NYC Century Tour: September Century #1

Headed down Broadway towards Times SquareOn Sunday I did what was probably my favorite and most interesting century ride yet: the annual New York City Century Tour.

This is a 100 mile ride that takes you through Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. As their promo material rightly claims, you see the city in a way you've never seen it before.

I lived in NYC for 9 years in the '80s and early '90s, mostly in Manhattan, and loved it. But that entire time I didn't have a bike, so I'd never cycled in the city. On the other hand, I bike-commute here, so I'm used to riding in traffic -- not that traffic here is anything like in NYC, but riding in traffic instills certain habits that are very useful no matter where you are.

The ride started at 6am at Central Park North. I left the place I was staying, on E. 44th St near the UN, at about 5:15, biked over to Central Park South, and got onto East Drive in the Park. The road was totally empty, except for a few cyclists headed the same way. It was beautiful, still pretty dark, since the sun hadn't yet come up.

There was a big crowd at the start, but pretty well organized. I managed to meet up with a group from the Southern Tier Bike Club, including Regina on her new Rans Ti-Rex recumbent (titanium!!), Steve and Nancy, who I'd met at the Keuka Lake ride, and a few others -- easily found by the fuzzy balls sticking up out of their helmets. We started out in the early morning dawn, headed out on 110th St over the Riverside Dr, through my old neighborhood.

We cruised down Riverside Dr to 72nd, then cut over to Broadway and headed downtown, around Columbus Circle, through Times Square. It was very early Sunday morning, so there was little traffic, and the bikes dominated the streets. It was very cool.


Crossing the Brooklyn BridgeWe crossed the Brooklyn Bridge as the sun was coming up. We then headed into Brooklyn. Though I lived in Brooklyn for a couple of months, and had visited parts of it, I don't know it very well, and Queens and the Bronx are total unknowns to me. The ride took us through all kinds of neighborhoods in all those boroughs, as well as along bike paths through forested parks, bike lanes along the shore, along busy roads, over highways, alongside highways, over bridges. It was fantastic.

Overall the route was good. The roads were pretty good, the bike paths too. There were a few bike paths, especially in the Bronx, that were not so great, bumpy and not well maintained. The bridge crossings were also a bit of a challenge in places; the Triborough Bridge crossing includes a number of places where there are steps, so you have to carry your bike up and down in those places. There's also a stairway at the end of the ramp, leading to the street, that isn't obvious. Some places in the Bronx were also roughly paved, or gravel. But overall, the route was great and very bike-able.


A Brooklyn beach, taken from somewhere along the Shore ParkwayIt was cool to ride as part of such a large group too. After the start, people spread out, and there would be clumps of people biking together, some of them together because they knew each other, others just because they happened to be together at that time in the ride. In a few places, the markings on the road were hard to see, so I missed some turns. The good thing is that others did too, and so we bushwhacked through together, with the help of some cyclists who knew the areas, and got back on track. A few times I was by myself, but just ahead I could see another group, which I joined for the next part of the ride.

The rest stops were about 15-20 miles apart, just the right distance, and they provided just what I needed. Lots of apples, bananas, orange slices, and even plums. Pita bread and hummus! That was a treat. Also sports drinks, and of course water, as well as bagels with pbj, and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I'd had lasagna and my wife's leftover penne for dinner the night before, topped off with a couple poptarts and fig newtons, so I was well loaded up on carbs. For breakfast I'd had juice and a bagel with cream cheese. And I really chowed down at each of the rest stops. I felt great by the end.


Crossing the Triborough Bridge, headed to the BronxMy energy level was really good. I did great on the hills (not that there were any major ones on this ride...), pretty much passing everyone else -- there are some advantages to living at the bottom of a gorge!

Of course, since we were mostly riding in traffic and on streets -- none were closed off, the entire ride was in "real time" -- we had to stop for traffic, at least slow down for red lights and stop signs, and deal with the traffic which in a few places was heavy. (Or at least I stopped at red lights when there was cross traffic, not everyone did, but the day before in Brooklyn we'd come upon a horrible scene, the aftermath of an accident where an 8 yr old had been hit and killed while riding his bike with his dad. That kind of thing makes you much more careful when you ride in traffic...)

Anyway, riding in traffic really cut down on my average speed -- which ended up being 14.71 (as compared to 16.89 for my last century, which had about the same amount of climbing as this one) -- but it was well worth it. The one segment where I did the best was between Prospect Park and the Canarsie Pier; a very large part of that was along the shore, on a bike path that was well paved, wide and very very flat. The rest was on roads with little traffic. On that section I averaged 18 mph.

As for the climbing, this seemed to be a very flat century. My altimeter measured about 2830 feet of climbing, about the same as the last century ride I did, but it seemed like it was flatter, and looking at topographical maps I think that overstates it. In any event, relatively, it seemed like a very flat course, and it definitely avoided some of the climbing that it could have covered, in northern Manhattan, for example.

All in all, this was an amazing ride. If you love biking in urban areas, love NYC, or just want to have a great time, this is the ride to do.


The route

Route: Manhattan - Brooklyn - Queens - Bronx
Total distance: 100.95 miles
Ride time: 06:51'53
Avg speed: 14.71 mph
Total climb: 2831 ft (this might be overstated... altimeter was a bit off I think)
Low point: 0 ft, along Brooklyn waterfront
High point: 167 ft, near Ridgewood Reservoir, Brooklyn
Avg climb: 28.04 ft/mile (maybe less)