5 boro bike tour

I made it! I completed my goal of seeing all five boroughs of NYC before leaving- and did it with 31,999 other people (or some variation of that number). Yesterday (Sunday the 6th) I rode in the 5 boro tour with WE Bike- and had a blast. I started out the day somewhat early, after getting a night of no sleep, and got to Battery Park at 7 AM. From there, WE Bike started at 8:30 with the red group. Since 32,000 people ride in the tour (biggest tour in the nation!) it got pretty crowded at times..

I rode with a few women in particular, and my friend Laura said: "feels like the 40 mile walking tour to me". We got off and walked our bikes sometimes, so all in all we didn't get to the end of the tour in Staten Island till around 2:00 PM which was ok since it was for the experience. Another favorite quote of mine from the day was from an official in Central Park who yelled to all the cyclists "Halfway there! only 33 miles to go! It's all downhill!" which was hilarious because we had only gone 4 miles, and the tour had 5 bridges to go over which was certainly not downhill. I really enjoyed what he said though since it was so funny.

It was really really pretty out yesterday, and the scenes were aewsome. For the tour they close off some of the freeways, so we rode on highways and on five bridges, which was neat. I really enjoyed seeing people driving north on the FDR, while we all rode South. I wonder how people got around yesterday... all I know is I rode 46+ miles! It was awesome, and I'm not even that sore today!!! The worst part of the whole day was waiting to get back to Manhattan. My friend/fellow biker Mac and I left the finish festival at 2 PM and didn't get back to Manhattan around 4:30 on the ferry since there were so many people. The tour was well worth the whole day though, especially since I rode with so many cool people. Here are some pictures to feast your imagination  :)

WE Bike

WE Bike

START!

walking our bikes to get onto the bridge...

Staten Island is pretty!

view of Manhattan from Staten Island

me in Staten Island at the end!

Overall the day was great, and the ride was awesome even if it took awhile. I slept 11 hours last night and woke up feeling all the endorphins from the day before. I'm even done with one of my classes! check out my final project for my writing class. We had to connect the past and present in NYC with a specific thing, so I picked cycling. :) I have a final in two days, then two next week, then lots of eating NYC food, seeing RENT, and going home to have surgery. :)