Save the Date for NYC!
November 1, 2011 by admin · 3 Comments
Every day is a good day at Venture Outdoors, but it’s always a great day when we get something like this in our email… details on the 2012 TD Bank Five Boro Bike Tour! We know you’re excited, and rightfully so. We’re taking another bus load of Pittsburghers to New York City this May to ride the 42-mile, car-free loop.
The specifics are still in the works, but save the date for now. We’ll leave Saturday, May 5th for NYC and return to Pittsburgh Monday, May 7th. The ride is Sunday, May 6th. Gather your friends, families, and biking buddies. This is one sweet ride with your 30,000 closest friends!
A look back at Five Boro Bike Tour
How do you wake up on Sunday morning? Some people stumble out of bed at noon with a hangover. Others are on the golf course or attending church. The lucky ones are treated to breakfast in bed while others awake too early with little ones jumping on the bed and wet kisses from canines.
Seeing the sights of NYC by bike! Photo by Tricia Chicka.
Rap Ride: registration is open!
May 16, 2011 by admin · Leave a Comment
With registration now open on the second ever RAP Ride, our Ride Across Pennsylvania has officially become a Venture Outdoors annual event! Last year almost 50 riders joined us to ‘ride across Pennsylvania’ on BicyclePA Route A.
This year we’re bicycling north to south again, but on the other side of the state, we’re riding BicyclePA Route L from the Northeast corner to the Southeast corner of PA. Over five days from July 13th through 17th we ride through the historic towns of Scranton, Jim Thorpe, Bethlehem and West Chester. So grab your shorts, helmet and bike and take in the sights and countryside of the beautiful Keystone State.
Registration is now open for the 2011 RAP Tour. For more details or to sign up for the ride CLICK HERE.
Snag a vest on Craigslist and ride to NYC with us!
March 7, 2011 by admin · Leave a Comment
The Five Boro Bike Tour is sold out, 30,000 vests are spoken for. General registration sold out in just 3 days and our pre-registered spots were gone a few days after that.
BUT we still have a few seats left on our bus to NYC! So if you have a vest and want a ride, or if you buy one off Craigslist and don’t want to worry about driving in New York, sign up for our bus tour! $245 will get you a ride to a weekend trip to NYC without your bike, or $310 get’s you and your bike on our bus for a fun filled weekend in the Big Apple.
We will leave at 9:00 am from Station Square on Saturday, April 30th and arrive in NYC around 4:00 pm. Check-in at Station Square will be in the East Lot from 7:30 am-8:30 am. We will leave NYC at 12:00 pm (noon) on Monday, May 2nd and return to Pittsburgh around 7:00 pm.
For more details on the weekend and the group discounts available visit: http://www.ventureoutdoors.org/Activities.aspx?id=55489
SOLD OUT: Unless you’re with Us!
Seth got the call Thursday afternoon, just 3 days after official registration for the New York City Five Boro Bike Tour opened. The Tour is sold out; 30,000 spots sold in less than 3 days!! LUCKILY, we reserved 40 spots early, but we only have 4 left!
47 seats to NYC up for grabs!
December 6, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Our annual trip to New York City to participate in the Five Boro Bike Tour is becoming an great tradition to kick-off each bike tour season. Last year the Five Boro Bike Tour sold over 30,000 spots in just 26 days! This year will be no different.
Relay succeeds by the skin of their teeth!
August 13, 2010 by admin · 3 Comments
Each year we set out to do something silly and challenging…ride from Washington DC to Pittsburgh in less than 24 hours. In 2008, we accomplished the mission with 150 riders and a big blowout for Pittsburgh’s 250th birthday. Last year we made it our goal to raise funds to finish the bike trail into Pittsburgh and rode in with minutes to spare. This year we were at it again, ready to pedal through any weather and dodge mammals big and small.
On the Passage Preview Party
June 24, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Award-winning film maker John Urman has been working on a the film On the Passage for over 2 years! The 30 minute film features the Great Allegheny Passage, our local bike trail that connects Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland and eventually Washington DC.
Be one of the first to view the film! The preview party is Wednesday, July 7th from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Melwood Screening Room in Oakland. This is the first opportunity to see the film, and meet John Urman afterwords. Read more
A bike tour for every skill level!
June 9, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Bicycle vacations are the newest craze for anyone seeking a unique vacation. However if you haven’t been on a bike in awhile, or you don’t own a weeks worth of padded bicycle shorts, some of the lengthy trips probably look a bit intimidating. Never fear dear bike tour beginner, Venture Outdoors has bike tours that don’t even require a bike! Read more
Confessions of a not so serious biker
May 10, 2010 by admin · 2 Comments
Saturday May 1, we loaded the Venture Outdoors trailer with bikes and a charter bus with 34 riders to hit NYC up for a weekend of riding and exploring via the NYC 5 Boro Bike Tour.
Before this ride, I’d never biked more than 25 miles in one go. I’ve long enjoyed both the outdoors and biking, but ever approached both with one thing in mind: leisure. Well, leisure to be accompanied by a post-leisure ice cream cone.
But I decided to do the ride for the personal challenge of biking further in one day than I ever have, the opportunity to see the city from something other than a cab or photographs, and the promise of being on the back of a tandem bicycle with our Bike Tour Coordinator, Seth “I Bike Uphill for Giggles” Gernot. What could go wrong?
Sunday morning we rolled out of bed around 6:00 AM with the sun and balmy morning air as our cheerleaders. Nothing, not even a waffle (okay, maybe a waffle), could have energized me more. Although the ride wouldn’t begin until 8, thousands of people had already lined up by the time we took our place between the starting point and Battery Park. Being surrounded by that many bikers—eventually, the number would reach over 30,000—was one of the most incredible parts of the ride.
Even in the crowd, we were able to keep track of each other with the footlong flags we decorated our helmets with. We also saw helmets with fluffy pink flamingos, sparkly red streamers, and Star Wars bobble heads. The force was definitely with those riders.
A few New Yorkers apparently hadn’t heard that we were coming. My favorite quote was at a crosswalk as a girl waited impatiently, talking on her cell phone. “There’s like, a thousand bikers here blocking my way,” she said, “and they aren’t stopping.” Poor gal. I bet she was standing there awhile.
With Seth’s surplus of charisma and our 4 well-tuned engines (two right legs and two left in total), I’m pleased to report that the 40 miles flew by pretty comfortably—even on a heavy Huffy tandem made in the ‘80s. That evening, I was also able to get my sweets fix with some “mascarpone” gelato from a little market near our hotel. Mmmm.
I ended the ride with only one complaint. Seth made me bike uphill, and he graciously volunteered to manage the downs. That’s fine—he’s old and needed my help.* But where in the heck did he get this picture?
Someone is trying to sabotage my career as a serious biker. Come on—I pedaled myself, and Seth, up the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge from Staten Island to Brooklyn.** You can be sure I’m tough.
Personal experience by Whitney Philipps, Venture Outdoors Development Intern
[svgallery name="bike-nyc"]
*Seth definitely isn’t old! But he did celebrate his birthday with us on the day of the ride, and during the drive to New York with some delicious cupcakes from Dozen.
**Including immediate approaches, the bridge is about 2.7 miles long—the first half of which is uphill.
