Northeast - NYC Route Advice

Hi All, this question is in reference to my commute from Brooklyn to 47th and Park in the city and back.

My preferred route once i get out of Brooklyn and over the Manhattan Bridge is to head East on Canal and onto Allen/Pike and then North up the path next to the FDR all the way to 37th. Then i take 1st ave up to 47th and cross west over to Park Ave.

On the way home i usually reverse this and all is great. BUT there is a good stretch of the path along the FDR that will make it a rough ride for a MTB with a suspension. Needless to say its a shaky ride on my road bike. That road gets miserable with HUGE puddles when it rains and it is poorly illuminated. So going home in the dark usually means 8mph or very unpredictable ride.

Took 2nd Ave straight down to the bridge on Friday. It wasn't bad, but lots of fun car traffic to worry about.

Coming to/from Park and 47th, does anyone have any nice routes to brooklyn/manhattan bridges that wont add too much time to the commute?

I ride from 3rd Ave & 46th to WTC a few times a month in the evening, and the smoothest / fastest / least-hairy route I've found is:

Lex south
L on 22nd
R on 3rd Ave > Bowery

That takes you right to the Manhattan Bridge.

The stretch on Lex next to Grand Central is usually thick with cars, but once you get through that it flows pretty well.

i go from williamsburg to 45th and 5th. I take the 6th ave up. But that's because I take the williamsburg bridge.

If you don't want to go on the streets, why don't u try the west side river path? Looks like it should be the same distance from the manhattan bridge to the west side and the FDR. And the west side is a much better ride.

Just an update.

On the way to work I get off the manhattan bridge, make a right on canale and a left onto Allen. Allen turns into 1st Ave and I take that all the way up to 47th and I cut across to park.

On the way home I just take 46th to 2nd and take 2nd all the way down. There is a bike path on the left side of 2nd south of 14th st. South of Houston 2nd turns to Christie St and takes you all the way to the Manhattan Bridge, Christie St has bike paths on either side.

Thanks for all the help.

I've been surveying the riders across the bridge as I go by on the train for a few years now, and this year much more than in the past there hasn't been a large drop-off in the number of riders as the weather gets colder. The most I've ever seen has been 31 from the train, 42 while on a bike, both on beautiful spring days. Today on the way home there were 20 riders. That's a lot for almost any day, never mind December. Bike commuting in NYC is picking up.