Travel Tips

South Ferry, where the Staten Island Ferry docks, is the southernmost tip of Manhattan. I chose to ride along the East River, across from Brooklyn, under the FDR Drive, passing (in order) the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg Bridges, respectively. There is a narrow, ground-level, marked bike path, segregated from car traffic, which you must share with obnoxious joggers who brazenly listen to loud music via their ear buds. They refuse to look out for bikes, so you'll have to babysit them. Now, the Brooklyn Bridge also has a narrow, shared 2 way bike/pedestrian path, isolated from car traffic. So, again, bikers have to be ultra-aware of the tuned-out joggers and the slack-jawed, bulging-eyed tourists who frequently cross the yellow line into the oncoming bike traffic. This is even more important as you come Down the boardwalk bridgepath. Make sure your bike has a bell; if not, just yell at the yokels. This is New York, no place for shrinking violets!

It's always more serene (uncrowded) right after sunrise, and especially on a holiday such as July 4, when many native New Yorkers -- especially Manhattanites -- get out of Dodge!

This is another narrow, shared bikepath. Bicycle riding is even more challenging here, as the Hudson River views attract not only oblivious joggers, but also tuned-out inline skaters, peripatetic pedestrians, dogwalkers, small children, gaggles of gawking tourists, and other people who do not look where they are going. You can check out the skateboarders in their fenced-off pen, at around 30 St, right next door to the noisy and gasoline-soaked heliport. Further south is the Chelsea Piers recreational center, around 16 St, where you can play golf, basketball, tennis, you name it. Christopher St (equivalent to 8 St), is in the West Village, a predominantly gay area of town (although straight people are welcome! lol). Along the bikepath, you'll find public seating where you can view the Hudson.

Bike riding has become more acceptable to our Mayor-for-Life, what with his penchant for Being Green. But, from a political point of view, he has treated bicycle riding groups in his typically coarse and bellicose manner. "El Elcaldissimo" (you heard it here first!) has set up bicycle "tightropes," if you will, which are merely painted white lanes superimposed on pre-existing car lanes. These are NOT the curbed-off, segregated bike lanes you see in Paris or Copenhagen. These "tightropes," not lanes, are lip service to bike riders, and serve as cold comfort to bikers who dare to jockey in dangerous city traffic. Taxis wildly cross 6 lanes of traffic for a pick-up, and silly drivers and passengers open their doors without first looking, injuring bikers who cannot stop in time to avoid impact. White-painted bikes, seen here on the Hudson Bike Path, serve as memorials for fallen bikers.