Sunday: 32,000 Cyclists Will Roll Through the Five Boroughs in TD Tour

YS Gold 

On Sunday, May 7, cyclists of all skill levels will come from around the world to roll through every borough of New York City on streets totally free of cars. 

“For one day, the roads are yours, the bridges are yours, the city is yours—there’s no better way to experience NYC,” said a statement from TD Bank, which sponsors the tour. 

The history of the tour goes back close to fifty years. 

Beginning in 1977, the American Youth Hostels and the NYC Board of Education initiated a high school training program that culminated in a challenge: 50 participating students were asked to pedal through all five boroughs in a single day. It was the first Five Boro Bike Tour, then known as the Five Boro Challenge, and it began with 250 cyclists from every state in the nation and more than 60 countries around the world to NYC for this event. 

Drivers and pedestrians will encounter many closed off streets throughout the five boroughs. 

The tour will begin in Manhattan’s 5th Avenue at 10:00 Sunday morning, and proceed to the Bronx, then to Brooklyn, to Staten Island, and culminate in Lower Manhattan.