My Pictures of

The Five Boro Bike Ride

May 4, 2003

Three friends and I and roughly 30,000+ other cyclists did the forty-two mile New York Five Boro Ride on May 4, 2003. Here are pictures of last year's ride.

This year's crew included Ivan Botura '05, Silke Pichler, molecular biology postdoc from Austria, and Devjani Sengupta '03, molecular biology major. This is Devjani's fourth time on Bike New York (every year since she was a freshman except for a year she spent in Germany) and Ivan and Silke's first.

We met at 4:10 am in the U-store parking lot and loaded the bikes and got organized. We headed to Staten Island, where we parked and caught the 6 am ferry to Manhattan and the start of the ride.

The rest of the story is in the pictures below.

Click on a thumbnail to see a larger picture.

Silke readies her bike at the parking lot on Staten Island. It's about 5:35 and the sun isn't up yet, but the sky is starting to get bright. Ivan gets ready for the ride.

Devjani gets ready. Silke's still getting ready.

We made the 6 am ferry. Devjani waits amidships. Ivan waits on the ferry.

Other people waiting on the ferry. Silke on the left and Devjani on the right wait with thousands of others at the start on Church street. We were at the intersection of Church and Duane which is about 4 blocks from the start (I think).

Ivan walked up the to start area and took this and other pictures of the start line on Church street. Another shot of the formation at the start. Ivan took the picture and the rest of us are waiting about four blocks down the street.

The view of the start from behind the banner. I believe this group of riders paid the large fee to get VIP positions at the start. Also, the ride veers to the left of the building directly behind the banner and goes to Central Park on Sixth Avenue. Another shot of the start, looking down the route we'll take.

Yet another shot of the start, this time from a couple of blocks back. Silke and Devjani at the start - it's almost time to go.

After we started to move (in fits and starts) we found ourselves next to this strange thing. I guess you could call it a quadricycle. It has four wheels, four seats and four sets of pedals. The strangely colored guy in the front doesn't seem to be pedalling very hard. After we rode up Sixth Avenue there was a delay getting into Central Park. Here we are waiting a few blocks from the park.

There was also a delay here. I believe this is getting onto the Third Avenue Bridge heading from the Bronx to Manhattan. There was also a delay on the Queensboro bridge on the way to Queens from Manhattan. If it seems as though I only have pictures of delays, well, a delay provides an opportunity to get the camera out. Also, there were quite a few delays in the first half of the ride.

Devjani, Silke and I managed to stay together during the first half of the ride. Ivan rode on ahead. Here are Devjani and Silke on the Qeensboro bridge. That's the Manhattan skyline in the background and I think it's the Empire State Building to the left of center. We stopped at the Astoria Park rest stop in Queens. The Triborough Bridge is in the background.

Some of the riders at the Astoria Park rest stop. In the background is the railroad bridge at the north end of the park. I rode with Devjani and Silke after we left Astoria Park, but got separated from them somwhere in Brooklyn. (I think.) I thought I was ahead of them and rode slowly for a while, hoping they would catch up. Then I decided I must be behind them and rode the rest of the way to the festival at Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island without stopping. I never did find them. I left a note at the reunion center in the background and Ivan was just leaving his note when I walked up. Then I enjoyed this band for a while. They were playing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" when I arrived. Their name is the Twisted Fates. There was a bandstand on the other side of the park with a bigger band, but we wanted to stay near the reunion center to catch Devjani and Silke when they arrived.

Some of the riders relaxing at the Festival. The Verazzano Narrows Bridge, connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn, is in the background. While waiting for Devjani and Silke, I bought a Bike New York T-shirt and also got a sandwich at one of the food tents. It turns out Devjani had a flat and as she slowed down, Silke rode out of earshot so Devjani and Silke got separated. Devjani got her flat fixed and arrived about an hour or so after Ivan and I did, but there was no sign of Silke. So we waited and enjoyed the festival while we waited. A juggler entertained some of the riders.

This is Patty. Devjani and I were wandering around the Festival hoping to spot Silke (really impossibly small odds) and saw Patty sitting on the grass doing my favorite form of carbo-loading. I excitedly asked her where she got it and she offered me one and wouldn't take no for an answer. I said I had to have her picture if she insisted I have one. However, she wouldn't pose with the carbohydrates; she's hiding them behind her back. It turns out they stop at a little bar just before getting on the Verazzano Bridge and stock up for the festival. She and her husband have been doing the ride since 1983 (if I remember correctly) and their 8 year old son has been doing it for six years - this year, on a tagalong. This rather tall fellow and regular sized lady danced to the music of the Twisted Fates.

We were still waiting for Silke to show up. We checked with the people at the reunion center. They told us she wasn't listed on any injury reports. They suggested we wait for the SAG wagons to come in (which would happen after all the riders were off the course). So we waited. Here are the SAG wagons (disguised as school buses!). Behind them are trucks carrying the bicycles. She wasn't on a SAG wagon. We hoped that maybe she hadn't understood what we meant by getting together at the end and interpretted that the end would be back at the car, not at the festival. So we waited a few more minutes, left another note at the reunion center, and headed to the car. By the time we started to leave the festival it was 4:15 (having arrived at about 12:50). The sun had came out and it was a beautiful day. On the way back to the car, Devjani and I stopped along the Staten Island shore line. Here we are with the Manhattan skyline in the background.

Here I am with the Verazzano Narrows Bridge and parts of Brooklyn in the background. Here are some German (?) interns working for a while at Siemens in Princeton. The fellow on the right took the picture of Devjani and me.
So what happened to Silke? She wasn't at the car where we waited until 5 pm for her. It turns out she didn't find the message board at the reunion center, waited for us, gave up, and made her way back by herself! She's alright, but she gave us a scare!

	Silke readies her bike at the parking lot on Staten Island. It's about 5:35 and the sun isn't up yet, but the sky is starting to get bright.		Ivan gets ready for the ride.
	Devjani gets ready.		Silke's still getting ready.
	We made the 6 am ferry. Devjani waits amidships.		Ivan waits on the ferry.
	Other people waiting on the ferry.		Silke on the left and Devjani on the right wait with thousands of others at the start on Church street. We were at the intersection of Church and Duane which is about 4 blocks from the start (I think).
	Ivan walked up the to start area and took this and other pictures of the start line on Church street.		Another shot of the formation at the start. Ivan took the picture and the rest of us are waiting about four blocks down the street.
	The view of the start from behind the banner. I believe this group of riders paid the large fee to get VIP positions at the start. Also, the ride veers to the left of the building directly behind the banner and goes to Central Park on Sixth Avenue.		Another shot of the start, looking down the route we'll take.
	Yet another shot of the start, this time from a couple of blocks back.		Silke and Devjani at the start - it's almost time to go.
	After we started to move (in fits and starts) we found ourselves next to this strange thing. I guess you could call it a quadricycle. It has four wheels, four seats and four sets of pedals. The strangely colored guy in the front doesn't seem to be pedalling very hard.		After we rode up Sixth Avenue there was a delay getting into Central Park. Here we are waiting a few blocks from the park.
	There was also a delay here. I believe this is getting onto the Third Avenue Bridge heading from the Bronx to Manhattan.		There was also a delay on the Queensboro bridge on the way to Queens from Manhattan. If it seems as though I only have pictures of delays, well, a delay provides an opportunity to get the camera out. Also, there were quite a few delays in the first half of the ride.
	Devjani, Silke and I managed to stay together during the first half of the ride. Ivan rode on ahead. Here are Devjani and Silke on the Qeensboro bridge. That's the Manhattan skyline in the background and I think it's the Empire State Building to the left of center.		We stopped at the Astoria Park rest stop in Queens. The Triborough Bridge is in the background.
	Some of the riders at the Astoria Park rest stop. In the background is the railroad bridge at the north end of the park.		I rode with Devjani and Silke after we left Astoria Park, but got separated from them somwhere in Brooklyn. (I think.) I thought I was ahead of them and rode slowly for a while, hoping they would catch up. Then I decided I must be behind them and rode the rest of the way to the festival at Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island without stopping. I never did find them. I left a note at the reunion center in the background and Ivan was just leaving his note when I walked up. Then I enjoyed this band for a while. They were playing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" when I arrived. Their name is the Twisted Fates. There was a bandstand on the other side of the park with a bigger band, but we wanted to stay near the reunion center to catch Devjani and Silke when they arrived.
	Some of the riders relaxing at the Festival. The Verazzano Narrows Bridge, connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn, is in the background. While waiting for Devjani and Silke, I bought a Bike New York T-shirt and also got a sandwich at one of the food tents.		It turns out Devjani had a flat and as she slowed down, Silke rode out of earshot so Devjani and Silke got separated. Devjani got her flat fixed and arrived about an hour or so after Ivan and I did, but there was no sign of Silke. So we waited and enjoyed the festival while we waited. A juggler entertained some of the riders.
	This is Patty. Devjani and I were wandering around the Festival hoping to spot Silke (really impossibly small odds) and saw Patty sitting on the grass doing my favorite form of carbo-loading. I excitedly asked her where she got it and she offered me one and wouldn't take no for an answer. I said I had to have her picture if she insisted I have one. However, she wouldn't pose with the carbohydrates; she's hiding them behind her back. It turns out they stop at a little bar just before getting on the Verazzano Bridge and stock up for the festival. She and her husband have been doing the ride since 1983 (if I remember correctly) and their 8 year old son has been doing it for six years - this year, on a tagalong.		This rather tall fellow and regular sized lady danced to the music of the Twisted Fates.
	We were still waiting for Silke to show up. We checked with the people at the reunion center. They told us she wasn't listed on any injury reports. They suggested we wait for the SAG wagons to come in (which would happen after all the riders were off the course). So we waited. Here are the SAG wagons (disguised as school buses!). Behind them are trucks carrying the bicycles. She wasn't on a SAG wagon. We hoped that maybe she hadn't understood what we meant by getting together at the end and interpretted that the end would be back at the car, not at the festival. So we waited a few more minutes, left another note at the reunion center, and headed to the car.		By the time we started to leave the festival it was 4:15 (having arrived at about 12:50). The sun had came out and it was a beautiful day. On the way back to the car, Devjani and I stopped along the Staten Island shore line. Here we are with the Manhattan skyline in the background.
	Here I am with the Verazzano Narrows Bridge and parts of Brooklyn in the background.		Here are some German (?) interns working for a while at Siemens in Princeton. The fellow on the right took the picture of Devjani and me. So what happened to Silke? She wasn't at the car where we waited until 5 pm for her. It turns out she didn't find the message board at the reunion center, waited for us, gave up, and made her way back by herself! She's alright, but she gave us a scare!