It is amazingly epic and not like anything else, ever. I've done it twice with my son on a tandem back when he was 8 and 9 years old. First year, pouring rain and a sparse crowd. While freezing, we made it to the 4th borough before bailing and taking the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan. For that one, we were up near the front when starting, which is key f you can get there to start. We were never colder in our lives although my then 8 year old son was still not as miserable as he could have been - we were on a bike, after-all.
The second year, we were back in the pack and the experience was still great, but different as we got onto the highways, where traffic did back up as it would with 30K cyclists crammed into a 3 lanes road. Also, there are all sorts of folks who are riding, some want to go fast at all costs, some are meanderers, others are just not ready to ride 40 miles. Just smile and look at all the interesting people and bikes as you are queued up. Meet friends. Ring your bell. Count the Rivs you see. The portion you reach in Brooklyn when you get on the highway ends up being a revelation for a lot of riders, and not in a good way. The road just opens up and it becomes clear that a long ride is ahead on a highway for the last several miles. The wind will invariably be in your face then. You see a lot of riders who then are questioning their life choice because the road is really so imposing then. And at some point, you see the Verrazano Bridge and it seems like the end is near. It is not. But once you get to it, and climb to the center and do the downhill ride to the finish, it is a great feeling. Once done, there will be some time to get back across to Manhattan on the ferry. Save food for this part of the journey. On Monday, January 8, 2024 at 10:05:33 PM UTC-5 velomann wrote: > The 5 Boro Bike Tour in NYC has been on my bucket list for years, and I > decided this year is the year. First Sunday of May (5/5 this year). > https://www.bike.nyc/events/td-five-boro-bike-tour/ > Registration opened this week, and I signed up. > I've got my lodging and flight booked as well. > > This will be my first trip to NYC since I was a kid, 50 years ago. I won't > be bringing my Riv (Bringing the Ritchey Breakaway), but I'll be there for > a week, staying in midtown not far from ride start. > I'd love to meet up with others while I'm there, get recommendations on > where to ride, cheap food, coffee, bike shops, etc. > > Anyone else here doing the ride? > > Mike M > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/37a98f57-b324-40c1-9c53-9abeb6c20da3n%40googlegroups.com.
