5 Boro bike tour, or 15 mph is a myth

Today was the the 5 Boro Bike tour. I had a great time. As I rather suspected, they kept a rather brisk pace. I managed to do pretty good myself much of the way though as usual I don't go up hill too fast -- better than I was though.

I managed to keep up about 18 mph for much of the tour, with some bursts to 20 and on the shore parkway I had an exceptionally smooth run of about 25 mph for a while. Of course, the lead riders were 5+ mph faster than whatever I did.

We had a mandatory stop at Astoria for a half hour (it was supposed to be until 10:05AM but we actually left about 9:55 AM).

The ride down the FDR drive was a lot of fun. When we went through the long underpass everyone went "wooo", it echoed and reverberated as we zoomed through.

My bike is a "hybrid", ATB ("mountain bike") frame but only front shock absorbers. Its heavier than most road bikes even though I have reasonable road wheels on it. There were quite a few places, though, where the road surface was pitted or almost as bad, patched, that made for quite a bit of vibrations...which I didn't feel at all as I coasted downhill standing on my pedals crouched forward as much as I can -- the classic mountain bike 'jump' position. With a light touch on the handlebars to keep control and my knees flexed and loose I took great glee in zipping down at 20-27 mph past many people on road bikes who had to slow or damage their bikes. Of course, once we came to the next hill some of those people passed me as my speed dropped to 12 mph.

The Veranzano bridge was the most difficult climb. Not the steepest, it was definitely the longest. No matter how hard I pushed and switched gears down to where I had just enough resistance I just couldn't get above 9 mph on the way up. While I think my speed up the Queensboro approach ramp was 7, that was a much shorter run.

After a brief stop at the festival I pedaled over to the Staten Island Ferry hoping that if I made the 12 pm boat I could just about make it up to the parade. I made the boat but we didn't sail until 12:20 PM so I couldn't make the parade. My wife Golda did make it there in plenty of time from home; she saw Shira and Shira saw her so they both were happy.

I hope the Brightroom folks got some pics of me, I certainly passed them several times. If they did, I'll post them here.

5 Boro bike tour

I'm registered for the 5 boro bike tour this Sunday. The tough part is that my daughter Shira is dancing/marching in the Salute to Israel parade this Sunday (and the One Family Fund is of course marching in their own group). Her school doesn't form up at the parade until 11:45 AM, theoretically at 12PM they start.

The finish line on the 5 Boro bike tour at Staten Island opens at 11AM. The tour organizers state that the front of the line moves at a 15 mph pace (and the back at 6 mph). I know there is mandatory stop at Astoria for the lead riders. I'm not any sort of official lead but I hope to maintain that 15 MPH pace and be among those who are on the first Staten Island Ferry back to Manhattan then hustle back uptown and over to 5th avenue to reach the parade and see my daughter. While a bicycle isn't as fast a subway train when both are moving, I don't have to wait for my bicycle to arrive nor spend time getting on or off a train nor do I have to stop every 10 blocks to pick up passengers.


I'm looking over the route to find the subway stations in Brooklyn that we pass near so that if I'm short on time I can bail out. My experience is that trying to get up or down the East Side on a bicycle without interference from special events is a frustratingly long and slow trip because the East Side Greenway ends at 23rd street; trying to get uptown on the roads will get me maybe 8 mph average speed. A subway ride to Herald Square is probably a good compromise on a bailout.

odometer reading

I've done some Central Park riding, in particular last Sunday April 29 I was out on my bike much of the day, including getting the bottom bracket replaced with a new Shimano part at Eddies' Bicycle Shop (where I talked directly to the owner and chief bike mechanic) after 2 visits to Toga failed to find the cause of the clanking noise from my bike, and did four complete loops around Central Park. I also managed to get in a loop around at 7 AM one morning this week before cycling to work.

Most of my riding now is up and down the West Side Greenway to Chambers Street to the Brooklyn Bridge to Tillary St. to Jay St. to the bicycle rack at Metrotech. I am trying to keep a 15 mph pace on the Greenway and to go up the bridge the best I can which is as low as 7 mph in the steeper uphill parts.

Odometer now at
37 hrs 38 min 36 sec
10.9 mph average speed (seems to fluctuate between 10.9 and 10.8 depending on how many red lights I hit on the Greenway)
1442 total miles
411.81 this season