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32K bicyclists on their 64K wheels hit all 5 NYC boroughs Sunday
By
Samir Ferdowsi
Published May 2, 2025
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Courtesy of the Five Boro Bike Tour
By
Samir Ferdowsi
Published May 2, 2025
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About 32,000 riders will take to the city’s streets on about 64,000 wheels Sunday for one of the world's largest bike rides.
The Five Boro Bike Tour, a group bike ride that passes through all five New York City boroughs, rolls out bright and early. At 6 a.m., riders will line up downtown and be released in waves as the route takes them up toward Central Park and onward.
The event isn’t a race. It’s a community ride that’s been around for decades, and it’s what organizers call the best way to experience a carless city ride.
“ It's an iconic New York City event,” said Ken Podziba, the CEO of Bike New York, the nonprofit that organizes the ride. “It's the only time cyclists can ride car-free through New York City. It's really the best way to experience all five boroughs.”
The event reached its max number of riders this year, according to organizers. People from every state and 65 countries will ride, Podziba said.
Along the way, riders get a taste of each neighborhood and motivation to keep pedaling. Local community groups will set up music and food stands along the path, allowing riders to experience the best of each borough.
With entertainment and attractions ranging from gospel choirs lining the streets in Harlem to Afro-Puerto Rican bands in the Bronx, the goal is to get bikers and community members stoked on their city.
“ It's one gigantic rolling party,” Podziba said. “Most bike riders around the country, around the world, they're white men in Lycra. Here we have 5-year-olds, 85-year-olds. So many people of color, so many people with disabilities, all shapes, sizes, all coming together. It really feels like a microcosm of the world.”
The ride has been around since 1977, when just a few hundred riders took to the streets. The event has hit its rider cap for several years, and organizers are working with the city to raise the limit to 35,000.
Podziba, a former New York City sports commissioner, said Bike New York uses cycling to bolster community in the city year-round. The nonprofit has programs like Recycle-A-Bicycle, which helps get used bikes back on the road, and a program called Bike Path that trains formerly incarcerated New Yorkers as bike mechanics who go on to service Citi Bikes.
The group’s mission is also about making streets more accessible for bikers. The city streets swarm with cars almost every day of the year, but New Yorkers say Sunday’s bike ride is a once-yearly way to experience the city.
“I have a car, but I'm a cyclist, so giving the roads to the bikes, it's only fair,” said William Reillo, an avid cyclist born in Harlem and raised in Sunnyside, Queens. “I think everything requires a balance. So it's a good opportunity for people to get on a bike and see their city in another, another lens.”
Reillo now lives in Brooklyn and said he’s ecstatic about how the event has changed throughout the years. He started as a charity team rider and said he only wants to see the ride grow — if only to get more people seeing some of the city’s finest sites.
“You get on the highway, you're passing through some parks, you're going over some memorable bridges like the Queensboro Bridge, you're going over the Verrazano, which is not bike-accessible,” Reillo said.” So for me, growing up in New York City, I just love the architecture.”
The 40-mile route crosses five major bridges.
Riders start downtown between the Battery and Tribeca along Sixth Avenue. From there, they'll pedal uptown and eventually cross the Madison Avenue Bridge into the Bronx. Then, they bike back into Manhattan along the East River before crossing into Queens across the Queensboro bridge.
That will shoot riders out into Long Island City, through Astoria, and have them follow the East River through Brooklyn until they get all the way to Staten Island, where the ride finishes.
A full list of road closures can be found on the city Department of Transportation’s online weekend advisory.
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new york city
transportation
nyc events
Samir Ferdowsi
Samir is a day-of reporter on the general assignment and breaking news desk. Previously Samir was a reporter, host and producer at VICE News.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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