It’s back! America’s “biggest bike ride” is being held in New York City on August 22. The annual charity cycling event was cancelled in 2020 to the dismay of thousands of riders who look forward to this event. Sponsored by Bike New York and its city government partners, the bike tour covers all of New York City in one glorious ride, through each of the city’s five boroughs.
© Bike New York
The event, which typically draws up to 32,000 riders annually and opens 40 miles of NYC’s busiest roadways exclusively to cyclists for the day, returns during the city’s announced NYC Homecoming Week, (August 14-22) and the day after the We Love New York mega Homecoming Concert in Central Park. This year’s participant number has been scaled down to 20,000 to allow for greater safety and social distancing.
The tour is viewed as an exciting part of New York City’s economic revitalization. The landmark event typically attracts riders from all over the world. While this year is different from past rides with reduced numbers of riders, one can expect the same sense of excitement, or perhaps even more as part of Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s I Love New York Homecoming effort.
© Bike New York
The 40-mile route. Begins in Manhattan in TriBeCa and culminates in Staten Island after a ride over the Verrazano Narrow Bridge. For a map of the entire route, click here. To pick up your rider packet, adults must show proof of vaccination.
The TD Five Boro Bike Tour is a fundraising event for Bike New York, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a mission to provide free bike education opportunities to New Yorkers. Proceeds from the ride fund public classes that reach over 25,000 children and adults each year, with special focus given to improving cycling access and resources to residents of neighborhoods historically overlooked in infrastructure improvements. In addition to free classes held at Community Bike Education Centers located in all five boroughs, Bike New York has introduced bike safety education programs into area middle schools, co-developed a job training and placement program for bike mechanics with Brooklyn’s One Community, and helped pilot a free bike rental system in Shirley Chisholm State Park.
© Bike New York
The ride caps off a year of virtual programming brought to cyclists through Bike New York. The 2021 TD Five Boro Bike Tour will support the return of Bike New York’s in-person classes while sustaining their online offerings, which reached more than 30,000 viewers worldwide in 2020.
To register, visit https://www.bike.nyc/events/td-five-boro-bike-tour/registration-options/ and sign up by August 13.