mx22

Hello,

I was wondering where/how people who live in NYC train on bikes? I find it hard/next to impossible to find a long stretch of even relatively empty road to do the intervals. There is plenty of space for easy rides, but I'm yet to find space where I can do 3+ minute 'all out' intervals in relative safety for myself and people around me. I'm in Brooklyn, within 10-15min easy bike ride from Verrazano bridge bikeway and this is probably the best place I found so far; but it is still way too busy (plus bike path itself in places has these huge holes that if you hit and ended up only with a puncture, it was your lucky day) for me to even start thinking of pushing hard - I always have to be lookout for other people or the road ahead of me. Are indoor trainers is the only way to go?

Thanks!

thatcycleguy

Central Park 6am. I find Monday's and Wednesday's to be the best for local tallent. Watch for and find the faster groups and fall inline. You'll get you intervals, I promise.

imike01

Try Floyd Bennett Field - lots of empty space there.
If you are in the area you can also cross the Marine Bridge and go to the Rockaway Point Blvd towards Breezy Point - not very long but a nice road

Belt bikeway is ok also but it has obstacles such us narrow bridges, sand patches and few road crossings

mx22

Thanks, I thought of Floyd Bennett field, but I have to cross the 'sandy dunes' by Plum Beach and it keeps putting me off... And do they allow bicycles on Rockaway Point Blvd? I've crossed the Marine Bridge a couple of times, but always assumed bikes were not allowed on it.

imike01

That sand patch is very short (100 yards or so) - annoying but not that bad.
You can probably go around it if you prefer - take Avenue U and turn on Flatbush (I never tried it)

Rockaway Point Blvd has a nice (shared) bike path.
Open Google Map and select bicycling - it will show you paths in the area - I find it very useful

Marine bridge is a pain to ride - it is narrow and you are supposed to unmount and walk. Noone does of course but you can get a ticket if caught

UnfilteredDregs

Henry Hudson Park & 9W across the GWB.

In Brooklyn the Prospect Park loop is quite popular. There's a good 21 mile lap around Jamaica Bay as well.

mx22

imike - problem is not in walking, but the amount of sand that tends to get seemingly everywhere. Bike, shoes and me, all get full of sand and then I get to listen to my wife complain about the sand everywhere in the apartment. I've seen people taking a shortcut and riding the bike through Belt Pkwy car entrance on Knapp St. and then keeping to the side of the highway until Plum Beach exit - it's not a long ride along the highway, but I'd rather walk the sand then take my chances being hit by a car on highway...

cafzali

I preface this by saying I've never done it, but all my cycling friends who have ridden FBF say the surface stinks.

mx22

I rode there a few times before I got fed up with sand by Plum beach... Main road (used by cars to get to the Aviator's parking) is nice and is probably long enough for 2-3 minutes intervals (at least at my skill level; according to Google Maps it's just over a mile long). If needed, I guess, one can always extend over to one of the adjusting runways - surface there is indeed not in great condition and you need to look ahead, but it's not much worse then some of the roads in the city (I wouldn't go all out on them, but probably would be OK doing SS intervals).

ChiroVette

I think that when you are dealing with motorist traffic, shared paths with peds and bikes, crowded streets, and roads that are unpredictably chewed up and ridden with potholes that true interval training simply isn't possible. I have hit more potholes and crappy bumps that almost tossed me off my bike (would have, in fact, tossed me off my bike if I was going any faster) and if you don't have them memorized, they can sneak up on you FAST. I ride the belt parkway bike path and I can tell you this:

You already know about the sand and place where you have to walk your bike by Plumb Beach.
When going East from Flatbush to Crossbay, one would think that you could go all out, but there is a big chewed up road and bump section by the horse stables that will send you end over end off your bike if you hit it full speed. You have the little bridges over the water near Mill Basin, then Bergen Beach, then Canarsie, then Erskine, and they are all narrow and unsafe to go full speed.

You can open her up a little on the path between Ceasar's Bay (Bay Parkway and the Belt) and the five or six mile stretch to the exit at Owl's Head, but then you have kids running in the path, oblivious joggers with their earbuds making them oblivious to your presence, and so on and so forth, which will restrict you from true interval training.

Then you have the various greenways, like the Hudson River, which is a beautiful path but suffers the same fate as the one between Bay Parkway and Owl's Head. All the street bike lanes have dangers we all know about, such as sudden streetside car doors opening in your face, drivers completely ignoring the bike lanes, drivers going too fast, and a plethora of, you guessed it, potholes!

I can go on and on, and I know this post will be met with some resentment or anger, but I think true interval training on a bike in this city would mostly have to take place on a stationary bike. I just think it is way too dangerous to be opening it up and pedaling so hard that you could be seriously injured.

On the belt path at Bay Parkway, I will try to average about 18ish milers pee hour and even go more for short bursts IF there are very few people on the path and I can see far enough ahead, but that's about it. Same for various Greenway segments. And honestly, with motorists often driving erratic and unpredictably combined with the myriad of potholes and big bumps that could make you fly over your handlebars if you hit them at more then 15 miles per hour, do you really want to play with your life like that? I can't even begin to imagine doing 20+ miles per hour on the streets OR paths of NY City.

Just waaaaaay too dangerous. One mistake, either by you or a motorist, and you could be toast!

Edit: Here are my sort of loosely thought out speed rules for myself:

On a straight up empty bike path in good repair, with no people on it or almost deserted, I will go faster than other situations, but still won't force myself past 18 MPH average sustained speeds> I will allow myself about 20+ a little for very short bursts. This is in case unexpected potholes, bumps, chewed up road that a tire can "catch" in, and people running out in front of me.

On paths a little more crowded but not too bad, I shoot for around 15-16 MPH, giving me plenty of reaction time for unexpected and potentially dangerous road flaws such as holes, etc and also possible pedestrians on the path.

Dedicated bike paths on streets with traffic. I will go at most 15 MPH, but try to stay around 13ish or 14ish depending on road conditions and the aggressiveness of motorists on the road.

Share bike/motorist lanes I will try to stay around 13 to 14 MPH to allow some margin of error for motorists making overly aggressive or just stupid moves, as well as, of course, potholes.

On the street where there is no dedicated bike lane, I will shoot for between 12+ and 14+ and rarely if ever go faster. If I do, it would have to be a very deserted and newly paved blacktop and not for very long. Usually I am closer to 12 MPH OR LESS on streets that have a lot of motorists but that are moving fast, in other words where traffic isn't so intense that it is actually slowing me down and I am basically limiting my own speed not having it limited for me.

mx22

Thanks ChiroVette - I think this more or less sums up my experiences so far...

UnfilteredDregs

Nope. Anyone who seriously trains in this city heads over to Henry Hudson Park & 9W on the other side of the GWB...or as others have said CP and Prospect Park early in the morning.

The places to do it are here. I know quite a few fellows who come up from BK, cross the bridge and do intervals on the Jersey side, or who get up very early and head to CP or Prospect.

Plenty of places to do interval work in this city.

ChiroVette

First off, 9W is NOT NYC. it is North Jersey and goes into parts of rural NY State, like Nuyack. The OP was asking about NYC, not "NYC'ish" Second, I have been in Central and Prospect Parks early in the morning when there were plenty of people around. Not anywhere near as much as, say in the afternoons or weekends, later in the AM and afternoons, but enough to create some danger while plowing through at breakneck speeds for a road bike. In short, you may be comfortable doing 20+ MPH for extended periods in CP and PP early in the morning, but I certainly am not.

UnfilteredDregs

The body of NYC road cyclists train there. It is considered part of the NYC cycling infrastructure, regardless of state. You want to do hill repeats, you go over to Ranger Station.

Plenty of room in CP and PP early in the morning during the week. 6am. I've safely averaged 19mph around CP on the weekend, in the afternoon. You can most easily do that in the wee hours of the morning.

It is done, people do it, and it's plenty safe.

There's a 20+ mile loop around Jamaica Bay.

There's 40+ miles straight North in the Bronx.

There's 50+ miles to Bear Mountain and back.

The largest investment in cycling infrastructure has been made in the NYC Metropolitan area (which includes Jersey...) as far as the USA goes. The 9W corridor may be the most traversed cycling corridor in the USA.

So, To say that an indoor trainer is the only way in NYC is patently untrue given the plain reality of life here.

thatcycleguy

+1

I've ridden CP numerous times at 6am. I've never had an issue averaging over 22mph and always leave with my tail tucked between my legs. Training with other cyclist at 6am in CP will push your limits beyond intervals.

And for for someone to say that 9w is not part of NYC cycling shouldn't be giving others advice about NYC cycling.

mx22

9W might be OK for people living in Manhattan, but for me its around 24 miles and 2+ hours away on a bike. Doing any kind of hard training and then facing 2 hours of riding back is not something I would consider realistic. Even by car, it's over an hour with all of the traffic in the city. This might be OK for once in a while excursion, but definitely not everyday/weekend.

Jamaica Bay - are we talking about the bikeway along Belt Pkwy? As noted above, sand by Plum beach and some of the bridges are really hair raising. I do have to say, there might be stretches long enough for some quick intervals now that they redone some of the areas, but unfortunately for me, I first have to get through Plum beach sand.

UnfilteredDregs

Not Plum Beach:

https://www.strava.com/segments/5456681

AristoNYC

I train in central park or the west side bike path, as long as you do it on off hours you have no problem.
Granted I'm not the fastest, and I was using my fixed gear bike, but this was at 7pm yesterday in Central Park:


Easy to do a quick 20 miles on the hudson river greenway:

ChiroVette

The OP asked about NYC not NYC area. So you're wrong on that. I am not saying it isn't a viable path, but it is NOT NYC. You can jump through whatever hoops you like and parse your point by saying is is "part of NYC cycling" but the OP asked about NYC not "NYCish" or the NYC area. I am sure there are also plenty of other areas in Nuyack, Rockland, and North Jersey that you can also illegitimately call "NYC Cycling" but I answered what the OP asked, and your contradiction is patently wrong.

As for CP and PP, I was on each a several times this summer nice and early, and your statement may have been true a while back. But every time I cycle there at 6:00AM or thereabouts, I never fail to pass joggers and cyclists with ear buds in their ears oblivious to their surroundings. I had one guy at EXACTLY 6:15 AM change his line abruptly in front of me while I was doing about 17 MPH and I almost slammed right into him. So if you feel safe at 20+ MPH, that's your business. Maybe you will go your entire life and nothing will happen, but even at that time, I have had way too many close calls with ear-bud-a$$-holes to be as footloose and fancy-free with the speed in those areas.

Hopefully this will never bite you in the a$$, and I really mean that. But I won't take the chance given what I have seen and experienced in those parks even during the wee hours of the AM.

Never did the Jamaica Bay loop. Where is it? Would love to try it.

Is The Bronx even 40 miles north-south? It may be, and if it is, where is the path you speak of. Would love to check it our.

Bear Mountain is NOT part of NYC. And either is Jersey. Call it the New York Area, and you are right, but NYC has 5 boroughs and ONLY 5 boroughs. So you're wrong. Not about these being great places to cycle, but about them being NYC, and no amount of equivocation on your part will change that.

UnfilteredDregs

Somebody skipped their medication.

wilfried

Hey, if the New York Giants can play in New Jersey, and still be the New York team, riding 9W can be a "training ride in New York." Pedantic much?

Now, he/she says it's 24 miles away and impractical, which is a different matter. Likewise, the Rockaways loop or Floyd Bennett would be impractical for me, whether they're within city limits or no. Not that I train for anything.

ChiroVette

That's the difference between you and I. I don't regard the NY Giants OR Jets as any more New York than I regard the NJ Devils. Those teams only "call themselves" NY because they know that New York in a sport's franchise name brings with it more excitement and notoriety, and when they left NY, they should obviously have changed their names to the NJ Jets and NJ Giants because they are jersey teams, period. You seem to have difficulty with accuracy and must therefore use disparaging terms to avoid admitting you're wrong. That's fine. This is Teh Intrawebs after all and accuracy isn't important. As you and UnfilteredDregs have proved, personal attack and attempting insults when proved wrong is all that matters.

stayfed

Moving back to the West Coast was the best decision I've ever made! Cycling in NYC is like riding in a hamster wheel. One hour of loops in Prospect Park? I can never go back to doing that again.

But on the real. My favorite morning rides would be in Prospect Park but you have to alternate your loops. For example do a loop and then on the next one take a Horse Trail and the third another Horse Trail. Prospect Park does have a bit of variation that makes things interesting if your willing to do a little bit of dirt. It's the only thing that kept me sane.

ChiroVette

Yeah, that's the main reason I rarely do Prospect or Central Parks these days. I have never been a fan of riding around in a circle over and over again. Reminds me of George Carlin's commentary on NASCAR: I'm not interested in a bunch of redneck jackoffs driving 500 times in a circle..."

UnfilteredDregs

It's obvious that thousands of New York City cyclists who know and accept this are wrong. Now I'm going to finish my coffee and hit the hamster wheel! After all it's NYC and the only way I can get my intervals in is on the trainer...lmao