Total for this ride: 43.4 miles
Total for this year: 110.0 miles
After riding in the Five Boro Ride last year I really didn't have a desire to do it again any time soon. I mean it's a fun ride and all, but it's kind of expensive, and it's a hassle getting down to the city, and it's a hassle getting to the starting point, and you wait around for hours to actually start riding, and you have to walk through Central Park... so it's sort of cool to do every few years, but no more often than that.
Well, when he saw all the pics I posted after last year's ride my buddy Bob decided he wanted to do it, and he convinced me to go with him. Since I was his inspiration, I couldn't say no, could I? So a few months ago when the registration opened up I was right there online to pay my $60 to reserve my spot among the 32,000 riders that would be permitted to participate.
Bob also signed up on the opening day of registrations, and since this would be his first time doing the Five Boro, he let me take care of all of the logistics. Although last year's ride included the added adventure of the 30-mile round trip from our hotel in NJ to the starting point and back, I decided to minimize the commute this year. Ultimately I made reservations at a Comfort Inn in Staten Island, about eight miles from the Staten Island Ferry. I figured we could either ride or drive from the hotel to the ferry station and take the boat to Manhattan for the short ride to the starting line. When the Five Boro was over, it would be a quick and easy trip back to the truck for the drive home. If we drove down on Saturday, we could do the ride and get back to Roch by Sunday evening.
The trip down to Staten Island was uneventful. Bob was a great navigator, and we didn't really hit any traffic until after we crossed the Goethals Bridge from New Jersey into New York. Just past the tolls in Staten Island traffic slowed to a crawl. Fortunately we were just a few exits from our hotel, so it wasn't a big deal. We ran into a little trouble because the directions on the hotel's web site called for us to take Exit 7 for Victory Blvd, which would be cool except for the fact that Exit 7 doesn't take you to Victory Blvd. Exit 8 does. But we didn't know that until we had already committed to get off the Staten Island Expressway. No problem. We knew we were close, and with 20 minutes or so we arrived at the Comfort Inn.
We stayed at the hotel only long enough to check in and offload the bikes and gear. Since it was only about 3:30, we decided to scout out the route to the ferry, and take the boat over to Manhattan. It was a good thing we did. Although my research made it seem feasible to ride from the hotel to the docks, in reality, it would have been a difficult ride. Victory Blvd is not in the greatest condition, and sections of it don't offer much in the way of a shoulder. It might not have been a problem early on a Sunday morning, but riding back to the hotel after the Five Boro would have been tough. We decided to check out early in the morning, drive to the ferry station, and hope to get parking.
With time to kill, we took the boat over to Manhattan to walk around and look for a place to have some dinner. After docking we joined about 100 other people watching a group of six break dancers performing just outside the terminal. They were pretty good, but both Bob and I decided the two girls in the group were junkies. They were incredibly skinny and had that gaunt look in their face. And they were both wearing long sleeves.
We walked over to Battery Park where I took some pics of "The Sphere" - a sculpture which stood for thirty years on the plaza at the World Trade Center, until it was damaged during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It was moved to Battery Park and an eternal flame was added as a memorial to those killed on that day.
From there we wandered over to Ground Zero. I was amazed at the progress on the site in the past year. When I did the Five Boro in 2010 there was nothing visible above the fence that surrounds the area - at least I don't remember seeing anything, and I spent two hours waiting right next to the site waiting for the ride to start. Since then a couple of new buildings have popped up, including the new Freedom Tower which is already over 60 stories tall. Incredible the amount of work that's been done in a year. As we walked around the site we passed FDNY 10 House, home of both Engine Company 10 and Ladder Company 10 - the closest fire units to Ground Zero. There were a few dozen people there looking at the monument to fallen firefighters and looking up at the new World Trade Center buildings. As I backed into the street to get a picture of the 10 House, a female security guard at the WTC site yelled at me to get away from the gate which led into the construction area. Of course I complied, but it's not like there were any vehicles trying to get in there. And I'm sure with my little Canon camera I looked like a credible threat... oh well...
By then it was time for dinner so we stopped at a Panini & Co. Breads on Broadway and Cedar, about a block north of Trinity Church and the American Stock Exchange. Nice place, good food, reasonable prices. From there it was back down to the ferry terminal for the ride back to Staten Island. After getting off the boat we walked past the baseball stadium where the Staten Island Yankees play, and wouldn't you know I found a ball just outside the left center fence, apparently a home run that nobody bothered to pick up. AJ would be jealous.
When we finally got back to the hotel we loaded up the bikes with the stuff we intended to carry during the ride. I managed to get all my stuff (a Gatorade, a few granola and power bars, a hat, etc.) into the rack trunk, with room to spare. I wanted to make sure I had room to store my layers if I needed to peel some off during the ride. Knowing that we were going to get up very early the next morning, we turned in about 10. Unfortunately Bob wanted to sleep with the window open, which meant that I'd have to listen to all of the street noise all night long. It was horrible. I might have managed maybe 1-2 hours of sleep, but I kept waking up because of the noise, and eventually at 4:00 I just got up for good. I was wiped out. While Bob was sleeping I loaded up the truck with my gear and my bike. It was freezing cold, definitely in the low 30's, so I went with three layers on the top and two on the bottom. I was glad I did. Bob got up at 4:30, got himself together, and we checked out of the hotel at 5.
I was afraid that even at that early hour we might not get a parking space at the ferry terminal. As it turned out, even though cars were streaming into the lot when we got there, we still had no trouble finding a space. We offloaded the bikes, and followed the crowd to the line for the charter ferry to Manhattan. We waited only about 10 minutes or so before we were able to board. We ended up in the bowels of the boat where cars are normally stored, along with maybe 300-400 other people. The ride was cold but very smooth, and up ahead of us I could see out the open exit ramp the skyline of Manhattan as it grew closer and closer.
We rolled the bikes off the ferry and exited the terminal. As soon as we were out the door we hopped on our rides and followed the crowd toward Battery Park. There were plenty of marshalls there to get us headed north on Church St. toward the starting line. It was just after 6:00 when we hit the back of the pack at the intersection of Church and Thomas - about an hour earlier than I arrived last year. But even though there were thousands of people ahead of us, we were 10-11 blocks further north than I was in 2010 - that put us about 1/2 mile closer to the starting line. I hoped that the difference in distance would equate to a significant reduction in the amount of time we would have to wait before crossing the starting line.
We spent the two hours before the beginning of the ride snacking, taking a few pics, and people watching. Somebody had the good sense to bring a few beach balls, which provided a few minutes of entertainment each time one was inflated. Although standing in the street for almost two hours may seem like a long time, it really did pass pretty quickly. Fortunately the skies were clear. It would have been miserable if it had been raining.
About 15 minutes before H-Hour the master of ceremonies up at the starting platform began to welcome the crowd and introduce the dignitaries in attendance. I never heard of any of them. Somebody sang "God Bless America" and then the countdown to the start began. This year the organizers added another attraction - at the starting gate they had installed a set of massive propane burners which would periodically send flames shooting maybe 20 feet into the air. It was kind of cool, I guess. Although I expected to wait a significant amount of time before we would cross the line, it actually turned out to be only 11 minutes. Definitely better than last year's 1-hour wait after the event actually started.
It seemed like the ride followed the same route as last year, although I would have to check the GPS data to be sure. Last year it seemed like we rode past more skyscrapers as we worked our way north toward Central Park. And I don't remember riding by Radio City Music Hall, which we did this year. They must have done something different in Central Park this year too. Last year the "ride" through the park was horrible - we were packed so tightly we pretty much had to walk through the entire park. This year they may have split the peloton before it actually entered the park. It seemed like we were divided into two streams which diluted the crowd enough to allow us to actually ride (albeit at a reduced speed) through most of the park.
Upon leaving the park I'm sure we followed exactly the same route as both of my previous rides through the city. By the time we hit Harlem it was starting to warm enough to think about taking off a layer. Before we hit the Bronx I had removed one of the uppers. From that point on I continued to remove garments every few miles until I was down to a jersey and shorts. I noticed on a time/temp sign in Queens that it was 66 degrees - perfect for riding.
As expected we saw our fair share of crashes. The worst was probably in Central Park where a woman had gone down and was still face first on the asphalt when we passed by (help had already arrived). There were several others - including one which happened right in front of me at about the 30 mile point. We had a few near-misses, but nothing serious. Just oblivious people drifting over or turning without checking or signaling. Idiots.
By the time we hit the Verrizano Bridge it had cooled down again, and passing over the water the wind had picked up. Since we ride out of the sun on the lower deck of the bridge, it was actually cold up there, and I was wishing I had kept at least the shell on.
We rolled off the bridge and into the end of ride festival at Fort Wadsworth about 12:30 - much earlier than I thought. We decided to skip the food tents and head back to the ferry terminal to retrieve the truck and head home. We hit the road at just about 1:00, and with just one stop for gas on the way back, managed to get home in time for dinner.
All in all, a good time.
