A Guide to the Five Boro Bike Tour, New York City’s Massive Cycling Celebration
The 2019 Five Boro Bike Tour will kick off in New York City on May 5.
The one-day group ride covers 40 miles and spans five bridges, two rivers, and each of the city’s five boroughs.
Standard registration is closed, but the $350 VIP package is still available.
Each first Sunday in May, New York City welcomes a massive group of cyclists for a grand tour of all five of its famous boroughs. The one-day ride covers 40 miles of closed-off streets, highways, and five bridges spanning two rivers, a creek, and a bay.
The Five Boro Bike Tour, organized by the non-profit Bike New York in partnership with the City, begins in lower Manhattan and continues through sections of the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. This year, it will kick off on Sunday, May 5, at 7:30 a.m. and likely wrap up around 4 p.m.
Until then, local officials are preparing for the task of guiding 32,000 cyclists through one of the busiest cities in the world. Here’s what you need to know about the biggest day for cycling in New York.
History
A small group of activists organized the first Five Boro Bike Tour in 1977, with the goal of promoting cycling throughout New York City. Unlike today, there were no road closures or protected bike lanes. All 250 riders made the 50-mile journey with nothing more than a small police escort and free hot dogs and soda provided by Nathan’s.
A few years later, then-mayor Ed Koch officially endorsed the ride. His administration put city resources behind the event and enlisted the NYPD to coordinate street closures. He also worked with advocates to shorten the ride to 40 miles, making it more accessible and family friendly.
Still, the Tour’s original mission remains the same: show New Yorkers that cycling is a safe, viable way to get around.
“There is tremendous demand for safe places to ride and experience the city on two wheels,” said Ken Podziba, president and CEO of Bike New York. “We are advocating for improvements to the city’s bike network so that New Yorkers from all walks of life can safely transform their lives and communities through bicycling.”
Who rides
Participants in the Five Boro Bike Tour hail from around the world. New York State residents make up about half the total amount of riders, and about 11,000 live in the city itself. Five percent of riders are under 21 years old, and about a third fall within ages 19-39, according to Bike New York.
To save time and ensure that traffic can return on a rolling basis, the City caps the number of entrants at 32,000. But if the route’s total mileage increases, Bike New York communications director Jon Orcutt said, that cap could rise.
“There are police resources and City resources that go into this, and there has been some hesitance to expand the scope of the City’s effort on that day,” Orcutt said. (Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office and the NYPD did not respond to requests for comment.)
Right now, more than 1,200 volunteers and 200 event-day staff contribute to the effort. NYPD trucks begin rolling out barricades as early as Friday night. Setup for repair tents, water stations, and temporary bathrooms runs through Saturday.
With so many riders filling the streets, the Tour does see its share of crashes. When riding in large groups, try to keep a steady pace and a safe distance from fellow participants. If someone does bump your tire or glance your handlebar, try not to overreact; you have less space than normal to veer out of the way. Be vocal with other riders, whether it’s to let them know about a pothole or a problem with their gear.
Where it goes
The route forms a tangled loop around the city. The first leg starts at Franklin and Church streets and follows 6th Avenue north into Central Park and Harlem. Then it crosses into the Bronx for a quick U-turn before circling back to Manhattan and shooting down FDR Drive, a busy riverside highway that briefly closes for the ride.
The next segment continues into Queens over the East River, makes a short detour up to Astoria Park, then plunges south along the Brooklyn waterfront. The final stretch crosses the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which leads to the finish line on Staten Island.
The route won’t change significantly this year, Orcutt said, but Bike New York does have its eye on future expansions.
“We’d like to extend the mileage in future years,” he said. “There is a desire to show off more of the Bronx”-currently the borough with the route’s shortest segment.
Riding for charity
Nearly 40 years after its start, the Five Boro Bike Tour has become an important fundraising tool for the cycling community. Bike New York uses proceeds from the ride to support free bike education programs throughout New York. Last year, about 29,000 people participated in its free cycling classes.
“Nearly every rider in the Tour now supports someone learning to ride or improving their bike skills,” Podziba said.
In addition, between 30 and 40 charitable partners raise money for various causes through the ride. United Way of New York City, for instance, raised $68,000 with a team of 64 riders in 2018. This year it’s filled 72 of 75 seats. (Full disclosure: Hearst Magazines partnered with United Way to sponsor a 10-rider team, which will include members of the Bicycling staff.)
The Tour is one of the few athletic fundraisers, along with a charity walk, that the non-profit supports-mostly due to its novelty and inclusiveness.
“The idea of seeing all five boroughs in one day and seeing the streets shut down is such a unique opportunity,” said Shana VanValkenburg, manager of corporate engagement at United Way of New York City.
Registration
For those interested in attending next year’s Five Boro Bike Tour, registration is offered through imATHLETE. Standard entry costs $110 and includes a personal rider photo gallery, a commemorative medal, and access to the Finish Festival, an exclusive post-ride party. Riders also have access to fully stocked rest areas along the route.
Standard registration for the 2019 Tour is now closed, but the $350 VIP package is still available. This option gets you an official event jersey by Primal Wear, a bike bag by Manhattan Portage, guaranteed placement in the first start wave, and other perks.
Helmets are mandatory, and any bags with shoulder straps (like backpacks and hydration packs) are not allowed. Riders can use any human-powered bicycle-including tandem and recumbent bikes, tricycles, and unicycles-or certain pedal-assist e-bikes that New York City just legalized last year. For questions about the rules of the ride, consult Bike New York’s FAQ page.
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