Hey NY Guys

[Skrawny]

A little fact finding:
There is a chance that I move to Manhattan in June of 2008.

I love climbing the hills out here on the Left Coast, and I love the fact that I can pedal out my door and be in them within minutes.

What is the riding like out there?
Are there accessible hills?
Is there worthwhile riding other than just laps of Central Park?
I don't plan on having a car, how much will that limit my access to good rides?

Thanks,
-s

[itsflantastic]

There are good rides, but they are a bit of a pain to get too.
In-city rides are okay for a fix. . .

For hills, you have a few options. Manhattan is about 13 miles long , and up near the top is the George Washington Bridge. Any worthwhile long rides are going to have you cross the GWB to get out to the good stuff. There is a bike path that goes all the way up to the bridge, there's also a road called riverside drive that gets you there. Once across the bridge, you have a lot of options.

Conveniently enough, along the top of NJ there is a network of state parks with GREAT riding. Harriman, Sterling Forest State Park, Waywayanda, then the Delaware water gap. This is a lot of mileage, but good to know 'bout.

There is also a ferry you can take with your bike called Sea Streak. It gets you out to NJ. There are great hills where it drops you (the highlands) and a lot of good rides around there. There is also really great mtn. biking nearby @ Heartshorne woods. 30 minute ferry ride.

check nycc.org (new york cycle club) click on rides then "library" and you'll come across a whole list of routes with cue sheets. This may give you a better idea of where you can go...

Long story short, the good rides take a little riding to get to, but not too bad. let me know if you have any questions =) Hope this helps.

Dan

[jbl]

Bike Hudson Valley (http://www.roberts-1.com/bikehudson/) has a number of routes and cue sheets for the area Skrawny is talking about. You might also check out the NYCC (http://www.nycc.org/) ride library.

[Skrawny]

Great links, thanks!
-s

[Kevan]

www.westchestercycleclub.org

[johnmdesigner]

just watch out for the fuzz - they give out tickets if you run the red light - if they catch you that is. :p

[Kevan]

just watch out for the fuzz - they give out tickets if you run the red light - if they catch you that is. :p

Got a $50 summons from a cop for riding/coasting her bike off the sidewalk towards the curb at the south end of Union Square. But that's okay...I paid for it.

[CA Dreamin']

Nothing in the NYC area comes close to the Alpine Dam loop. Nothing.

Take this advice from someone who used to live in SF then moved to NYC: stay in SF.

Do you like cycling 12 months a year? Forget it.

Do you like nice, long, sustained, 7 - 11 mile climbs (e.g. Tam, Diablo, etc.)? Rent a car. Drive it back to your apartment. Find a parking space. Walk to your apartment to get your bike. Walk your bike back to the car, and throw your bike in the back. Now start driving. Keep driving. Drive some more. Now you're there. When you're done with the ride, repeat all of this in reverse order.

Central Park is nice. You can always latch on to a screaming fast group and get a good workout almost any day of the week. But how many times do you think you'll be able to do the same 3-5 mile loop before you go crazy?

[Fixed]

bro think about all the great music and art wow I think you'll love it out there . there are so cool guys from the forum there (manet ) hook up with them velodome ? a little drive puts you in some great hills (bear moutain )
you lucky cat from one great place to another. imho :beer:
cheers

[SoCalSteve]

Nothing in the NYC area comes close to the Alpine Dam loop. Nothing.

Take this advice from someone who used to live in SF then moved to NYC: stay in SF.

Do you like cycling 12 months a year? Forget it.

Do you like nice, long, sustained, 7 - 11 mile climbs (e.g. Tam, Diablo, etc.)? Rent a car. Drive it back to your apartment. Find a parking space. Walk to your apartment to get your bike. Walk your bike back to the car, and throw your bike in the back. Now start driving. Keep driving. Drive some more. Now you're there. When you're done with the ride, repeat all of this in reverse order.

Central Park is nice. You can always latch on to a screaming fast group and get a good workout almost any day of the week. But how many times do you think you'll be able to do the same 3-5 mile loop before you go crazy?

I was there a few weeks back and watched the riders go round and round and wondered that exact same thing...How could it NOT get boring???

Just sayin'

Steve

[itsflantastic]

Oh it drives you nuts.
it totally does.

I can't ride round and round a park more than once a week. There are good rides. They just take some doing to get to. Chances are, the riding is better where you are, but that doesn't mean there is no good riding here.

[Kevan]

taking trains out har f'r their rides. Get yo'self a $5 bicycle lifetime pass for Metronorth and you're set.

[itsflantastic]

True, I once took a short train ride out to connecticut and it was beautiful riding.
right along the coast line.
just gorgeous. that train pass is essential, I almost forgot about this.

Dan

[Richard]

Make friends with someone with a weekend home in Ulster, Greene or Delaware Counties (there are lots of NYC folk here on the weekends). The riding is great. Low traffic, fair road quality, lots of climbing.

[marle]

Get a fixed gear and hammer Central Park

[SoCalSteve]

Henry (aka BigMan) lives in Woodbury on Long Island...My wife and I were there a few weeks back and the riding was amazing! Not any great hills, but enough rolling hills to make it interesting...and the beaches on the North Shore of LI were amazingly beautiful.

We got there on a train from Penn Station, probably took about 45 minutes from NYC to his stop.

Enjoy!

Steve

[Ti Designs]

Nothing in the NYC area comes close to the Alpine Dam loop. Nothing.

Take this advice from someone who used to live in SF then moved to NYC: stay in SF.

Do you like cycling 12 months a year? Forget it.

Do you like nice, long, sustained, 7 - 11 mile climbs (e.g. Tam, Diablo, etc.)...


I learned to love cycling in the hills of the Hudson valley and raced mostly in New England for 15 years. I get this same thing mostly from guys from California or Colorado all the time. I call it confusing the length of the hills with the quality of the rider, don't do it! There are hills in NY. If anyone doubts that I'll be glad to meet you at the 17A entrance to Harriman and I'll give you the tour. There's no chance I could hurt someone from SF, right???

[Bob Ross]

a little drive puts you in some great hills (bear moutain )


"drive" ??? Screw that, it's just a modest bike ride from Manhattan to Bear Mountain. 40-60 miles, depending on what route you take. That's my warm-up before hammering up Perkins Memorial Drive.

[skyflash]

I can't speak of many other areas, and I'm jealous of that sometimes, but there is great biking in and around the city.

In NYC, besides Central Park, there are plenty of paths along the Hudson in Manhattan, plus rides along the water and in parks in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It's tough to go very fast on some of these depending on how many pedestrians are out, but it can be very scenic. Plus any problems arise, just hop on the closest subway and you're home.

There are plenty of hills outside of the city. Just across the George Washington Bridge, there are plenty of short steep hills in the Jersey Palisades area along, plus a quiet road that goes along the Hudson under the bridge.

People have already mentioned Bear Mountain and Harriman State Park with plenty of climbs. Further north you get into the Catskills with climbs like Mead Mountain. In Rockland & Westchester county there are plenty of climbs.

Anyway, there are not too many climbs in NYC (a few), but you can bike, train, subway, or drive to many great areas.

[Kahuna]

Westchester has some great rides and Harriman St. Park is fabulous. However, after 35 years of living in NY, I had enought and moved out. No more training in mid-Feb in the pitch dark when it's 15 degrees outside. No more layers of clothing, road salt, frozen feet, Etc. Now I'm spoiled and I'm not ashamed to admit it. :rolleyes:

Nevertheless, having good cycling friends will help you make the best of the situation. You can have a lot more fun riding with friends than solitary riding all the time. There's many clubs in NY and a pretty active racing scene. Central Park has a spring series that begins in March. I'm not sure if they still have the April series in Prospect Park (Brooklyn), but that's fun too. The Gimbles ride (do a search on this forum for more info) takes place every weekend in nearby lower Westchester county, and goes year `round except in blizzards, or when the roads are too icy.

Best of luck and stay safe!

-Gary

[Bob Ross]

Somewhere in the NYCC Ride Library is a ride called "The Knot" which, if you start & finish in midtown Manhattan, winds up being a bit more than 5000' of climbing over the course of 55 miles. The cool thing (and I use that term loosely) is that *most* of that climbing is really crammed into a 20 mile section towards the middle of the ride. Fabulously fun ride...in a sort of sick, perverse way.

[PoppaWheelie]

I'm on this thread a little late and therefore don't have much to add...but after having done the roadie thing in NYC for a number of years I can certainly concur with the rest. There are lots of reasons to move to New York, but first-rate road terrain isn't one of them. That being said, there is certainly a cache and clique-i-ness that is a lot of fun. You'll also meet a lot of road riders that come from surprisingly different backgrounds and all walks of life...I really loved that aspect of riding in the Park.

You might consider looking at places on the Upper West Side...very easy to Central Park and will cut some of your ride the the GWB...

[johnmdesigner]

you give me your job and apartment in SF and I'll give you my NYC apartment and my unemployment insurance (2 weeks left). :p

[CNY rider]

Skrawny man you want to live upstate!

Incredible cycling, not enough cardiologists, and in the winter you stay in shape playing in the snow.

You say the word and I'll get the interview set up. :beer:

[jemoryl]

New Jersey, 15 miles west of NYC is bad enough. I'd probably give up cycling if I had to live in Manhattan. Someone above actually cites the "clique-i-ness that is a lot of fun" - really?

[ti_boi]

Jersey here....12 miles west of the City....and man what a city it is...

your gonna need a winter time hobby. may i recommend snowboarding?

[Alexi]

ehhh I've biked 359 days out of the year in boston (6 days off the bike due to a dislocated shoulder, note don't bike down stairs when you've spent the day drinking cold duck), expecting to do the same now that I live in NYC

[Skrawny]

Thanks, again, for all the tips.

I am not yet at the point in my career where I have any say over my own destiny. I am applying for a fellowship in cardiac electrophysiology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiac_electrophysiology) (my girlfriend calls it "cardiologists who like Star Trek") and I have a strong lead at NYU Medical Center.

I probably will not hear "yes or no" for another week, but since there appears to be some good riding, I think I'll go if accepted.

-s

[Ti Designs]

ehhh I've biked 359 days out of the year in boston (6 days off the bike due to a dislocated shoulder, note don't bike down stairs when you've spent the day drinking cold duck), expecting to do the same now that I live in NYC

So you're the other one...

[Alexi]

other one? who drinks cold duck?