15 am. Candace and I rode several blocks from her apartment to wait for Jill and Laura where the ride entered Central Park. When they arrived, they gave us our Team Fyfe T-shirts which were provided by their aunt (and Candace’s sister-in-law) Dorothy Fyfe.
We rode through Central Park, went in and out of the Bronx, crossed the Queensboro Bridge into Queens, rode through Brooklyn and then over the Verrazzano Bridge to Staten Island where the finish festival took place, Then we took the Ferry back to Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan. From there, Jill and Laura took the subway to Brooklyn where they were staying with Dorothy, and Candace and I rode up the west side, then cross town to return to her apartment. We finished at 8 pm!
The ride was way too crowded. According to Bike New York, 33,000 people signed up and apparently almost all of them showed up since it was a nice day. Whenever there was a slight uphill, or a narrowing of the road, there was a backup which meant you had to get off and walk.
The lines getting to the finish, to get food at the finish, and to get the ferry back to Manhattan were just outrageous. I was going to take a picture of the line to the ferry, but couldn’t get it all in as it went out of sight around a corner, where it looped around several times before returning. Think lines at a movie theater but on a massive scale!
I had my GPS running for the whole trip (including the ferry ride). Clicking here brings up a Ride with GPS map of the ride. From the bike computer (not the GPS) I estimate the trip was 46.5 miles and took 6 hours and 10 minutes of actual riding time. (The GPS unit does not do a good job of recording when you’re just standing around or moving very slowly!)
Clicking on a photo below brings up a larger version. You can also activate a slide show.