NYC Bike Races Saved After Fee Hike Threat, Organizer Says

BROOKLYN, NY — The long tradition of bicycle racing at Floyd Bennett Field will live on after a massive fee hike threatened to kill it, a race organizer said Monday. This summer's Tuesday night races at the south Brooklyn park will begin about a month late on June 4, race promoter Charlie Issendorf said in a Facebook post.

The announcement came after Aviator Sports, the private company that handles permits for events on the field's defunct runways, quoted organizers a price of $34,000 for this year's 17-race season — a massive increase from the previous cost of $150.

The cyclists and Aviator entered into a "common agreement" clearing the way for 10 races to be held, said Daphne Yun, a spokeswoman for Gateway National Recreation Area, the National Park Service site that includes Floyd Bennett Field.

The permit fee "dropped significantly but we mutually agreed not to disclose the new fee amount," Issendorf, the race director for the Kissena Cycling Club, told Patch in an email.

The Facebook post extended a "big thank you" to Aviator "for working with us to permit our race." Dean Rivera, the company's chief operating officer, did not respond to requests for comment.

Cyclists have raced for about a quarter-century on the runways at Floyd Bennett Field, a former U.S. Navy air station that juts into Jamaica Bay. The Tuesday evening events draw as many as 100 cyclists of varying ages and backgrounds from across the metropolitan area.

The season usually starts on the first Tuesday in May and goes through August. But the first race, slated for May 7, did not occur as organizers tried to negotiate with Aviator.

Gateway National Recreation Area wanted to see the races continue, Yun said last week. She said the steep price accounted for the presence of an ambulance, U.S. Park Police and general oversight.

Cyclists worried that the fee hike would bring an end to a grassroots racing tradition that has built a diverse, multigenerational community. An online petition aiming to save the races racked up more than 2,000 signatures.

"People didn’t know where this was coming from and why it’s worked for so long and all of a sudden there’s a problem," said Jon Orcutt, the communications director for the nonprofit Bike New York who has raced at Floyd Bennett for nearly two decades.

"But the good news is everybody talked and it seemed like it got worked out," he added.