On Sunday, Chris, Sarah, Jeff, two non-blogging friends Larry and Hector, and I went to New York City for Bike New York's Five Boro Tour. The 40+ mile ride travels from Manhattan to the Bronx, Queens then Brooklyn, and ends at Staten Island. Most photos courtesy of Chris (click to enlarge for full effect).
Sarah and Jeff on the train platform
Chris and I (photo courtesy of Larry)
Hector (photo courtesy of Larry)
Larry (photo courtesy of Larry)
Our special 4:30am bike train was canceled with no explanation, making us about 45 min. late to the start line. The conductor seemed furious that all of the bikes had invaded his train (without advance notice?), making his movement between cars very difficult. We and all of the other cyclists in our car bonded in the face of this adversity. We helped each other leap frog over the seats, and when Chris fit yet another bike into our car, we broke out into applause. One couple even ran outside at a stop, down two cars, and boarded, since they could not walk through. Later, at another stop, they ran outside again and back to our car. We joked about it being the running portion of the triathlon.
How many bikes can we fit on the train? A lot.
March of the Cyclists, on a Mission to Take Over the World. I almost cried from joy at the sight of this. Seriously.
Taking Over Grand Central Station. Too bad we weren't allowed to ride our bikes in there!
Have you ever seen 42,000 cyclists in one place before? Me neither. They are as far as the eye can see, and then some.
One of the fun things about the day was seeing the items people strapped to their helmets so they could identify each other if they got separated. We saw plastic dinosaurs, crabs, soda cans, red feather boas a la the Romans, faux gerbera daisy stems, pinwheels, balloons, national flags from different countries. But this was one of our favorites (Jeff in right front with plain helmet):
And they're off!
Because we were at the back of the line, there was a lot of congestion at stoplights and intersections, and we were constantly having to stop and walk the bikes as much as we were riding them. It got very frustrating -- a few times people stopped short in front of me and I had narrowly missed hitting them.
What made matters worse was that I had taken the old hybrid instead of the road bike, because I didn't want Grace thrown around on the train. Also, I'm still not confident of making quick stops with her clipless pedals. Unfortunately, removing the straps from the toe clips on the hybrid was not the help I thought it would be. I still kept getting my foot stuck in them, and also the treads on the bottom of my bike shoes kept getting stuck in the "teeth" of the pedals. With all those riders so close together, there was not a lot of room for error -- if I went down, others around me were sure to go down too. Thankfully, I had only seen two minor crashes. I had expected to see a lot more.
Walking the bikes through Central Park. "Squidknits? Jersey Knitter? Where are you????" These are two blog friends we had hoped to meet, had the train not been so late. Around the time this photo was taken, a woman in front of me on a cruiser was trying to ride. With flipflops. Her front wheel kept wrenching left to right as she tried to balance on the bike, and I was terrified that I was going to run into her. This ride attracts many non-cyclists, or those without a lot of experience, and there are a lot of weavers and kids and reckless teens as well. It makes things very dangerous at times.
More walking. More getting yelled at by the marshals, though you can't ride if the people in front of you are still walking. Where are you going to go? And what if you're just tired and need to catch your breath?
Because we were delayed with all the walking, the rest stops would close just as we arrived. We barely had time to use the facilities or grab a banana before we were barked at to leave, forget getting any rest. It was nearly inhumane. The views over the bridges were amazing, however. The Queensborough Bridge was super-windy; my favorite was the Staten Island bridge -- maybe because once I crossed it, I knew I had completed the ride? Here are Chris and I (in bright yellow) and Sarah in blue on the bridge (photo courtesy of Larry):
As soon as we got to Staten Island, we ignored the festival and got right in line for the ferry to go back to Manhattan. We waited at least an hour, maybe more. The wind off the water was pretty chilly. Otherwise we could have swam across, completing the "swim" portion of the triathlon. Here is Lady Liberty, framed by the car deck of the Staten Island Ferry. Chris takes awesome photos.
Once we got to shore, we still had to ride up a zillion blocks on the bike path to 42nd street, and walk with the bikes half a zillion more blocks across to 5th Ave to get back to Grand Central Station. By this time, I was really and truly contemplating throwing my bike into the East River and giving up cycling a nice hot dinner or at least a cup of tea! I had to settle for some fruit and a square of coffee cake, standing up on the train. I was deeply grateful to get home with no broken bones and no missing teeth.
Chris was able to complete the ride last year with a friend and be home by mid-afternoon. This time, we all got home at about 9:30pm. Though we hadn't had a real meal all day, we were too tired to eat. It sounds like Squidknits and her family and Jersey Knitter had similar experiences (click on Sarah's and their names for their versions & photos). This is one ride that you have to do just for the experience, so you can tell the war stories afterward. It's no Paris-Roubaix, bit still not for the faint of heart.
