No One Does the Five Boros Ride Anymore, It's Too Crowded

For a long time I've wanted to do the Five Boros Ride and this year I finally went with some friends for the ride. I hate to say it, but I was disappointed. At times, it felt more like Five Boros Walk.

Because it was so expensive to ship a bike, and almost impossible to bring one on Amtrak, I rented one from Bike and Roll.  A friend was going to fly with his bike on Delta, but the $200 fee each way made him rethink it. He rented a bike from a local bike shop. His rental was cheaper, even after accounting for storage at the hotel, and he got to keep for a full 24 hours, so it was the better deal - but he ran the risk of getting no bike at all, since the store took more reservations than it had rentals. Bike and Roll was the more convenient and secure way to do it. I did show up and find that they were out of bikes in the size that I had reserved ("Anyone can TAKE a reservation. The trick is to HOLD it.") but the bike I got didn't cause me any discomfort, so it was a non-issue. At the end I got a coupon card and my other friend who rented from them did not, but I was never sure if that was to make up for the hiccup with my bike, or if she was suppossed to get one and just didn't.

The Marriott where we stayed was the official Five Boros Ride hotel, but they would not let you store a bike in your room. You had to store it in a special area in the parking garage for $20 a night. Car parking was $55 a night. They did have to station a full-time guard there, but I feel like they made money on the bike storage (since they used a part of the garage that couldn't store cars) and so - even though I didn't store a bike there - it left a bad taste in my mouth. A little bit like gouging. The story - that bikes going up and down the escalator would cause chaos - sounded unlikely.

We started the ride late - hence the lack of bikes in my size - so we were unfortunately in the slower part of the ride. We tried to move up as we could but we weren't really there to race and didn't want to fight people all day.

The biggest disappointment was that there were so many times when we had to get off our bikes and walk due to congestion - all the way to the starting line, in Central Park, anywhere there was a hill. It was really frustrating. Where we could we rode off-route to avoid the congested areas.

The ride, when it was a ride, was great. New York is a great city and it was fantastic to see it by bike. The weather was perfect and the Times Square scare the night before had basically zero impact. I got to see all the new street features - painted bike lanes and pedestrian space - that has been added since I was last in NY five years ago. I will note that, and I never noticed it before, there is much more lawlessness on their streets than ours. More jaywalking, more reckless biking and more bad driving. Which makes this article in the Times even more interesting. 

Perhaps looking for a new challenge, I’ve been attempting something unexpected in New York City bike-riding behavior: I stop for red lights.

I might as well be an alien. First of all, I am the only one. I have never seen another bicyclist waiting at a red light simply because it was red. Children ride past me and snicker. Bankers, with their suit-legs neatly clipped, pedal by on their folding bikes and cast silent derision my way. Even gray-haired matrons whiz past me, the sprockets of their three-speeds clicking out a steady refrain — an accusation, really: chump chump chumpety chump chump chumpety chump chump.

Which led to a pedestrians-vs-cyclists letter from the founder of Pedestrians First (please tell me NYC has an auxiliary group called Cyclists Second).

Anyway, back to the ride. We were so far back that, unfortunately, we missed part of the ride as we were directed through a bypass in Astoria. This did enable us to get ahead of some other friends of mine and meet them for lunch in Brooklyn. The climb up the bridge to the Verrazano-Narrows bridge was the worst. The line to walk started all the way down at the water's edge. At first it was nice, because the breeze off the ocean felt so nice cool and nice after biking on the hot, shadeless highway for the previous few miles. But it started to get cold, and muscles started to tighten. Ugh...

The Festival at the end was not much to see. If you do the ride, the only reason to stop here is to buy food (Which they had started to run out of, much as they had started to run out of water at some rest stops) or souveniers. Otherwise, just keep moving - to the ferry and another long line. As one of my friends said, "I feel like cattle"

My take on it was, I probably would have had more fun going to New York, renting a bike and riding around for a day. Though there were some bridges you could only ride on during this ride - like the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge - it's not like you can't ride on great bridges. They should probably limit the number of riders to a lower number, but if people are willing to go despite the crowds why turn them away I guess.

After the ride, we went to the Highline Park, which isn't a bike trail, but is really fantastic. We saw it at night, which I've heard is the nicer time to see it, and we were blown away. It's only 1/3 finished, and when it is all done, it will be incredible.

Comments

[John]

A lot of people from DC stay at a hotel on Staten Island and take an early ferry to Manhattan then leave from the finish in Staten Island. Of course, this involves a car but sounds like it would avoid some of the logistical hassles. Too bad it wasn't a more positive experience. It actually sounded a bit like the post-9/11 Bike DC.

[Christopher Stephens]

Yes, the ride is too crowded to be pleasant anymore, and there are now plenty of protected bike lanes and greenways so that you can explore the city and follow many of the same routes without the claustrophobia that comes with the Five Borough Bike Tour.

One suggestion, should you or any of your readers want to try this next year (or come to NYC to ride for some other reason). As you found out, Amtrak won't let you bring a bike on board (or not without hassle), and renting can be a crapshoot. A better idea: bring your bike on the Bolt Bus. No extra charge, and I had any trouble doing this. The bikes just go in the luggage hold, so I wouldn't put at $6,000 carbon fiber bike down there, but this is not a problem I have to worry about.

[Jeremy]

Amtrak has one train per day on the North-East route with a baggage car in which you can stow your bike in a box. The box and storage are $20. Unfortunately, this train is in the middle of the night.

The bus is really the way to go for bringing a bike with no added cost or hassle. I typically take Vamoose Bus to New York, and I've stowed my bike in the luggage section with no problem.

[good idea!]

good tip on the bus! i'm going up to NYC for the tour de brooklyn in a couple weeks and i was planning on renting, i hadn't ever thought of the bus before. did you have to unassemble any part of your bike to put it in luggage storage?

yeah, the 5 borough tour seems to get more crowded every year. they need to spread the start out more, or just limit the number of people participating.

[Micah]

while the ride sucked, that was some great pizza and beer after the ride on the Island. Missed you for that!

[Christopher Stephens]

To good idea!:

No need to disassemble anything. Just slide it in on its side.

[twk]

I did the ride this year and had a better experience than what you described. I drove to and stayed in Staten Island. The hotel allowed bikes in the rooms at now additional charge. Now I did get up early to catch the 5am ferry. But I ended up near the front of the non-VIP section at the start. I had a few bottle necks at the beginning and at Central Park. There was another getting over the Queen Boro bridge. Two years ago I did the ride and was further back and there were more times I had to walk. Now that I have done it twice I have learned what rest stops to target and not get so bogged down by crowds.

[MKQ]

I did the tour also, but didn't find it as onerous...probably because we took kids and needed to stop periodically. I do think they need to stagger it better. I live in NYC and thought it was great getting to ride up 6th Ave with no traffic. I also didn't have to deal with a bike rental or hotel or bike parking though, so I guess that could have changed my perception.

[K.Bo]

I went two years ago and had a very similar experience. We got there early, but didn't get to start riding for over an hour. The most frustrating part was being stopped and walking on the highways. However, as you said, it was great to ride through parts of the city that I've never ridden through before, and had lots of fun talking with other cyclists (including the families with 3, 4, 5, and 6(!) members all connected). It would be a much more enjoyable experience if the organizers could figure out a way to stagger the riders throughout (or break up the groups into different heats when starting) so that you actually get to RIDE the 5 boros ride.

[Jovan]

Yeah the ride was crowded, but still great to see so much of NYC. Next time folks should look at taking the Bolt Bus. They allow you to bring your bike with no extra charge or hassle. A great option especially if you buy your tickets early.

[Jack]

Whenever someone spells it "boro" I say "ugh", which makes it "borough". NYC calls them boroughs but for some reason the ride does not.

[Simon]

I do the Bike New York almost every year. The trick is to wait 20 blocks uptown from the start; let the first 200 or so speed-racers pass; and then join the group.

[Simon]

Riding over the Verazano is what makes it all worth it. Flying down the bridge at 30mph with bikes passing me on either side, so much wind in my eyes I can't see a thing. Great experience.