(Hanque Faux News Network)
This exciting tour is scheduled to begin on Monday. Three dozen riders from around the world are willing to try their luck in this most dangerous of all bike tours.
The ten day tour takes place in New Jersey across the Hudson River from Manhattan and features tough biking through the massive rush-hour traffic that clogs the entrances to the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels. In between these two hazards, the riders must negotiate the heavily populated urban landscape of Hoboken and Weehawken, no easy task on weekends, let alone weekdays when the tour takes place.
Each weekday, the riders put in two laps, one in the morning rush-hour and the second in the evening rush-hour. On alternate days, the morning lap begins at the Lincoln Tunnel and the evening lap starts at the Holland. Each rider is required to travel to the other tunnel, touch the wall at the tunnel entrance and return to the starting point.
The lap is perilous in the extreme because, unlike other bike races, the route is not cleared of traffic. The riders have to dodge past the cars, trucks and buses trying to get to or from Manhattan. The complete circuit is 2.5 to 3 miles long depending upon the exact route since detours around jammed streets is permitted and encouraged.
The route run along traffic-clogged Washington Street in Hoboken is fraught with danger from delivery trucks, toxic air from the vehicles and beer-bottle-throwing crowds. On average, six riders are hospitalized each year from traffic accidents or fights with the spectators. Two years ago, rider Pepi Stalone, became entangled with a beer truck and by the time he got free, the pack was several blocks in front of him. Isolated and trying to catch up, he was attacked by three muggers who bound him with duct tape and stole his ID and his bike.
OSC, the Obscure Sports Channel, will carry the race live each morning and night and will provide boring commentary from unknown experts.
