Huge Fee Hike Threatens NYC Bike Racing Tradition, Cyclists Say

BROOKLYN, NY — New York City cyclists, often forced to weave through streets choked with exhaust fumes, have long had an unlikely oasis: Floyd Bennett Field, a former U.S. Navy air station in south Brooklyn that juts into Jamaica Bay.

Each summer for about a quarter-century, as many as 100 cyclists have gathered weekly for races on the abandoned runways there, said Charlie Issendorf of the Kissena Cycling Club, which promotes the events.

Riders of varying ages come from across the metropolitan area to tackle the tough triangular 2.3-mile course, Issendorf said. Some hail from Latin America and the Caribbean, so it's not uncommon to hear several different languages spoken at a time, cyclists say.

"It could be somebody that works on Wall Street on the start line with a bike messenger," said Issendorf, the club's race director.

But an enormous fee hike is threatening to bring the races to an abrupt end.

Cyclists say the permit cost to hold them has increased from $150 to $34,000 now that the National Park Service has put a private company, Aviator Sports, in charge of permitting at the site, which is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area.

That's a prohibitively expensive sum, greater than the entire cost of making the races happen, Issendorf said.

This season's first race was scheduled for May 7 but it didn't take place as the club tried to negotiate with Aviator, which runs a massive recreational center out of revamped former aircraft hangars at the site. An online petition aimed at saving the races had more than 1,600 signatures as of last week.

"This could be the death knell," said Jon Orcutt, the communications director for the nonprofit Bike New York who has been racing at Floyd Bennett since the early 2000s.

Aviator is among hundreds of National Park Service concessioners, private companies that provide services that the parks themselves do not. The firm took over management of private events held on Floyd Bennett's runways when its concession agreement was amended in 2017, according to Daphne Yun, a spokeswoman for Gateway National Recreation Area.

The Kissena Cycling Club usually holds 17 races at Floyd Bennett Field on Tuesday evenings from May through August, charging a $30 entry fee for adults and $5 for kids, Issendorf said. A permit for the whole season cost $150 through the National Park Service until last year, when a manageable $1,000 administration fee was tacked on, he said.

Last fall, Park Service staff told Issendorf that permitting for this year's races would have to go through Aviator. When he got in touch with the company earlier this year, he said, he was quoted a price of $2,000 per race.

"We don’t have nearly that kind of money to do this race," Issendorf said. "… We’re not like a Tough Mudder or a fun run or some of these other events that gets like 5,000 people spending $200 each on an entry fee."

The cost of cycling events factored in the need for an ambulance on the site, the presence of U.S. Park Police for traffic control and "general administrative oversight," Yun said, adding that the price is similar to what such events would cost at city parks.

Gateway and Aviator are using a "uniform approach" to permitting privately run events, Yun said, so the cyclists have not been "singled out."

"Gateway would like to see the Tuesday Night Races at Floyd Bennett Field tradition continue," Yun said in an email. "This event, like all others, must be managed fairly, legally, and in a manner that allows Gateway to fulfill its appropriate oversight role without draining resources from the rest of the park."

But Issendorf said he's never had to call the Park Police in the 15 years that he has planned the races. He also had already arranged for an ambulance to stand by, he said, but Aviator told him he needed two, plus three of the company's staff members.

Issendorf said he and two others met on Wednesday with Dean Rivera, Aviator's chief operating officer. Rivera said he would look at the possibility of reducing the price, Issendorf said — but the club couldn't afford the fees even at a significant discount.

"It makes no sense in anybody’s terms," Orcutt said. "They need to make more money so they’re going to end the activity, which would mean (there is) no money at all."

In response to Patch's request for an interview, Rivera said the company was "still in discussion with the cycling group."

"I am waiting on info from them," he said in an email Friday.

Floyd Bennett Field is a one-of-a-kind attraction for bike racers, cyclists say. It's uniquely challenging because of the flat terrain, rough pavement and gusty winds, which can slow riders down at one point and give them a push the next, Issendorf said.

"In some ways it’s kind of a legendary race course," Orcutt said. "... If you have a calm night or a real howling wind, it changes the nature of the race dramatically from night to night."

While Orcutt said bike racing would continue elsewhere in the city, the end of the Floyd Bennett events would mean the end of a cycling tradition, according to Issendorf.

"We always see kids racing out there with their parents, their parents used to race and now their kids race — that’ll all end," Issendorf said. "That’ll just stop."