Tour de Elizabeth

Testimonial: June 5, 2006

Elizabeth Bike Tour de “Fantastic” – Enjoying the Sights, Sounds and Scenery in one of New Jersey’s Most Interesting and Historic Cities

Our second Tour de Elizabeth was another great experience this year, well worth the early wake-up and drive from our home in Princeton.  After we parked, pulled our bikes out of the car and rode to the Union Square Plaza on Elizabeth Avenue where the race was to start, we were greeted by old friends and many friendly faces we had gotten to know from our ride the year before.  We were captivated by the diversity of riders, bikes and sites along the route.  The many different age groups and backgrounds make the event especially colorful and interesting.  It is exciting to see how the Tour brings the city of Elizabethans together and we are proud to be a part of it.  Knowing that we were in good hands with the Elizabeth police on their motorcycles, in cars and on foot waving us through intersections and monitoring the groups of riders, we could relax and take in the multitude of historic sites, flowering nature and surging development throughout the area. The bike marshals did an outstanding job of keeping the groups together and briefing us on many of the interesting sites along the way. The continued sharp rise of development along the Elizabeth Seaport amazed us, growing at a pace even faster than we had seen the year before, as unique old stone and brick buildings were being revived along with new construction. We were touched when many people from different city neighborhoods came out to cheer us on, holding up signs with the names of their communities. And of course, seeing the original site of Princeton University made sound our own cheer. The cheers continued as we finished the ride back at the square and were greeted by the Tour de Elizabeth organizers, the Mayor and others from the community to complete our beautiful spring morning ride.  We look forward to another terrific time at next year's Tour de Elizabeth.

David J. Jones & Mickey
Princeton, NJ