The TD Five Boro Bike Tour is 5 boros, 32,000 riders, 40 miles. It’s the first Sunday in May. Sarah and I have done it before and loved it. See here. I loved seeing the city without cars. I loved the bridges. Loved all the neighborhood music and food that was part of this celebration of cycling in New York City.
We’ve been talking about doing it again and this year we roped Jeff in. He was on his northbound, east coast boat trip and the timing was good. (Read about his boating adventures here.)
Here the three of us are walking on the Highline on Saturday in the sunshine. Thanks to my knee brace I walked 10 km. Much better than my sad trip in March. I never know what will make a difference but it was better. There’s still pain. It hurts. But I managed.
This year though the day of the Five Boro Bike Tour was forecast to be cold, rainy (the tv forecast called it “soaking rain”) and windy. We kept stopping and checking the hourly forecast hoping for a sudden change. I got all excited at one point–only 60% chance of rain–but then realized I was looking at York, England. Sigh.
I was amused by all the hemming and hawing going on the day before the big ride on social media. This meme appeared on Twitter and made me laugh.
There was also lots of this:
https://twitter.com/chiangui24/status/1124831061807116288
Here’s the actual start:
Opening the @bikenewyork #5borobiketour w/ @galeabrewer @ydanis @NYC_DOT #5bbt2019 #TDFBBT #togetherweride pic.twitter.com/fslYV1wmlv
— Ben Kallos, Former NYC Council Member (@BenKallos) May 5, 2019
In the end Sarah and I bailed after one boro and opted for brunch instead. Jeff bailed the day before based on the forecast opting for an early return to Chicago. Sensible Jeff. Here’s our actual route that day.
See Thousands brave the rain for the Five Boro Bike Tour.
That route map above stops at brunch. I didn’t have the heart to pause and restart the Garmin for the final 3 km home! Here’s our sad wet bikes on the brunch patio. We were so cold and shivery that the restaurant staff apologized that it was too early to sell us alcohol. (I don’t drink but I could see how they might think I looked like I needed one!)
We were saying tonight that in a way we were glad that it was so miserable that it was an easy call to end it early. It didn’t feel like there was much of a choice and while I’m sorry we didn’t get to ride, I’m not sorry we chose not to ride in those conditions.
You made a good call. Which bikes were you planning to ride?
Last time we rode our road bikes. In anticipation of rain and New York roads we brought our gravel bikes/adventure road bikes.