Great! But I wonder whether a day trip is feasible. It's about three and a half hours each way on the bus from Baltimore. But, if that suits your fancy, then go for it. Also, remember that New York is huge; it is nearly four times the size of Baltimore. Even if you throw out Staten Island (which I wish we could do! honestly, there is no point in visiting there), that still leaves a land mass of the size of three Baltimores. So, if you were just up for the day, it might be good to concentrate mainly on Manhattan, with any excursions into the other boroughs not taking you very far into them. The bike lanes are concentrated in Manhattan anyway. Still, there are plenty of outer-borough streets that are good for riding, most of which don't have bike lanes.


The Citbike stations are easy to find in Manhattan south of the 90s, in areas of Brooklyn and Queens that are immediately adjecent to the East River bridges, and even in Jersey City across the Hudson. (Hoboken has a separate bike-share system.) I am a member of Citibike, even though I have only used it once or twice. I became a member just to support it.

I think that your supposition that Manhattan is great to ride in is correct. It is actually my favourite place. There are many bike lanes; and, despite their flaws (they disappear at intersections; too few are protected; many are poorly maintained with the paint eroding; nothing stops cars from parking in them), they have transformed Manhattan.

Many people like to ride the Hudson River Greenway, which goes the whole length of Manhattan Island. While I also ride on this once in a while, and while I am very glad it is there, I will admit that I get a bit bored and frustrated with it. I get bored because it feels remote; a rider on that lane does not feel the energy of the city. (And I am aware that some people would respond "that's a feature, not a bug".)

I get frustrated because, even in this space that is supposed to be set aside for the use of bicyclists and pedestrians, we see enough bad behaviour on the part of both groups part to sour the experience. There are a few red lights on the Hudson River Greenway; also, there are several crosswalks where bicyclists are meant to stop for any pedestrians who are trying to cross. Speaking as someone who always stops at these things, I can recount my annoyance at seeing other cyclists zoom past me, and seeing pedestrians scooting across when they should have the right of way.

The pedestrians have their own set of misbehaviours. While in some sections the Greenway is a shared path, in others there are clearly deliniated and separate paths: one for bicyclists/rollerbladers, and one for pedestrians/joggers. Yet many pedestrians and joggers walk and run in the bicycle lanes, reducing these lanes' utility. To see this great infrastructure be chronically abused is very disheartening. Still, the Greenway is worth trying out.

Central Park is rather pleasant; but it's just a loop. Bikes cannot go on the many little park roads that are made for walking.

Our streets are where it's at. I would just caution you not to expect the kind of civility and gentility on our many bike-laned streets that one can see on R Street NW, on 15th Street NW, or in other great Washington bike lanes. And I will apologise in advance for the many a-holes whom you will see, who are doing their best to turn the rest of the world against us. I hope that you get up here before these people succeed, and we start losing bike lanes.



I have just arranged to make yet another trip to Washington; but this time I intend to ride all the way. (Ak! What have I done??) I am now doing research about routes. I have already done a ride back and forth to Philadelphia, 120 miles each way. This ride features that trip, in addition to two more days of 80 miles each in both directions. So that's three days to get down there; one day of rest (or, really, of light riding) in Washington; and three days to get back to New York. Let's see what happens!