Marto32

Hi All,

I'm re posting this here from the general forums:

I'm new to the cycling community and looking to train on a more regular/disciplined basis. I live in NYC and usually ride in the park (thus far only on weekends). My work schedule will permit me to ride either very early in the morning (during the week) or around 7:30 8pm in the evenings. For those of you that train in the park, is it safe this time of year from ~7:30-9pm? If it is busy around those times, great. My concern not only lies with the possibility of being mugged, but also getting hurt and not having anyone close to help. Otherwise I'm going to have to push myself to do the early morning ride which will take some getting used to.

M

reducedfatoreo

7:30-9 should be fine...there will still be activity then, especially as it starts staying light later and later.

I actually love taking the loop late at night when there's no one else on it, but that's just me, and I'll only do that if I'm on the east side (I'm up in Inwood, so I have to get west at some point). Take a cell phone with you anyway and ride in the center lane. That will give you enough buffer on either side to see if there's anyone around crossing the road or whatnot. Just watch out for cops when you're running red lights; they've been ticketing, and I dont know if the blitz has stopped yet.

Don't forget lights. Nobody likes a ninja.

Stacy

Watch out for raccoons! They tend to come out just as it's getting dark.

BridgeNotTunnel

I'll take my chances on the Ward's Island Loop for night laps, thank you very much.

reducedfatoreo

Heh, I bet that's a ton of fun...not many people except the psych patients around Ward's at night! Watch out for them crazies

I'd have so much more fun taking the Triboro out to Astoria to visit friends (and the beer gardens) if it weren't for all the forsaken stairs on the bridge. Why couldn't they take them out when they were doing construction a little while back?

BridgeNotTunnel

Due to my clyde status those steps are sometimes a welcome breather.

It would be great to roll over non stop like the 59th.

And yes, I do believe I've seen a few of the psych patients shuffling about in the day time, but rarely do I see anybody there at night.