Participants in the TD Five Boro Bike Tour ride across the Manhattan Bridge in Brooklyn on May 5, 2024.
Photo by Ben Brachfeld
The TD Five Boro Bike Tour Sunday saw more than 35,000 cyclists turn out for the nation’s biggest communal bike ride – a 40-kilometre ride through all five boroughs.
May 5th turned out to be as foggy and cool as forecasters had anticipated, with a light rain shower that punctuated the start and finish. The extreme conditions didn’t stop about 30,000 cyclists from getting on two wheels and pedaling along the 40-mile route, which starts in Manhattan, graces the Bronx, returns to Manhattan, then travels through Queens and Brooklyn before ending in Staten Island.
The tour, which is organized by Bike New York and supports bicycle education programming, has been held every year since 1977 except for 1991, when it lost its original sponsor, and 2020 amid the COVID pandemic -19. Many New Yorkers participated, taking on the challenge for personal glory or through the inspiration of others.
Three friends from Queens, Charaj, Vinay and Charles, took the Long Island Rail Road to Penn Station, then biked to the starting line in the Financial District. When asked what made them so nervous about the tour, they said two things: their knees and the Verrazzano Bridge, with that long incline from Brooklyn to Staten Island.
Another pair of friends from Queens, Maura and Alex, saw last year’s Five Boro Bike Tour near their home in Astoria, and were inspired to participate in this year’s tour.
“I think it’s good exercise. I think what I wanted to do is like, I’ll never do the New York City Marathon,” said Alex. “It’s a fun way to visit the five neighborhoods. It’s very low risk.”
Sisters Mandy, Gina and Brianna Tucker traveled from Ohio to take on the five-district challenge after finishing last year.
“Is it right he saw as well as has batch of pleasure And us had has batch of pleasure last year. we, as well as, right I couldn’t hang on to to do him again,” said Mandy Tucker.
Something to take the opportunity to support causes.
Cynthia Diaz came from Las Vegas to complete the TD Five Boro Bike Tour in honor of her best friend, Beatrice Gonzalez, who was killed by a drunk driver in 2021 while riding her bike in Texas.
“When I was there, I met a group that I’m trying to meet with now who, you know, were great advocates for [stopping] drinking and driving and killing cyclists,” Diaz said. “I only do it because if I was still alive, this is something I would want to do. So I just tried, you know, to live up to what she could have done.”
Liz Chevolino and Chris Hoffman rode their bikes through the tour while flying Palestinian flags in support of the people of Gaza and the ongoing demonstrations on college campuses.
“We are here, we support Palestine and all the camps that have happened,” Chevolino said, “and we just want to show our support at a time when that support is sometimes hard to find.”
