History
The event began on Sunday June 12, 1977 as the Five Boro Challenge with about 250 participants, operated by Eric Prager and Sal Cirami. Eric Prager was commissioned by the New York City Board of Education to create a bicycle safety program. Sal Cirami worked for the school lunch program and was also an AYH Bicycle Committee leader. The two met by chance, and a brief conversation resulted in Sal inviting Eric to the next monthly Bike Committee meeting. Eric outlined his plans for his bicycle safety program at that February meeting. The original tour was 50 miles (80 km) long and started and ended in Queens.
What started as a one-time event became a tradition the next year when the New York City Mayor Ed Koch embraced the idea of a city-wide bike tour. The distance was shortened and the word "challenge" was changed to "tour" to make the event more appealing to the general public. That year, the number of participants increased tenfold to around 3,000.
The success of the Tour has inspired other major city tours, such as Bike Philly in Philadelphia, and Bike DC in Washington DC.
Read more about this topic: Five Boro Bike Tour
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