Tour de Brooklyn

teckla · June 2009

Did anyone else ride the Tour de Brooklyn yesterday? This was my 4th ride and I have to say I was disappointed with the lack of ride marshals. I was closer to the back and we had a lot of problems with traffic, although the woman who yelled "I have to go to Mass!!!" made me and my fellow riders chuckle. Anyway, by the time it go to Prospect Park, we'd had enough and rode on home. I usually have a blast getting to know new parts of our borough, but this year it was a frustrating ride... maybe I was just with the wrong people, but I wanted to see if anyone else had a similar feeling.

flaco · June 2009

Sorry to hear that, especially as I was a marshal. You should certainly let Transportation Alternatives know your feedback, as they are always trying to improve the event.

slopetopia · June 2009

Why did that make you chuckle?

teckla · June 2009

Thanks, I'll definitely let Transportation Alternatives know... if I felt more competent in my own skills, I'd consider being a marshal myself next year.

I think the group I was in was in some sort of marshal-free dead zone. I almost saw a little kid get slammed by a minivan as there was no one monitoring the intersection. I've had no such problems riding the past 4 years, and had always felt very safe.

Raised a Catholic myself, I had to chuckle at a seemingly very angry woman, honking her horn, yelling at us with the excuse of going to Mass. I would have liked to shake her hand and say "peace be with you" and mean it.

linsay01 · June 2009

I rode the Tour de Brooklyn yesterday as well. I'd agree that there was a lack of organization during the first leg. The trip through Borough Park was pretty tense... lots of people yelling, car honking, etc. The second leg was a lot better for me. Pretty much every intersection I went through had a marshall which made it a lot nicer. It could get a bit frustrating at points, but I think I'd do it again next year!

booklaw · June 2009

I last rode the Tour de Brooklyn two years ago, and will not do so again. Unlike the first couple of times I rode it, and unlike my one ride on the Tour de Bronx, the police cars at the front of the ride set such a slow pace that everyone got horrendously bunched up behind them. There was simply no room to maneuver... I collided with someone and injured my leg so badly that I limped for about a month.

halfpint · June 2009

I agree. The marshalls were non-existent for much of the ride. At one point, a friend who did the ride as well said she and other bikers took on the responsibility toward the end of the ride.

Was the little girl + minivan near the entrance to Greenwood? If so, I saw that as well. Took down the license plate number of a car that almost slammed into several cyclists, hitting at least one near Bay and maybe the late 60s/70th street? Also saw two other near accidents and one car accident as both of them were trying to turn into the lane full of bikers. All of this was before the rest stop. The second leg was better.

I'll be writing to TA as well. The logistics this year were awful compared to last year.

Tour de Brooklyn

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