New York - great trip
NFMC
Posts: 232
After getting some advice on this board I thought I'd post a mini-report and encourage people to take their bikes to New York.
I went across for the five-boro bike ride - http://www.bikenewyork.org/rides/fbbt/index.html - but for five days did all my sight-seeing on my bike. It's a fantastic city to whizz about on by bike. A bit nervy at first but if you're used to cycling in London or any big city then New York would be almost easy.
There are plenty of bike lanes (as over here, some are great, some are useless) and most drivers seem to respect the cyclist. There are far few commuters by bike over there so perhaps they're not seen as the enemy as we are over here.
What was poor was the provision for cycle-parking. There are a few stands but not may at all so I was locking my bike to road signs all the time.
I was there on a budget so stayed at the Quality Inn in Long Island City, just over the Queensboro bridge. About 10mins ride to the Upper East Side and Central Park. It was a pretty average industrialised area. Nothing remotely interesting in the neighbourhood but very convenient for the bridge and for the subway in the evening. They were fine about me bringing my bike in my room every day/night.
Even though there weren't many commuters, there were loads and loads of cyclists going round Central PArk. And they all - every last one of them - had the best and most expensive bikes you've ever seen. All the ones you only see in the magazines for over UK£3,000.00. No old bangers there.
Anyway...if anyone has any questions about cycling in NYC (not as though I'm an expert after 5 days), please shout.
I went across for the five-boro bike ride - http://www.bikenewyork.org/rides/fbbt/index.html - but for five days did all my sight-seeing on my bike. It's a fantastic city to whizz about on by bike. A bit nervy at first but if you're used to cycling in London or any big city then New York would be almost easy.
There are plenty of bike lanes (as over here, some are great, some are useless) and most drivers seem to respect the cyclist. There are far few commuters by bike over there so perhaps they're not seen as the enemy as we are over here.
What was poor was the provision for cycle-parking. There are a few stands but not may at all so I was locking my bike to road signs all the time.
I was there on a budget so stayed at the Quality Inn in Long Island City, just over the Queensboro bridge. About 10mins ride to the Upper East Side and Central Park. It was a pretty average industrialised area. Nothing remotely interesting in the neighbourhood but very convenient for the bridge and for the subway in the evening. They were fine about me bringing my bike in my room every day/night.
Even though there weren't many commuters, there were loads and loads of cyclists going round Central PArk. And they all - every last one of them - had the best and most expensive bikes you've ever seen. All the ones you only see in the magazines for over UK£3,000.00. No old bangers there.
Anyway...if anyone has any questions about cycling in NYC (not as though I'm an expert after 5 days), please shout.
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Agreed! I bought a Dahon folder a couple of years back and cycled all over NYC (Manhattan) and it was great - drivers were fine (for a big city at least!)
my trip round Corsica: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/corsica0
