32,000+ Cyclists Use Pedal Power (Mostly) in 5 Boro Bike Tour

More than 32,000 cyclists gleefully traversed 40-odd miles of New York City, from Tribeca to St. George, Staten Island, during the 42nd Annual TD Bank Five Boro Bike Tour on Sunday, May 4. Weather for the event was decent, with overcast skies keeping temperatures in the mid-60s but no rain and little wind.

Organized by Bike NYC—a nonprofit organization promoting bicycles and bicycle education, including numerous free classes—the first wave of riders set off at 7:30am.

One of the more popular bikers on the day was Terrel Dobbins, a blind biker who was riding tandem with his pilot, veteran biker Marc Goldstein.

Dobbins said he became visual impaired in 2016 due to Type II diabetes, and had earlier experienced kidney failure requiring replacement surgery.

Dobbins, 42, who said he had not ridden a bike in 30 years before training for the event, was part of the Lighthouse Guild’s Team See No Limits, about two dozen tandem riders. “It was a lot of mutual support out there,” said Dobbins. Among those joining him on the team was the visually impaired new CEO of Lighthouse, Thomas Panek.

Dobbins said the hills were not too tough, but the bridges were tougher to climb than expected, even though he had been training since March for the ride. He said he and Goldstein had met up for a two-hour practice run in Central Park about a month earlier. “But no matter how much training you do in the gym, it’s tougher once you’re out there.”

The exact staging areas and starting points of each wave varied but all followed Greenwich Street and/or Church Street north.

From here, the bikers headed north up Sixth Avenue and entered Central Park, swinging east and then north again, up and down the mildly rolling hills before exiting the park at Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard. Cruising through Harlem, the course dips into and out of the Bronx and then heads south on the FDR Drive until the steep climb and fast descent of the 59th Street Bridge to Long Island City. A quick loop of Astoria follows, after which riders hug the Queens and Brooklyn waterfronts until, after passing under Brooklyn Heights, they reach Furman Street, which runs below the notoriously troubled triple-cantilever section of the BQE.

Here’s where things got interesting, including a jovial female course marshal in glam-rock-like makeup with sparkles and a bike helmet happily shouting, “Welcome to the BQE!”—a salutation unheard in any other setting—as she gestured for riders to make the left turn from Furman Street up to Columbia Street, where they’d soon enter the often-reviled thoroughfare.

Video posted by PIX11 news reporter James Ford, who was riding in the event, captured the ecstasy of the moment.

“See all those cars back there? They are crawling on the BQE. And then,” Ford continues as he’s about the pass under Congress Street, “over here, it’s all of us, baby! Just bikes on the BQE.”

The BQE climb from Bay Ridge up to the Verrazzano Bridge, which begins just past the 34-mile mark, and can get very windy, is another challenge to be surmounted (or bypassed by e-bikers), but then comes relief of the downhill. Following a course opposite that of New York Marathon participants, the riders skirt the edge of Fort Wadsworth before swinging left on scenic Bay Street for the final, mostly downhill run to the St. George Ferry Terminal.

Dobbins told Straus News that the downhills and the downward side of bridges were the most exhilarating part of the tour. “You’re not pedaling. You feel like you’re on the edge of a plane with the wind hitting your face,” Dobbins said.

Among the celebrities riding the event was ex-NFL quarterback and sportscaster Boomer Esiason. With a dozens-strong group of riders called Team Boomer, the yellow-jersey-clad cyclists pedaled to raise money for and awareness of the fight against cystic fibrosis. A still fit-looking Esiason rode the event himself too, riding what appeared to be a gray carbon-fiber Cannondale SuperSix Evo 2 with disc brakes, Dura Ace components, and clipless pedals.

Afterward, back on the Manhattan side, Esiason posed with another participant, the legendary basketball coach of Cardozo High School in Bayside, Queens, Ron Naclerio.