By Anna Gustafson
More than 32,000 bicyclists made their way through Queens Sunday as part of the sold-out Five Boro Bike Tour, touted by cyclists from throughout the city as a great chance to travel 42 miles on car-free streets on a warm spring day.
“This is awesome because you get to see so many different parts of the city and go on streets that are usually too busy to ride on,” Sunnyside resident Esther Chiu, 34, said as she took a break in Astoria Park. “It’s my third time doing the tour, and it keeps getting better every year.”
Bike New York, a group that promotes safe bicycling in the city, and the city Department of Transportation sponsored the 33rd-annual Five Boro Bike Tour that began in 1977 with just 250 participants. It grew to include more than 32,000 people and 1,500 volunteers this year.
“This is the first time I’ve been to Astoria Park, and it’s nice to be in a pretty place to relax,” said Emily Spitzer, a 14-year-old from Brooklyn who noted she is not related to the former governor. “Riding around on my bike is one of my favorite things to do, so I’ve been looking forward to this.”
Tour participants began their ride in Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, went north to Central Park and Harlem, passed through the Bronx, returned south along the East River and the FDR Drive and then crossed into Queens, where bicyclists traversed the Queensborough Bridge. Queens-bound lanes on the bridge were closed for the tour, which ended in Staten Island.
Bicyclists were not the only ones to benefit from Sunday’s event. Astoria resident Stephanos Koullias of the Western Queens Compost Initiative said his group managed to gather a large amount of garbage from bikers in Astoria Park that they plan to use for composting at local community gardens.
Reach reporter Anna Gustafson by e-mail at agustafson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
