5 Boroughs Ride

The 26th? annual NYC 5 Boroughs ride was held this afternoon and there were dozens of bents. I saw
everything from a home built lowracer with tail fairing from a MARS rider to a Barcroft Columbia,
Vanguards, HP's, RANS lwb and swb, Easy Racers, delta and tadpole trikes, etc. It was great fun to
see so many recumbents and even more interesting to see how riders add their individual touches to
each bike. My riding buddy and I were on our VRexi.

Recumbents and tandems got free front line passes. It was nice to be towards the front of the ride,
as we were riding with 29,000+ of our other best friends on all kinds of DF's. On the down side
there was at least one significant crash involving 4 DF bikes and an endo at 20+ mph. I think the
weather was perfect for the ride, dry and overcast, temps in the 50's and 60's. The sun did appear
as we were returning to Battery Park on the Staten Island Ferry.

Was anyone else out there today? What were your impressions of the ride? Jon Shinefeld

 

I was on the Penninger Delta. It was a nice ride, a bit cold until noon, but the lack of traffic
at the Verazzano was a nice surprise. Last year there was a human traffic jam that lasted for
two hours.

 

In article <[email protected]>, The Shinefelds <[email protected]> wrote:

> Was anyone else out there today? What were your impressions of the ride? Jon Shinefeld

Jon, I was the guy on the Pharobike.

That endo coming off of the Queensboro bridge happened literally right in front of me... I was about
40-50 feet behind the woman when she went down. She wasn't going all that fast... maybe somewhere
between 15 and 20 mph. No other bikes were involved.

I'll spare you the details of what I saw. Suffice it to say that it was bad, REALLY bad. I seriously
believe she might be dead, or paralyzed. If anyone knows anything further please email me.

Though this is a very well organized ride and worth doing at least once, the number of riders makes
it one of the most dangerous rides I've ever done. Every year I have attended there's been at least
one really bad crash.

This was my fourth BNY in a row. There was a bit of energy lacking this year, possibly because of
the grayish weather, possibly because of the times we live in. One disappointment was that the
organizers moved one of the rest stops this year... it had been in a park literally under the
Brooklyn Bridge, with FANTASTIC views.

In past years I've dawdled at various rest stops waiting for other bent riders to catch up. Last
year this meant that I wound up waiting literally an hour and a half to get across the
Verrazzano Bridge.

This year I decided to just press on instead of hanging around, and was rewarded with a much more
pleasant ride. No lines, no waiting except at the couple of deliberate choke points that were set up
to control traffic flow. I got to the finish at about 11:20. Last year I didn't get there until
after 3 pm. Also, the riders up near the front are more skilled than those farther back. I had very
few of those incidents where some numbskull weaves right in front of you.

Andy Douglas MARS

 

Hi Jon, I've run the NYC marathon 5 times. It's a great run and fun, but a logistical challenge. The
portajohns and the worlds longest urinal at the start are examples of some of the marathon
challenges. I can't imagine how you get 29,000 bikes into the 5 boroughs and moving without mayhem.
29,000 x 10' per bike = 290,000' = 290,000 / 5280 = 55 miles! Even riding 5 abreast is still 11
miles of the biggest pace line on the planet! Might you describe the ride and logistics somewhat to
give a feel for how this enormous event was done. How many miles is the ride? Thanks and
congratulations? -- ~~~al.kubeluis..md.usa.earth.sun.milkyway.virgo.universe..corsa~~~

"The Shinefelds" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> The 26th? annual NYC 5 Boroughs ride was held this afternoon and there
were
> dozens of bents. I saw everything from a home built lowracer with tail fairing from a MARS rider
> to a Barcroft Columbia, Vanguards, HP's, RANS
lwb
> and swb, Easy Racers, delta and tadpole trikes, etc. It was great fun to see so many recumbents
> and even more interesting to see how riders add
their
> individual touches to each bike. My riding buddy and I were on our VRexi.
>
> Recumbents and tandems got free front line passes. It was nice to be towards the front of the
> ride, as we were riding with 29,000+ of our other best friends on all kinds of DF's. On the down
> side there was at least
one
> significant crash involving 4 DF bikes and an endo at 20+ mph. I think
the
> weather was perfect for the ride, dry and overcast, temps in the 50's and 60's. The sun did appear
> as we were returning to Battery Park on the
Staten
> Island Ferry.
>
> Was anyone else out there today? What were your impressions of the ride? Jon Shinefeld

 

> Was anyone else out there today? What were your impressions of the ride? Jon Shinefeld

I was there on my Barcroft Dakota. I saw the Barcroft Columbia. It appeared to be a Dad and his
young son riding shotgun. I was starting to say hello but then realized he was having a cell phone
conversation while riding. So...no conversation was possible and I pushed on.

The ride for me is a chance to revisit New York and see some of my old high school buddies the day
before the ride and then two of them also participated in the ride on Sunday. I was born in the
Bronx and moved to Long Island (Levittown) when I was 10. Then moved to Huntington in Suffolk County
for about 8 years or so before finally moving to Northern Virginia where I have lived for the past
18 years. I was a LIRR commuter for almost 12 years. This year was my second time doing the ride. I
also did it last year.

Had a great time ! It seemed overall to have less bottlenecks than last year , though, there was one
big walking period up one of the ramps to a bridge, do not seem to remember that happening last
year. I am always impressed with how you can travel just about the entire length with no cars. It is
very well organized and all the policeman, firefighters and volunteers while performing their tasks
are also out there having a good time as well. It's as much a "Happening" as it is a bike ride.

Larry Raphael Barcroft Dakota, #002, Metallic Blue Oakton, VA

 

Al Kubeluis wrote:
>
> Hi Jon, I've run the NYC marathon 5 times. It's a great run and fun, but a logistical challenge.
> The portajohns and the worlds longest urinal at the start are examples of some of the marathon
> challenges....

Another reason to ride a fully-faired streamliner with a discharge tube!

Tom Sherman - Various HPV's Quad Cities USA (Illinois side)

 

"Al Kubeluis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi Jon, I've run the NYC marathon 5 times. It's a great run and fun, but a logistical challenge.
> The portajohns and the worlds longest urinal at the start are examples of some of the marathon
> challenges. I can't imagine how you get 29,000 bikes into the 5 boroughs and
moving
> without mayhem. 29,000 x 10' per bike = 290,000' = 290,000 / 5280 = 55 miles! Even riding 5
> abreast is still 11 miles of the biggest pace line on the planet! Might you describe the ride and
> logistics somewhat to give a feel for how this enormous event was done. How many miles is the
> ride? Thanks and congratulations? --
> ~~~al.kubeluis..md.usa.earth.sun.milkyway.virgo.universe..corsa~~~
>
Al - The ride itself is about 42 miles. Recumbents get free front line passes which means fewer
jam ups except as Andrew mentioned, the intentional choke points to thin bike traffic. Starting up
front also means generally smarter riders, or at least riders who are educable re holding thier
line. Actually though I think the choke points created hazards, allowing the testosterone crazed
STA's a couple hundred yards to build unsafe speeds before running up the rear of the next bunch.
But (depending on what you think is important) the port - a - pots were still clean when we
reached them.

It is my experience that things are quite different towards the back. Three or four years ago it
took us over 90 minutes to reach Central Park. And once we reached it there was a blood bath at the
bottom of two of the long sweeping downhills, as inexperienced riders lost control at relatively
high speed. It was crazy enough with the crashes and the long waits to go over the Verrazano that
this was my first trip back since then.

Having said that, this ride was superbly organized from start to finish, only the way that New
Yorkers can accomplish. No, I am not from New York, but the organization was tremendous. They even
managed to painlessly accomodate knuckleheads like me who showed up without my vest. It seemed as
though there were hundreds of marshalls along the route. The rest stops were all stocked with great
supplies and personed by people with smiling faces. And the most amazing part is the cooperation
between organizers and the city that allows these roads to be closed to traffic for hours. I imagine
that it must be worthwhile financially for the city to do all this, but still, they managed to pull
it off in great style.

If you want, e mail me privately with your address and I'll forward you the ride literature.

Jon Shinefeld Philadelphia, PA

 

I was there for my 3rd consecutive ride on a WizWheelz and had a great time, and for the first time
witnessed no serious accidents (though the unfortunate one on the Queensboro Bridge caused a massive
slowdown and delay). The organizers and volunteers are to be greatly commended, as it is their
efforts which make it so pleasant. My wife and I stay in lower Manhattan for the weekend and find
the entire experience well worth repeating.

 

The 5 Boro Bike Tour has all the riders lining up from Battery Park to Worth Street. (this is about
a 1/2 mile start line). Within the first 15 minutes, the "racers" make it to the front, while the
slower people tend to drift backwards.

There are intentional traffic jams leading up to Central Park to allow car traffic to cross at
various streets. Once the bikes leave Central Park, they tend to space themselves out.

The 5BB tour is not a race. The front line passes for recumbents make it much nicer because it gives
you at least a 15 minute lead in the beginning. If you pace yourself right, and don't waste too much
time at the rest stops, you can avoid most other traffic jams. For example, we skipped the first
rest stop at 116th street and went right to Astoria Park. At Astoria, we skipped the porta pots, and
went two miles more to Con Ed where there were much smaller porta pot lines. We then took a small
break at the final stop by the Verrazano.

 

I was on the ride as well. We were towards the Battery Park so it was much too crowded. I saw only a
few recumbents, some BikeEs, Rans Rockets and a couple Bigha bikes. I talked to the guys on Bighas
who worked at Bigha, but unfortunate for me my spoken english is not the best. I saw their website
on the card they gave me and they are posting pictures of the ride on the weblog section of the
site. It makes me wish I had taken a camera for photographing the scenery. Hashim

"The Shinefelds" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> The 26th? annual NYC 5 Boroughs ride was held this afternoon and there were dozens of bents. I saw
> everything from a home built lowracer with tail fairing from a MARS rider to a Barcroft Columbia,
> Vanguards, HP's, RANS lwb and swb, Easy Racers, delta and tadpole trikes, etc. It was great fun to
> see so many recumbents and even more interesting to see how riders add their individual touches to
> each bike. My riding buddy and I were on our VRexi.
>
> Recumbents and tandems got free front line passes. It was nice to be towards the front of the
> ride, as we were riding with 29,000+ of our other best friends on all kinds of DF's. On the down
> side there was at least one significant crash involving 4 DF bikes and an endo at 20+ mph. I think
> the weather was perfect for the ride, dry and overcast, temps in the 50's and 60's. The sun did
> appear as we were returning to Battery Park on the Staten Island Ferry.
>
> Was anyone else out there today? What were your impressions of the ride? Jon Shinefeld