The Ugly Ride
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Forget green forests, forget smooth, black roads, forget cute barns, forget majestic views of the Hudson River, leave your skinny carbon at home for your cats to play with and bring out your heavy duty hardware and fat rubber.
For it is time for the UGLY RIDE! Time for dirty, stinky, trash-covered, pothole-ridden streets of industrial Brooklyn and Queens! Dirty and radioactive Newtown Creek instead of the Walkill River, rusty metal draw bridges instead of the picturesque covered bridges of the Ulster County, gritty warehouses instead of cute barns, Manhattan skyline instead of the Hudson Valley. You get the picture...
But make no mistake: this ride is still fun! Bring a camera!
We'll ride these streets early on a Sunday morning when they are eerily empty and quiet. We'll get some nice views of Midtown Manhattan too and witness the rapid metamorphosis of the post-industrial Long Island City East River banks into a modern urban residential waterfront.
The ride starts at 8:00AM at the usual spot at the Grand Army Plaza entrance to the Prospect Park. It's 33 miles long at moderate urban pace (NOT a Happy Face Ride!).
Since it's a short ride and starts early and we should be done by 1PM, we won't have a normal, full lunch stop. We'll just stop for some donuts in the morning (mile 8) and at an outdoor cafe on the East River with nice views of Manhattan (mile 25).
Please bring:
- helmet (REQUIRED)
- spare tubes (HIGH CHANCES OF FLATS ON THIS RIDE!)
- lightweight bike lock
- pump
- water
- cell phone
- money for lunch
BRING CASH! Credit cards sometimes don't work!
RIDE CANCELLATION POLICY
Check this 5BBC ride page or the 5BBC Event Facebook page after 9 p.m. the night before to see if the ride is on! A cancellation notice will be posted on both at 9 p.m. on the night before the ride. We will NOT meet if the ride is canceled! If it’s raining in the morning the ride is also canceled! DO NOT SHOW UP FOR THE RIDE without checking the status first! If the ride is cancelled as the leaders WILL NOT go to the meeting point.
If in doubt email bikerides@a-world.net or call or text Adam DZ at 718-757-4102 in the morning after 6 a.m.
If you have registered for the ride on the 5BBC website you will receive a confirmation or cancellation email around 9 p.m. the day before.
GPS FILES AND CUE SHEETS