Astoria Park Is Rest Stop On Five Borough Bike Tour

Riders walk their bikes while taking a break on the 42-mile Five Borough Bike Tour through New York City on Sunday morning, May 4. Photos Carol Marino

Astoria Park was transformed into a sea of cyclists on Sunday, May 5 as it served as a rest station during the Five Borough Bike Tour. Participants, who numbered 30,000 strong, stopped for refreshments and a few moments' rest before continuing on their way to the remaining boroughs and the closing festivities.

The Tour began in Lower Manhattan, north through Manhattan to Central Park and continued on to Harlem and The Bronx, returning south along the East River on the FDR Drive. Cyclists crossed the Queensboro Bridge into Queens and proceeded north on Vernon Boulevard into Astoria Park, went south down 21st Street to the Con Edison Learning Center for another rest stop, then crossed the Pulaski Bridge into Brooklyn and south again to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge ad then to Staten Island. The 42-mile route took riders over terrain that was for the most part flat except for the bridges.

Leaving the Hell Gate Bridge behind them, riders leave the Astoria Park rest stop and resume the Five Borough Bike Tour.

A celebratory festival greeted riders at Fort Wadsworth in Gateway National Recreation Area on Staten Island. Cyclists traveled another three miles to the Staten Island Ferry, where they headed back to Manhattan.