The 2020/2021 (?) TD 5 Boro Bike Tour

Ah, the eminent TD 5 Boro Bike Tour. This was my first time participating. Would I do it again? Maybe… if someone paid me to do it.

Preparation for the ride began on Saturday, when I thought it would be prudent to clean my cassette, jockey wheels and chain (since it had been quite some time and I hadn’t lubed my chain in over a month). What should have been a mundane activity turned into one of excitement and anticipation, as I was trapped in the vestibule of my building since not one, but BOTH, doors to my building are now broken. It took three (3) people to rescue me as I stared longingly at my bucket of cleaning supplies that sat in my building’s front yard, waiting to be put to use.

We called for help as this person walked past our building but even he could not break us out!

After my great escape, I spent some time cleaning my bike outside, which was nice because a) that meant I wouldn’t make a mess in my apartment and b) I got some fresh air (and was rained on a little). In the midst of this, I chatted with my favorite older neighbor living in my building, Mr. Walters, and he later assisted me with cleaning up all my materials and bringing them back into the building. I also got to meet his adorable granddaughter!

From there, I gathered all the things that Bike New York demanded from us for this event, including cleat covers! With my bibs ready, snacks packed, spare tubes tucked away in my saddle bag and all electronic devices charged (or so I thought), I was ready for my 4:30 AM wakeup call. Being in the first wave, Bike New York suggested arriving at 6 AM, which, though my morning ride on the empty streets of Brooklyn was delightful, I found was utterly unnecessary. But! Had I not been so obedient and arrived at the time I did, I would never have met Denise and Chinelo! Chinelo introduced himself to me as we waited at the start line and it was great to hear about his biking experience and his potential plans for purchasing a new bike!

I actually took this picture of Chinelo and Denise when I ran into them again at the Finish Festival!

After and hour-and-a-half of standing around (no breakfast because I’M NOT VIP RUDE), they finally got us moving, albeit, only a few hundred yards to what was apparently the “official” start line.

I personally loved this couple’s “SUPER STONK” enthusiasm, despite the DJ and announcers being located just below their apartment at 7 AM on a Sunday.

A bit past 7:30 and we were off! But not with so much haste since we slowly had to funnel through the narrow start archway (funneling through narrow things became a hallmark of this ride I would say).

I was looking forward to riding the carless streets along the route but the bike congestion in many areas was almost worse! I’m a stickler for the rules and I didn’t appreciate that people were not riding on the right and passing on the left. It was a free for all at some points but I managed to come away from the ride unscathed (unfortunately, this was not true for many riders - I bore witness to multiple crashes and injuries and recently found out that one rider suffered cardiac arrest and was unable to be resuscitated despite efforts from fellow riders and FDNY).

It was exciting to ride on streets where you wouldn’t normally be able to and crossing different bridges, and taking over the FDR and BQE was pretty cool! There weren’t many spectators along the route but I chatted up other riders every once in a while and it was nice to see all the comradery. This year, they capped the ride at 20,000 riders so I can’t imagine what other years have been like with 50,000 riders.

The 5 Boro Tour presented me with my first opportunity to ride on Staten Island. We took a short route through the area but it’s nice to be able to say I’ve ridden through each borough. The Finish Festival was at Empire Outlets and there were a few vendors and a couple of food and drink options available. I had a beer and some nachos to keep me going since I still had to take the ferry back to Manhattan and ride to Brooklyn from there. Oh, and this was my first time wearing cleat covers, as requested by Bike New York.

I video chatted with a few friends to celebrate my accomplishment (lol riding solo all the time is GETTING OLD) and then went onto a women’s bike group on Facebook. For the original event date, a few people had made plans to meet at the Finish Festival so I wanted to see if those plans remained for the new date. When I checked, I didn’t see any posts from riders but I did see a post from a person named Kristen, who would be at the Finish Festival, taking photos for the event - she suggested keeping an eye out for her pink hair. While stuffing my face with nachos, I noticed her and introduced myself. She took some great photos of me and we chatted but I mostly lamented about having no one to ride with. Kristen was so sweet so I hope we can actually ride together soon! We kept running into each other so I finally worked up the courage to ask to take a photo for my blog.

This was probably the third or fourth time I ran into Kristen so I had to ask for a picture!

I finished my beer and then it was a dash to retrieve my bike and catch the ferry from Staten Island back to Manhattan.

While crammed in like sardines, I chatted with a couple who had done the ride on a tandem, heard about a group that supports riders with vision and balance issues and made friends with a man who had a parrot for a bike horn (I was told the horn is 20-years-old and I replied that parrots have a long lifespan).

I wonder how many of us they actually packed into this ferry.

My ride home was a little annoying since I stupidly took the route that included the Brooklyn Bridge. My route over it in the morning had been mostly pleasant since no one was really awake yet but riding on the wood slats doesn’t really make for an enjoyable ride. The ride back in the afternoon included the usual chaos with the tourists and vendors blocking up most of the bridge. What’s the deal with the new bike lane? I thought it was already opened for use but I saw signs saying it was closed for more construction.

Anyway, I got home and my brother and his partner were kind enough to bring me a delicious Italian sandwich while they did laundry in my apartment. I excused myself for a nap around 3:30 PM and woke up at 8 PM to an empty apartment. What a day.

Overall, I think it was a great experience and I’m glad that I did the ride - I was very close to backing out because it felt like more of a chore than something I was looking forward to. But, I got to ride through parts of the city that I normally don’t ride through and met a lot of great people and got to eat good food and drink good beer so that’s a win in my book.