best rides in NYC with a CitiBike

[americancyclo]

I was going to suggest Kent ave and the two way cycle track, but it looks like you’ll have to head further south to get to a station. Maybe pick up a bike near metropolitan, down Kent to the Manhattan or Brooklyn Bridge, through manhattan then back over the Williamsburg?

[lordofthemark]

@americancyclo 97089 wrote:

I was going to suggest Kent ave and the two way cycle track, but it looks like you’ll have to head further south to get to a station. Maybe pick up a bike near metropolitan, down Kent to the Manhattan or Brooklyn Bridge, through manhattan then back over the Williamsburg?

We will either have to walk to north of Division, or south to Myrtle – you are correct we are staying in the bike station free zone of South Williamsburg. I was thinking we could just subway into Manhattan if that was the best route, but riding the bridges would be nice. Two questions – best route from Manhattan bridge, say on the Manhattan side back up to Williamsburg bridge? And will a slow rider be able to get over the bridge in a half hour, esp with time to stop and take in the views? No matter how many times we have seen them, that will happen.

[americancyclo]

@lordofthemark 97090 wrote:

We will either have to walk to north of Division, or south to Myrtle – you are correct we are staying in the bike station free zone of South Williamsburg. I was thinking we could just subway into Manhattan if that was the best route, but riding the bridges would be nice. Two questions – best route from Manhattan bridge, say on the Manhattan side back up to Williamsburg bridge?

I haven’t done it myself, so i can’t really say, but I’d probably follow google maps unless my spidey sense started tingling.

http://goo.gl/maps/XGnGs

@lordofthemark 97090 wrote:

And will a slow rider be able to get over the bridge in a half hour, esp with time to stop and take in the views? No matter how many times we have seen them, that will happen.

The Williamsburg bridge is 7300′. If you can average 3 mph, then you can do it in under 30 min. I’d guess it would be hard to ride a citibike slower than 3 mph.

[mattotoole]

I spent 10 days in NYC in June, riding every day and having a ball.

Your best bet is probably the waterfront paths, great rides with great scenery and few hassles. It’s nice to ride over the bridges just to do it, but don’t feel you have to — just pick a route, and take the subway to/from the start and finish. The Hudson River path downtown is where the most “life” is.

Even the Brooklyn side is great to poke around, especially Brooklyn Bridge Park and DUMBO.

Plan your routes well unless you have a thick skin for city traffic and seriously potholed streets. NYC is not like DC, for either street condition or traffic. The major Avenue bike routes are more than fine.

Note that Citibike extends north only to 59th St. — south of Central Park.

Riding around Central Park is fun, but can be hectic, with a mix of meanderers and Cat 6es.

[mstone]

My understanding is that all NYC cyclists occupy themselves by running down pedestrians in central park. Remember when you’re there that the bikes are more dangerous than the cars. (Based on media reports.)

[dasgeh]

I rode around Brooklyn and lower Manhattan in June as well, just for a few days, though not on Citibike.

On roads in Brooklyn: either they are high volume or low volume. If you don’t like riding with traffic, stick to the low volume. There isn’t a lot in between.
Either they have been repaved since last winter (fine to ride on) or they haven’t (absolutely horrible to ride on). We found that on most streets, either the entire length of the street had, or hadn’t. So if we were on a street going north, and we needed to head east, we’d just ride north until we saw an east-heading street that was repaved and took that.

On bridges: They are beautiful on weekend morning, much less so starting around noon on the weekends. If you’re ok going VERY slow, they’re always fine, but seriously VERY slow.

I would check to see if Governor’s Island is still open, and rent a bike (not Citi) and go there.

[TwoWheelsDC]

The Hudson River Greenway is a fantastic ride, and well-suited to the speeds of CitiBikes. The only bridge I’ve ridden over on a bike (a CitiBike, actually) is the Brooklyn Bridge, and it was a total clusterf*&k due to crowds of people who think they own the entire walkway. Granted, that was in the middle of the summer on a Saturday, but I’d wager it’s pretty crowded all the time. The worst part is the center of the span where everyone congregates to take selfies and whatever, so just be prepared to walk your bike. The approaches on either side of the center span are not too bad though.

Riding over the Brooklyn Bridge:

Hudson River Greenway:

[PotomacCyclist]

I don’t recommend this route:

http://gothamist.com/2014/06/05/watch_nyc_get_sharknadod_in_new_sha.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e0ieIpBhsg

You should also avoid Natalie O’Neill, whose hatred of Citi Bike users run so deep that she seems to fantasize about “wiping out obnoxious Citi Bikers.”

http://nypost.com/2014/06/05/sharknado-2-takes-a-bite-out-of-citi-bikers/

[mstone]

Excellent timing, Bike Snob just covered this exact topic: http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2014/10/cycling-tip-for-visitors-to-new-york.html

Quote:

From time to time people email me asking where they should ride during their visit to New York City, and my answer is usually “don’t bother.” Don’t get me wrong, there are some solid B-minus rides outside the city. Also, riding a bike is a great way to get around town–if you actually live here and have a job and other shit you need to do.

However, if you’re just visiting for a short time, why not do some of the stuff that makes New York City great instead of the one thing at which we’re mediocre at best? Go to a museum. See a play. Take the 7 train to Flushing and eat Chinese food. Visiting New York City for three days and asking “Where should I ride?” is like going to Vegas and asking, “Which is the best Shakespearean theater company?,” or like going to the diner and debating between the veal and the Shrimp Provençale.

It’s a diner, for fuck’s sake. Get a goddamn burger.

However, if you simply must ride your bike-and I cannot stress this enough–DO NOT do the “Bicycling” magazine “Must-Do” ride[…]

[lordofthemark]

LOL at Bikesnob? However we get to NY a lot and have done most of the standard tourist things, and I didn’t want to go that long without riding. But, alas, we had only two days to spend on NYC fun, and we did not end up doing Citibike. We instead walked to Manhattan. I was quite impressed with the seperation of cycling and walking lanes on the Williamsburg bridge. I was also fascinated to learn at a family event that one of my hasidic nephews has used Citibike and likes it.

Another part of our trip took us to Wellesley College, where I noted the on campus bike share program.

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