My love for bike riding really began in Northport, New York on Long Island when I was a kid. In the small village there I rode up and down every street there was. I even had a paper route there where I used my bicycle to deliver the Long Island Press.

On the first weekend of May this year, I returned to New York with my bicycle to ride for the first time in that state since 1968. I didn’t get back to Northport, but I did ride on the head of the fish that is Long Island in Queens.

Back in the sixties I rode through small village streets to downtown Northport and out on Asharoken Strip between Northport Harbor and the Long Island Sound by myself or with my buddies from St. Philip Neri School. This time I rode in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklen, Queens and Staton Island with 32,000 strangers.

The occasion was the annual Ride the Five Boroughs Bicycle Event that has been going on for many years, on the first Sunday in May each year. I had planned to ride in 2020, but COVID had other plans so this was my first trip.

My wife, Kathy and I drove into Manhattan on the Friday night before. We timed it to avoid rush hour traffic but driving in New York City at any time is harrowing. We were staying near the WTC site down at the tip of the city where the starting point was for the ride. We found a parking garage a mere ten-minute walk from the hotel and settled in.

Kathy did not ride with me on Sunday, so we spent Saturday in celebration of our wedding anniversary, even taking the traditional horse drawn carriage ride through Central Park. We skipped seeing a Broadway show or going to a fancy restaurant, opting instead for a frugal dinner from Whole Foods in our room.

Sunday morning, I was at my assigned place in the first wave of riders by 6:30. It was chilly and windy. As I stood there with my bicycle a woman who saw my Granville sweatshirt asked me if that meant Granville, Ohio. Of all the 32,000 people, I was standing next to a couple from Westerville. She kindly bought me a muffin as we were waiting. A little after 7am the speeches began at a stage that I couldn’t see up about five blocks from where I was. Mayor Mandani spoke along with organizers and sponsors. The Mayor was going to ride with us, the first sitting Mayor to do so. 

At 7:30 the ride began. It took me about 15 minutes walking in the huge crowd to get to the actual starting point. As we mounted our bikes, the crowd of wall-to-wall fellow cyclists quickly spread out. From that point on I never felt too cramped by others.

Among the 32,000 participants were people of every age, from just about every state and many other countries. I saw fancy bikes as well as simple street cruisers. There was one gentleman on a penny farthing (an old-fashioned bike with a large front wheel and tiny back one) as well as a number of tiny Brompton folding bicycles with tiny wheels and long handle stems.

The route was completely blocked to automobile traffic by police officers and city garbage trucks. The 40-mile ride took us from downtown Manhattan through Central Park. Most of the ride was flat except for going onto the bridges. We crossed the famous Brooklyn Bridge. At one point we got onto a closed freeway and climbed up and up and up to the Verrazano Bridge into Staten Island. I remember when that bridge was constructed in 1964, and I remember how cool my dad thought it was when we drove it one time by automobile. Now I rode it by bicycle. It was a spectacular view of New York City in all its towering glory.

We finished the ride in Staten Island. I had to take the ferry past The Statue of Liberty back to Battery Park and my hotel passing the two large reflecting pools on the site of the World Trade Centers. I couldn’t help thinking about all the death and destruction of September 11 and the hate that engendered that tragedy. My ride with 32,000 other people was just the opposite. People were happy that day. It didn’t matter our age, the color of our skin, our politics or the skill level of our riding.

In a small portion of Central Park there is a small tribute to John Lennon called Strawberry Fields. A plaque on the sidewalk says “Imagine,” the title of one of his most iconic songs.

“Imagine all the people, living life in peace.”