NEW YORK — Bicycling 40 miles through the closed streets, parkways, expressways and bridges of Manhattan, The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island is lots of fun.

Started over 40 years ago, the Five Boro Bike Tour hosted well over 30,000 cyclists on Sunday, May 3. Including the mayor.¹

This was my first trip after several years of consideration. The timing finally worked out and enjoyed my longest closed-course social ride yet.

The ride

On a bit of an unseasonably cool early May morning, it was chilly, even blustery with the wind. I had on three layers², though some wore just bike jerseys. 

That had to be frigid.

I was in Wave 2 which left promptly at 8:30 a.m. There were some non-Wave 2 cyclists too, but not too many. My understanding is the earlier waves are better and allows people to spread out a little more evenly.

The official map | New York Bike Maps interactive map

Manhattan

Beginning in lower Manhattan, the Tour travels through shadowy canyons. After a few blocks along Church Street, it’s onto 6^th Avenue (aka Avenue of the Americas) through Midtown. The Empire State Building and other skyscrapers occasionally visible. 

At Central Park, the ride split into routes. I went to the left, figuring it’d be sunnier. There were even some hills and the generally pleasant park scenery. 

After the Park, it was onto 7^th Avenue (aka Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd) all the way to 145^th Street. At 125^th Street, there were brief stoppages to allow foot traffic, but I managed to avoid coming to a complete stop. 

The Bronx

The time in grandfather’s native borough was short – the ride crossed over the Harlem River on 145th Street Bridge and then back into Manhattan over the 138th Street Bridge. My feet didn’t even touch the ground. It took maybe, 5 minutes and I didn’t even see new Yankee Stadium.

Back to Manhattan

Coming off of the 138^th Street Bridge, it’s down the Harlem River Drive which seamlessly turns into FDR Drive. The southbound lanes were closed for Five Boro while northbound was unchanged. It’s another 75 blocks of limited access highway, limited only to bicycles. Yay. 

We crossed over the Queensboro Bridge, just passed Silvercup Studios.

Queens

To the best of my knowledge, I had never set foot in Queens previously. Depending on the position of the border, my first time may have been on the Queensboro Bridge or once I arrived at the rest stop near the Triboro Bridge.

Touching down in Queens proper, the ride goes up the arterial 21st Street. It’s nothing particularly interesting, just a stroad going past the kind of establishments that line them. The scenery improved as we approached as we approached Astoria Park and the Triboro Bridge. There was the first big rest stop with free snacks and beverage. Also, on that windy morning, the East River was full of whitecaps, reminding everybody that it’s actually a tidal straight.

Pulling out, it was back through Astoria, this time down 14th and cutting over closer to the river and Vernon Blvd. Occasional views of working industry, the river and Manhattan skyline were an improvement over the fast food and tire shops over the northbound portion.

We cut over along 44^th Drive to get over to the 11^th Street in Long Island City to finish out the Queens portion of the route. Crossing over the Long Island Expressway (I-495)⁴ it was until the Pulaski Bridge into Kings County….

Brooklyn

My second ever trip to Brooklyn went along narrower neighborhood streets, like Greenpoint and Franklin before entering a warehouse district. Into Williamsburg along narrow and generally unremarkable Wythe Street the buildings block out most of the new skyscrapers and New York’s homeliest suspension bridge.

Moving over to Kent Street, the ride passed Steiner Studios and a bunch of shipping containers. It’s then over to Flushing Avenue adjacent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Turning right onto Navy Street, there was a rare incline which this far into the ride, was not…welcome.

Onto York Street and into DUMBO the route goes down under Manhattan Bridge⁵, the pavement turned to brick.

If the chatter I was hearing from other riders was accurate, the brick street has been around about as long as the “DUMBO” neighborhood name.

At Fulton Street, the lower Manhattan skyline opened up followed by the Brooklyn Bridge to the right. I was delighted to see on my left as oasis awaiting me…

I had decided I would stop at the first Sabrett stand I found. I expected it to be in Queens and not after milepost 25 or so. It’s a good thing I did not wait for the second, because it never appeared.

Can’t go wrong with a classic dirty water dog, but skip the french fries – stale, soggy, take your pick.

Following that training food, it was onto Furman Avenue which is notable for being the lowest level of the infamous and decrepit Brooklyn-Queens Expressway’s triple cantilever. It didn’t collapse on me. Yay.

Shortly thereafter, it’s onto the BQE (I-278 westbound specifically)⁶ for the rest of Brooklyn.

I made my final stop near the foot of the Verranzano Bridge for a little water and to be as fresh as possible for the steepest climb of the ride, 38ish miles in…

Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge

As far as I can tell, the elevation of the BQE approaching the bridge is 37 feet.⁷ The Verranzano can be as high as 228 feet above the Narrows (which is at sea level, of course) means that in less than a mile, there was nearly 200 feet of elevation gain. And in the wind, it was a challenge. Many people walked their bikes up the lower-level westbound lanes that were restricted to the tour. Not me though.

I am not sure if being on the lower level shielded us from the wind some or made it worse. It was probably better that way. It was a lot though and I kept going without looking over too much. At this point of the ride, I was using what adrenaline I had to get to the finish line, just off the bridge.

Staten Island

I think arriving in the County of Richmond on the downslope of one of the longest suspension bridges in the world is rather triumphant. Shortly after touching down, the course turns off to Fort Wadsworth – Gateway National Recreation Area and the finish the line.

The Finish Line

The end includes a medal and some other activities. Mostly food trucks. Not a lot of free swag though.

I made sure to get some photos taken, as one does.

Getting to the ferry

Etc.

• Packet pickup on Saturday was easy and located on W. 28th Street, a short ride from Penn Station. There wasn’t a lot of fee swag there either, really just the bibs and helmet cover.
• What is the purpose of a helmet cover other than advertising? I do not see the appeal.
• I am surprised at how few rest areas there are though I suppose doing it in Manhattan would be difficult. I only stopped at two.
• The no backpack, panniers or other bag rule is weird and inconvenient, I had to go back to the Upper West Side to get my backpack which was my luggage for the trip.
• I was really surprised rent-able lockers, like the ones you see at ballparks, were not available. That would be quite lucrative. Perhaps nobody could provide enough to make it worthwhile though.
• That being said, I did not miss having a backpack on for 44+ miles.
• My ride time – about 3:25, including stops at Astoria Park (about 15 minutes), Brooklyn for a Sabrett (another 15 minutes) and the BQE rest stop (under ten minutes). I was pleased with my speed.
• I bought some Bike New York gloves – $30, I think. I don’t recall what my previous pairs (I keep losing the right glove) went for so I don’t know if that’s a good price or not. I was glad to have them on the chilly morning.
• This was the first time I used my GoPro extensively. I don’t know why it kept turning off after only recording about 8 seconds. On the bright side, that saved a lot of editing.
• Photos from Bike New York are something like $75 a piece. I don’t need one that badly.
• The cost of the ride varies throughout the year, but you aren’t going to get in for less than about $180. It’s a lot, but by comparison DC Bike Ride is about $80 and goes half as far. $31 of those dollars goes to Bike New York.⁹
• It’s an expensive weekend – I paid another $160 for Amtrak, though that’s comparable to driving in cost, though faster and far less miserable.
• I want to do it again – who wants to do it with me?

Footnotes

1. Mamdani’s historic Five Boro Bike Tour ride (in a suit) ↩︎
2. Bike jersey, hoody, windbreaker and of course mandals sandals ↩︎
3. The Rifftrax Highlander supercut is gone 🙁 ↩︎
4. The second most important I-495 ↩︎
5. My cousin, a Five Boro veteran in Wave 5, apparently bailed here – the novelty of crossing over to Staten Island apparently fades after a while ↩︎
6. I believe this was the third interstate highway I ever biked on with I-66 and I-395 in DC being the others. ↩︎
7. According to two of the three spam-y elevation finder sites I went to – the other said 73 feet. ↩︎
8. A sidequest to Shaolin was considered, but that will have to wait until another trip. I had an actual after party with a cousin to attend later in the day and I didn’t want to be late. I wasn’t, even with a trip back up to UWS, because he was wave 5. ↩︎
9. Think of it as the Gotham equivalent of WABA. ↩︎