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Tips for a newbie NYC cyclist?

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Tips for a newbie NYC cyclist?

Old 08-08-14, 12:37 PM
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Tips for a newbie NYC cyclist?

I am currently a Chicagoan, planning a move to NYC in the next couple of months. I am trying to gauge how much of my current "cycling lifestyle" will be translatable to NYC and would welcome any thoughts from residents.

Right now, I can get a nice, medium-length ride in before going to work. Chicago has a multi-use path (the Lakefront Trail) that is great for this at off-peak times; it can accommodate faster riding, so I can get some decent mileage in on the way to work without taking an hour and a half to do it. Are there any trail or other networks in NYC that accommodate that kind of riding? I've discovered the Greenway, but I wonder if it's not really more of a commuting corridor. How's Central Park? Is that as much of a pain as I've read it to be?

Right now, I have access to a bike room in my office building that is accessible 24/7. My new office building will have limited bike room hours - 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays. This won't fully mesh with my schedule, so I'm trying to gauge what risks I'm taking with on-street parking. Bike parking near to my office (midtown, on Lexington Ave.) appears to be a bit of a gamble - there's a couple of four-to-six bike wavy racks around the block, and various sign poles. Assuming I'm familiar with the general principles and risks of outdoor parking, what should I expect on days I use outdoor parking before 7 a.m., after 6 p.m., and on weekends? Should I make a point of only bringing my beater to work, even when I know I'll be parked outside for only an hour or two?
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Old 08-08-14, 12:54 PM
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I ride the greenway every day. Not for commuting. I ride up to the George Washington Bridge & down to the trade center. Its commuting during peak hours, but off hours you can ride for fitness without worrying too much about others. Central park is a 6 mile loop with 3 hills, 1 of which is pretty steep for Manhattan standards. Avoid biking over the Brooklyn Bridge if possible, stick to the Manahttan & Williamsburg bridge if going to Brooklyn. I would bring a beater bike if you have one and want to lock it up outside. Make sure to lock through the frame and rear wheel and also lock the front wheel. People will steal bikes in crowded streets in day light (look on youtube).

The greenway + Central Park loop is about 26 miles, so Its easy to get miles in without dealing with cars & traffic lights. I average 17-20mph.

here's a snapshot of a typical greenway ride for me:


Typical Central Park Loop for me:

Last edited by AristoNYC; 08-08-14 at 12:58 PM.
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Old 08-08-14, 01:29 PM
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Thanks, Aristo, for an excellent and extremely helpful reply. 17-20 mph average is typically what I maintain on my morning rides, so it's great to know that's still doable.
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Old 08-08-14, 01:54 PM
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NYC is great for cycling. Next trip to the Big Apple, get a copy of the complimentary bike map available at any LBS. Tons of safe biking options. From a parking your bike on the street perspective, I would assume it will eventually get stolen (according to Bikesnob NYC). Our bike share, Citibike, is great for commuting if you're concerned about your ride getting lifted. Pedaling a 45 lbs bike with a laptop bag on your back is a decent workout. Especially if you have an East River bridge in your commute, like us Brooklynites.

For long rides, local favorites are
1. the 45-50 mile loop under the Verrazano, to Coney Island, the Rockaways and Belt Pkwy bike path.
2. make your way to the George Washington Bridge and follow the river up to Nyack and beyond (75+)
3. South/North County Trail is a "rails 2 trails" conversion suitable for road biking. Runs from VanCortland Park to Brewster.

Last edited by Whizzer283; 08-08-14 at 01:57 PM. Reason: whoops
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Old 08-08-14, 02:16 PM
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Thanks, Whizzer. I appreciate especially your long ride tips; that's something I've wanted to do for a while, but has been impractical for me given where I'm situated in Chicagoland's bike infrastructure.

I'll definitely explore Citibike. It sounds like it'll be handy when my bike is inevitably stolen! I've avoided Chicago's bikeshare (Divvy) because my commute distance is longer (9 miles minimum), the docks aren't greatly located for me, and there have been some systemwide issues with rebalancing. Since I'll probably be much closer to work in NYC, it'll be more practical at least distance-wise. How's the program been managed, otherwise?
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Old 08-08-14, 02:51 PM
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Originally Posted by Whizzer283
1. the 45-50 mile loop under the Verrazano, to Coney Island, the Rockaways and Belt Pkwy bike path.
Do you have a map of this route? I do the belt parkway bike paths all the time, including Flatbush to Knapp, then through Brighton and Coney, then to Ceasar's Bay and under the Verrazzano, etc. I would assume that this would also involve going through Howard Beach and Rockaway via Cross Bay Blvd, so I get all that but I am not familiar with this as a loop. Not 100% sure how to connect Williamsburg through the park the Jackie Robinson spans and then from there, presumably into Howard Beach.

A map of this loop would be AWESOME!
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Old 08-08-14, 08:46 PM
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Originally Posted by Whizzer283
NYC is great for cycling. Next trip to the Big Apple, get a copy of the complimentary bike map available at any LBS. Tons of safe biking options.
No need to wait. The PDF version of the map is available on the NYC DOT website, so you can download it and look through it now or keep it on your smartphone.

NYC DOT - Bicycle Maps

There are also free apps for the same purpose in the App Store, like NYC Bike Map 2013, although they may not be current.
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Old 08-08-14, 08:48 PM
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I've done the Lakefront trail many times, and I'd say it is equivalent to the West Side Greenway..Both are mostly flat, both have both serious and casual riders, although the serious riders in NYC tend to use it mostly as a way to get past the traffic and not to ride fast.

If you plan on riding a nice bike to work, well, forget that plan. Use a beater bike for that unless you have secure parking.

There are a lot of places to ride, and the best is probably in New Jersey across the GWB. Either 9W to Nyack or River Road (aka Henry Hudson Pkway) to Alpine and then 9W. Brooklyn is a good place to ride, but there isn't one place to go there, except Prospect Park. Too many other places to go to describe.
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Old 08-08-14, 08:55 PM
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Originally Posted by Simon Phearson
I'll definitely explore Citibike. It sounds like it'll be handy when my bike is inevitably stolen! I've avoided Chicago's bikeshare (Divvy) because my commute distance is longer (9 miles minimum), the docks aren't greatly located for me, and there have been some systemwide issues with rebalancing. Since I'll probably be much closer to work in NYC, it'll be more practical at least distance-wise. How's the program been managed, otherwise?
Unfortunately, the thing about Citi Bike is that it's still only in phase 1. The lower half of Manhattan and northwest portion of Brooklyn have good coverage, but the rest of the city has no stations yet.

https://www.citibikenyc.com/stations

There's a Citi Bike app available for both iOS and Android.

https://www.citibikenyc.com/get-the-app
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Old 08-09-14, 09:08 PM
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You didn't mention where you'll be living. This could greatly affect your training rides. As for secure parking last year parking garages were required by law to provide bicycle parking. The ones that i see where I live charge around $7-8 per day+tax. That would be an alternative to street parking if you don't have a beater bike. Parts have been known to be stripped off bikes that can't be completely stolen.
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Old 08-11-14, 07:04 AM
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Originally Posted by ChiroVette
Do you have a map of this route? I do the belt parkway bike paths all the time, including Flatbush to Knapp, then through Brighton and Coney, then to Ceasar's Bay and under the Verrazzano, etc. I would assume that this would also involve going through Howard Beach and Rockaway via Cross Bay Blvd, so I get all that but I am not familiar with this as a loop. Not 100% sure how to connect Williamsburg through the park the Jackie Robinson spans and then from there, presumably into Howard Beach.

A map of this loop would be AWESOME!
The only thing I would do differently is to take Rockaway Beach Blvd in Rockaway rather than try to go along the bay. The bay trail has areas where superstorm Sandy stole some pavement. Here you go... Cyclemeter - Cycle - Aug 2, 2014, 1:46 PM






Last edited by Whizzer283; 08-11-14 at 07:10 AM. Reason: whoops
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Old 08-11-14, 08:57 AM
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Originally Posted by Whizzer283
The only thing I would do differently is to take Rockaway Beach Blvd in Rockaway rather than try to go along the bay. The bay trail has areas where superstorm Sandy stole some pavement. Here you go... Cyclemeter - Cycle - Aug 2, 2014, 1:46 PM





Totally agree with you about Rockaway Beach Blvd, which is the way I take through that area all the time. For a few weeks it was a nightmare. In early July they were tearing up the streets and it was like driving over cobblestone for intermittent parts of the route.

Thanks for the map. Unfortunately, I thought it was something else you were referring to. I was looking to go from the Kings Plaza (Mill Basin area) and make the complete circle. A lot of that route is what I was looking for but I was thinking of going from the Brooklyn Bridge segment through Williamsburg, then heading toward Cypress, then across that area in the very outskirts of Brooklyn then toward Crossbay.

Hey let me ask you something: How do you edit that map like you posted a link to to make it more of a route I would like to try? Special app? Do it through Google Maps?
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Old 08-11-14, 08:58 AM
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Thanks, Zacster. Based on the advice so far, and on my parking options, it looks like I'll probably only use my beater bike to ride into work. I'll be able to lock it up in secure storage except for maybe one or two hours a day, during which times it'll need to be locked up outside. On the weekends I'll just have to take transit, take my chances with all-day outdoor parking, or find a garage with bike parking.
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Old 08-11-14, 09:02 AM
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Originally Posted by streetstomper
Unfortunately, the thing about Citi Bike is that it's still only in phase 1. The lower half of Manhattan and northwest portion of Brooklyn have good coverage, but the rest of the city has no stations yet.

https://www.citibikenyc.com/stations

There's a Citi Bike app available for both iOS and Android.

https://www.citibikenyc.com/get-the-app
Thanks for pointing that out, StreetStomper. It does look, from the map, that it's unlikely to be of much use for commuting to or from home.
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Old 08-11-14, 09:06 AM
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Originally Posted by dendawg
You didn't mention where you'll be living. This could greatly affect your training rides. As for secure parking last year parking garages were required by law to provide bicycle parking. The ones that i see where I live charge around $7-8 per day+tax. That would be an alternative to street parking if you don't have a beater bike. Parts have been known to be stripped off bikes that can't be completely stolen.
I didn't mention where I'd be living because I actually don't know yet. Right now I'm looking at a number of places in Queens, Brooklyn, and even some parts of Manhattan. I think Central Park and/or the Greenway would be good options for many of the places that I'm looking at, given what others have said, though I'm not sure what I'll do if I end up deeper into Queens.

The parking garage solution is a possibility I hadn't realized might exist, so thanks for bringing up. I'm pretty sure we don't have anything like that in Chicago, yet.
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Old 08-11-14, 01:00 PM
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Originally Posted by ChiroVette
Totally agree with you about Rockaway Beach Blvd, which is the way I take through that area all the time. For a few weeks it was a nightmare. In early July they were tearing up the streets and it was like driving over cobblestone for intermittent parts of the route.

Thanks for the map. Unfortunately, I thought it was something else you were referring to. I was looking to go from the Kings Plaza (Mill Basin area) and make the complete circle. A lot of that route is what I was looking for but I was thinking of going from the Brooklyn Bridge segment through Williamsburg, then heading toward Cypress, then across that area in the very outskirts of Brooklyn then toward Crossbay.

Hey let me ask you something: How do you edit that map like you posted a link to to make it more of a route I would like to try? Special app? Do it through Google Maps?
I'd like to be able to help but my experience in editing routes in maps (irregardless of the application) has been a disappointment. Whether it was in MayMyRide or Google Maps, map editing doesn't seem very functional.

The loop your describing starts taking you into parts of Brooklyn that are poorly serviced with bike routes. If you're interested in discovering new NYC bike paths, Transportation Alternatives' NYC Century Tour (nyccentury.org) is a good option. The route changes each year to take advantage of new additions to NYC's bike infrastructure. I found this map from the 2010 Tour NYC Century Bike Tour (rough estimate) in New York, NY, United States | MapMyRide

Not only may you uncover a new favorite path, but you can feel good about the entry fee as TA has been the most vocal and effective proponent of cycling infrastructure in the 5 boroughs

Last edited by Whizzer283; 08-11-14 at 01:03 PM. Reason: whoops
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Old 08-11-14, 01:07 PM
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Originally Posted by Simon Phearson
Thanks for pointing that out, StreetStomper. It does look, from the map, that it's unlikely to be of much use for commuting to or from home.
Depends on where you live and work. If you live and work in the Citibike zone, its great for commuting.

Recently there has been announcements that Citibike has found a new additional sponsor that will enable the expansion of bike share to points North, South and East of the current service areas. Nabes that I had heard mentioned were Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Red Hook, Park Slope and Long Island City.
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Old 08-11-14, 01:09 PM
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Originally Posted by Simon Phearson
I didn't mention where I'd be living because I actually don't know yet. Right now I'm looking at a number of places in Queens, Brooklyn, and even some parts of Manhattan. I think Central Park and/or the Greenway would be good options for many of the places that I'm looking at, given what others have said, though I'm not sure what I'll do if I end up deeper into Queens.

The parking garage solution is a possibility I hadn't realized might exist, so thanks for bringing up. I'm pretty sure we don't have anything like that in Chicago, yet.
If you want to live in a bike friendly nabe, avoid South Brooklyn, most of Queens (except for LIC), the South Bronx and Staten Island.
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Old 08-11-14, 01:23 PM
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Originally Posted by Whizzer283
I'd like to be able to help but my experience in editing routes in maps (irregardless of the application) has been a disappointment. Whether it was in MayMyRide or Google Maps, map editing doesn't seem very functional.

The loop your describing starts taking you into parts of Brooklyn that are poorly serviced with bike routes. If you're interested in discovering new NYC bike paths, Transportation Alternatives' NYC Century Tour (nyccentury.org) is a good option. The route changes each year to take advantage of new additions to NYC's bike infrastructure. I found this map from the 2010 Tour NYC Century Bike Tour (rough estimate) in New York, NY, United States | MapMyRide

Not only may you uncover a new favorite path, but you can feel good about the entry fee as TA has been the most vocal and effective proponent of cycling infrastructure in the 5 boroughs
Dying to do the Century this year, but my band is playing GratefulFest on that Sunday, and we go on at 12:00 way up in Centerport Long Island. This is kind of the route I envisioned. I made it on Google maps about 2 years ago, but never got around to riding the entire thing. You are right that some of the streets are not cycle friendly, which is why I made the map as "walking routes," because Google Maps doesn't let you force a route if the software feels that your bike doesn't belong there. Here:

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6585...8882989b?hl=en
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Old 08-11-14, 03:32 PM
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Welcome to NYC. I think you'll find it to be a relatively safe and decent place to ride a bike. It's not the middle of nowhere with endless, flat, deserted roads, but as others have mentioned, there are a few nice escapes from the traffic and street lights in the city. If you're going to ride in the parks or the greenway, it's best to get up early or go out late (with a light). I sometimes ride Central Park at dusk, which clears out most of the tourists, but leaves enough locals running and cycling for a few more hours to be safe. Otherwise, cross the GWB and check out Henry Hudson Drive and 9W. Both are relatively low traffic on the weekends (especially early in the morning) and provide a nice break from the craziness in the city. Despite the cars, I actually feel safer on those roads than in Central Park where tourists like to stop abruptly, crash abruptly, take selfies while biking, etc. Have fun and feel free to PM me if you need help with specific routes in Manhattan/NJ since that's primarily where I ride.

Last edited by tumbler; 08-11-14 at 03:34 PM. Reason: Correcting Henry Hudson Pkwy to Henry Hudson Dr. I don't recommend biking on Henry Hudson Pkwy!
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Old 08-14-14, 10:15 PM
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Originally Posted by Whizzer283
If you want to live in a bike friendly nabe, avoid South Brooklyn, most of Queens (except for LIC), the South Bronx and Staten Island.
Thanks for the tips, Whizzer. As it turns out, it looks like I'll end up in LIC. I'm trying to think of good routes to ride from my soon-to-be apartment; the Greenway looks like it's going to be a long stop-and-go trip across the city, with Central Park being perhaps a more feasible option (though Tumbler's comment about its safety after dark makes me wary to give it a go in the early-morning hours; I thought it'd gotten better?). Looking to the Strava heatmap for some inspiration, it looks like a lot of people run down Queens Blvd., though I'm not sure they're riding on the main drag - it looks a bit... intimidating? It doesn't look like a place to expect safe driving behavior.

It looks there might also be some options for cutting down into Brooklyn, for example, down to Prospect Park, along nearly continuous bike infra. I'm loath to devise a route that spends so much time eating exhaust, but I guess that's kind of what I'm signing up for, moving to New York...

Anyway, I'd love any insights you might have on Queens-oriented options. A lot of the options people are offering seem great but come with a steep price of admission (i.e., lengthy cross-town rides just to get to entry points), given where I'll be living.
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Old 08-15-14, 03:45 AM
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From LIC you should cross the Pulaski bridge into Brooklyn, go right at the bottom to Franklin St, and then left and you'll be on the Brooklyn Waterfront greenway. It isn't fast riding though, still through streets. You'll go through one of the more popular spots in Williamsburg, the hipster hangout that is now more wealthy/touristy than hipster. Plus at some point you'll be able to turn left off towards Prospect Park on either Washington Ave or Vanderbilt Ave. These aren't separated bike lanes, but there are a lot of bikes on both these streets, especially Vanderbilt. You can do laps of Prospect (and the old guy on the raw carbon Kuota is probably me) and when you get bored with that you can exit at the bottom of the hill and take Ocean Parkway out to Coney Island. Ocean Parkway has a fully separated bike lane, the oldest in the country, but the intersections make it less than ideal sometimes. Also peds seem to ignore that it is a bike lane.

Queens just isn't a great place to ride, although it has gotten better.

The NYC Century is a great way to see lots of bike routes, as they try to stay on them and hit them all. You will see some bikeways in eastern Queens, but they are fairly far out there and would be otherwise hard to find.
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Old 08-15-14, 06:09 AM
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Originally Posted by Simon Phearson
it looks like a lot of people run down Queens Blvd., though I'm not sure they're riding on the main drag
I live in Brooklyn and when riding to Queens, I try to stay off Queens Blvd. It is a HUGE thoroughfare cutting across the entire borough from the south side of the 59th Street Bridge almost all the way to the Belt Parkway, or rather it ends on Hillside right near the Van Wyck around the Kew Gardens Interchange.

All that said, because of its practically bisecting Queens, running almost dead-center through the congested borough, it is often more difficult to avoid than to traverse, and trying to stay off it more often than not, can get you lost because of the confusing labeling of Queens' streets and avenues. lol You have 40th Avenue, 40th Street, 40th Drive, and 40th Road, for instance, all in the same general area. Now I can navigate Queens, having lived in the Big Apple my whole life, but it is tough for a new resident. Make sure you have a good smart phone with GPS or a bike computer with GPS, because Queens is not a "grid-style" map like Manhattan, which is a very easy borough to navigate because of it being a grid.

The good news about Queens Blvd. for a cyclist is that you do have the benefit of a service road that runs the entire length from south to north. It is very navigable on a bike, but I would maybe slow down a tad, stay as far to the right as is safe, and watch out for traffic going from the service road to the main part of the boulevard and the traffic from the boulevard into the service road. Queens Blvd. is also one of those streets where motorists drive fast, so STAY OUT OF THE MAIN ROAD. Stay in the service road and resist any temptation to use the main drag.

I have ridden on Queens Blvd. many times, and it is totally doable, and because it is a huge, landmark, it makes going from north to south or south to north a much easier time. Trust me, if you try to take other streets and alternate routes and don't know where you're going, you will get lost fast.

Here is another nice route into the nicer parts of Brooklyn:

Take Queens Blvd to Woodhaven Blvd. (right near the Queens Center Mall). Then take Woodhaven a couple of miles until it becomes Crossbay Blvd. Now as you pass over the Belt Parkway, you can make your first right onto the Shore Parkway Service Road, then a left onto 84th Street, going under the Belt Pkwy., then your first right then first left right onto the Belt Parkway bike path. This goes right into Brooklyn, passing Erskine Street (nice outdoor mall) then Pennsylvania Ave., then Rockaway Parkway into Canarsie. You can also keep going on the path to the Marine Park area via Flatbush Avenue. You can take it one more exit through Gerritsen Beach and get off at Knapp Street, where the path ends. You can then take Emmons through Manhattan Beach and then through Coney Island (where it becomes Neptune Ave) then you can work your way around to Bensonhurst and pick up the Greenway again at the end of Bay Parkway, where you will be treated to a gorgeous, waterfront ride under the Verrazzano and into Bay Ridge.

Oh and make sure you sign your name and give your riding info in this thread I created: https://www.bikeforums.net/northeast/...t-version.html

The old thread has not been maintained by the OP and so I started this one to coordinate rides and stuff for anyone interested.

Last edited by ChiroVette; 08-15-14 at 06:14 AM.
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Old 08-15-14, 09:49 AM
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Queens is actually not bad to bicycle in. Of course we don't have many bike lanes, which is a shame. But there are plenty of great streets that are bike-friendly.

Queens Blvd., however, is not one of them; and neither, really, is Woodhaven Blvd. I live at Woodhaven Blvd. and Jamaica Ave., so I often have to take Woodhaven Blvd. for some short distances. But I use alternatives whenever possible. The best alternative to Woodhaven Blvd. is 80th St., which runs from Myrtle Ave. up to Grand Ave.

You mentioned that you'll be living in Long Island City. While Queens Blvd. runs through LIC and Sunnyside, my advice is to just forget about it unless you are riding in the overnight hours. It's much more pleasant to go a little out of the way to the north and hit 31st Ave. This extremely useful avenue goes east-west, parallel to Queens Blvd. for quite a long way, from the East River all the way to 103rd St. There is a bike lane on 34th Ave. east of 60th St.; but that won't help you in Long Island City. So I'd say that 31st Ave. is the better choice.

Access to both bridges, the Queensboro and the Triborough, is very good via bike-laned and bike-friendly streets. To get to the Queensboro Bridge, the best option is 21st St. Where that street crosses Queens Plaza N., there is an on-sidewalk bike lane. You take that lane east a couple of blocks, and then U-turn onto the bridge.

Getting on the Triborough Bridge is just as easy. The idea is to get to 27th St. and Astoria Blvd., and go north from there. So, coming from LIC, you can take any northbound through street up to Astoria Blvd. and go either right or left (depending on the street you have chosen) to get to 27th St. Then go north on that street one block to the bridge entry at Hoyt Ave. Taking the Triborough Bridge requires the use of stairs at three different locations on the crossing from Queens to Randall's Island. (Also, be aware that the official rule is that riding on the bridge path is prohibited; though I have never seen nor heard of enforcement of this.) The crossing from Randall's Island to the Bronx is not far from the landing from Queens, and is very short. The crossing to Manhattan is a little tougher to find; it's also short.

Another street to avoid in Queens, along with the aforementioned Queens Blvd. and Woodhaven Blvd., is Northern Blvd., which runs the entire width of Queens. However, in Flushing there is an entry to the Flushing Bay bike path on Northern near Main St. I also recommend skipping Metropolitan Ave. (despite its useful trajectory), as there is very little shoulder room on much of it

Hillside Ave. is good from its inception in Richmond Hill up to about the Van Wyck Expressway; and then again from Hollis out through the City line. But the section of it in Jamaica is very packed with buses, which makes it frustrating.

In the western portion of Queens near the Brooklyn border, Linden Blvd. is very bad, almost highway-like; but the section of it east of Aqueduct Racetrack is actually an excellent bike road.

Hills are generally not a problem in the western sections of Queens. The ridge called the Terminal Moraine (the furthest extent south of the ice sheets in the last Ice Age) runs east-west through Queens parallel to and north of Jamaica Ave. (This answers the question that I had as a kid growing up in Queens Village just south of the Moraine about why every street was uphill going north.) The only very large hills in Queens are found in the northeast corner, in Douglaston and Little Neck.

Major roadways which are very good for bikes are Francis Lewis Blvd. north of Hillside Ave., 108th St. north of Queens Blvd., 73rd Ave. east of Flushing Meadow Park, Springfield Blvd., and Bell Blvd.

There aren't many real separated cycle tracks in Queens. Worth mentioning is the Belt Pkwy. (Shore Pkwy.) Greenway, which begins at 84th St. in Lindenwood near the Brooklyn border, and extends about six miles along the southern coast to Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn (the segment west of that is still closed due to hurricane damage), where you can go south over a bridge back into Queens to get to Riis Park, which is on the Rockaway peninsula.

From the centre of Rockaway there is a bridge up to the island of Broad Channel, which is mainly a wildlife preserve, but which is inhabited only at its southern tip. (The houses are on stilts and are extremely rickety-looking. Many years ago Mayor Lindsay tried, but unfortunately failed, to relocate the residents, both for their benefit and for the good of the wetlands-dwelling wildlife. One supposes that Mother Nature will ultimately succeed where Lindsay failed.) After you pass by this (eminently pass-by-able) residential area, you find approximately two miles worth of straight riding with no lights on the only road through the preserve. Then there's another bridge back to "mainland" Queens.

Another good bike path is the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway (so called because of its origin as one of the first paved roads in the U.S., built by a bratty Vanderbilt kid as a place to race his cars), which extends a couple of miles between Cunningham and Alley Pond Parks, but which connects on its western end with the bike path through the parks of Kissena Corridor, adding up to about a five-mile ride. And if you're a real hotshot who likes to go round in circles on a racetrack, there is a velodrome track in Kissena Park near the Parsons Blvd. entrance along Booth Memorial Ave.

So, I hope you have fun riding in Queens. I will admit that the best thing for a bicyclist about being in Long Island City is the proximity to the great bike lanes of Manhattan, and also to Brooklyn, both of which are much better for biking than Queens is. But Queens is not a total wasteland. Actually, you'll find that the small local streets are generally very pleasant to ride on.

Last edited by Ferdinand NYC; 08-15-14 at 09:53 AM.
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Old 08-15-14, 11:07 AM
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Originally Posted by Ferdinand NYC
Queens is actually not bad to bicycle in.....

Wow, your entire post is absolutely AMAZING information. I am going to read and digest it as you obviously know all the ins and outs of cycling in Queens!

I may elicit your help for a nice ride I am planning (or hell, you and others in the forum may want to join me on it). I have the route almost completely mapped out in terms of the other boroughs and leaving Queens. But here is the ride I want to plan.

I live in the Bergen Beach (Mill Basin) area of Brooklyn, very close to Kings Plaza. The ride I want to do is to start around there, then go up to the Belt Parkway Bike Path, then West, then into Coney Island, then Bensonhurst and pick up the Greenway at Ceasar's Bay; under the Verrazzano, then 3rd Ave, Hamilton, etc.., to the Brooklyn Bridge; then into Manhattan, to Battery Park, grab the Greenway on the west side to the George Washington. From there, into the Bronx, passing Yankees Stadium. Then from there, Southwest into Queens, Woodhaven to Crossbay to the Belt parkway bike path, and finish the circle.

The leg of the trip I am having trouble planning, however, is basically going from Yankee Stadium to wherever I pick up Queens Blvd and Woodhaven. It is a very confusing stretch, up to and including the Triborough Bridge. I mapped it out with Google Maps set for traveling by bike, but it is an awful lot to remember all those turns and I don't have a turn-by-turn GPS for the bike.
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