Bike Love NY
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • BFold
  • Zen Bikes

City Island (Travelogue)

4/21/2015

6 Comments

 
One of the most significant changes that cycling has made in my life is to turn me into a 5-borough New Yorker. I had already begun this process thanks to my Brompton Lucille, but being a member of the 5 Boro Bike Club has taken me to places I would never have gone on my own – and in ways I never would have gone. Today, we go to City Island, a 40+mi ride.

As luck would have it, we are traveling on the best day of the year – and it’s a Saturday. Our leader, Geoffrey, wisely steers us away from the Hudson Greenway, which is more crowded than I’ve ever seen it (I ride it to get to Central Park). Instead, after meeting at Columbus Circle...

Picture
We head north to Adam Clayton Powell. We pick up St. Nicholas Avenue at 116th Street - and that’s the last time I know where I’m going. I did not download the route map (a bad habit of mine), but with the Point, Drop Sweep system that 5BBC uses, I know I'll be in good hands.

What I love about the 5BBC is that these are largely urban rides. The views aren’t always pretty, but they’re always interesting.

Picture
Picture
We ride through some wide bike lanes.
Picture
Over the FDR
Picture
Along the East River
Picture
Through areas with a dubious bike route...
Picture
To no bike route (safety in numbers)
Picture
Over bridges I don't recognize (the University Heights Bridge?)
Picture
And deep into the Bronx...
Picture
Picture
Guided expertly by our Fearless Leader. And this is when I discover that many of the parkways I’ve traveled for years, have bike paths right next to them: the Hutchinson River Parkway, The Mosholu Parkway. Who knew?

When we get to City Island, we ride to the southern tip for a seafood lunch at a joint that could have come straight out of an SNL skit: a cacophonous cavern with orders yelled back from the counters to the guys with the fryers, in a sort of working pandemonium. The noise level is off the charts, but I have to laugh. Where else in the country would you find a place like this?

I locate the group outside.

Picture
That fishing line strung above the table is to protect us (and our meal) from marauding seagulls.

We gobble down our lunch and before I know it, we're on our way back.
Picture
Picture
Picture
This time taking a slightly different route.
Picture
Picture
Through Westchester (or is it Beverly Hills?)
Picture
Picture
It’s pretty. It’s relaxed. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned about cycling, it’s that there is no such thing as an ordinary ride. Sure enough, we’re at about mile 30, when two spokes from Geoffrey’s bike pop out with a bang. They sound like a gun shot. We’re at a stoplight, so at least he wasn’t riding.
Picture
We all pull over as he inspects the damage.
Picture
I never really thought about it, but spokes must be under a lot of pressure for a wheel to function properly. And we’ve been riding over city streets. This wheel is completely “Out of true,” as they say. Or in the vernacular, bent the hell out of shape. One more thing to worry about, I think.

But Geoffrey is remarkably unfazed and works to get the spokes back into the wheel, hoping it will align.

Picture
Picture
Picture
Ultimately, the decision is made for him to find his way home via subway, (he hopes), and for the rest of us to push on.

Fortunately some of us have the route map, and we make our way at a leisurely pace back to the Hudson Greenway.

But I have theatre tickets and can’t afford this leisurely pace. So after a 40mi ride, I find myself sprinting the last 8 mi or so down the Greenway – Gah!

En route, I encounter one pothole too many, and the wrist is not happy. I am home long enough to ice, and head out to the theatre, making a note to myself to check on Geoffrey later.

I would like to mention that during this ride, I have consumed:


1 Apple & 4 pieces cheese
1 banana
1 PB&J sandwich
1 Energy Bar
15 small scallops
1 small container boiled veggies
1 cup yogurt
1 Pint each: water, gator aid, lemonade
1 Cup of coffee at 8pm (to get me through the theatre)

And I could still eat!

Here’s the original route map.

Picture
6 Comments
Sheila s
4/22/2015 01:39:12 am

Nifty adventure

Reply
holly
4/22/2015 04:12:13 am

Awesome!

Reply
merrill
4/23/2015 07:51:12 am

wow!

Reply
Joe Carasso
5/18/2015 04:07:52 am

Melanie, great pictures and post. I was on the ride. May I use three of your pictures in an email to highlight my training for a charity ride with American Cancer Society.

Reply
Melodie link
5/18/2015 04:10:14 am

Be my guest!

Reply
Joe Carasso
5/18/2015 11:24:54 am

Thanks.




Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Enter your Email:
    Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

    Author

    Melodie Bryant is a resident of NYC and avid cycler of a folding Brompton bike named Lucille and a Scott road bike, Lola.

    Follow @bikeloveny

    RSS Feed

    Maintenance (for cyclists only)

    Archives

    April 2020
    September 2019
    August 2019
    August 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    September 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014

    December 2015
    Hollylights Ride 2015 (Part 1)
    Hollylights Ride 2015 (Part 2)
    A Vision For Staten Island
    January 2018
    Unrequited Love
    Painkillers
    November 2017
    What I Didn't Know (Part 1)
    January 2016
    California Dreamin (mostly photos)
    Activist in a Strange Land
    Northvale
    Appointment in Samarra
    Disasters (and near disasters)
    March 2016
    Chopped Liver
    May 2016
    Uber
    June 2016
    City of Hope
    I Disobey
    The Ratched Effect
    Rehab
    July 2016
    Discoveries
    Naked Bike Ride
    August 2016
    Summer Streets 2016
    The Politics of Joy
    September 2016
    We Ride Together
    A Good Friend
    Blind Spots
    August 2015
    Ireland
       Day One (no biking)
       Day Two (some history)
       Day Three (meet the bikes)
       Day Four (The Burren)
       Day Five (The Hill)
       Day Five and Three Quarters
       Riding the High Road
       Day Seven (our luck runs out)
       Day Six (Inishmore)
       Day Eight (Kylemore Abbey)
       Day Eight (The Dancing Irish)
       Day Nine (last day)
    July 2015
    You 'n Yer Fancy Bike
    Guilty Glass (quick tip for all cyclists)
    June 2015
    Yorktown Heights
    Maintenance (for cyclists only)
    Coney Island Fireworks
    The Katy Trail
       Meeting Katy
       Show Me
       Art and History
    May 2015
    The Blessings Of The Bikes
    The Five Boro Bike Tour
    Montauk (The Ride)
    Montauk (The Afterglow)
    Change
    April 2015
    Back in the Saddle
    Bad Behavior
    City Island (Travelogue)
    No Ordinary Rides
    Frustration
    January 2015
    LA Wheelmen Pt 1
    LA Wheelmen Pt II
    First Bike
    Simplify
    Red Light
    The Bleak Mid Winter
    February 2015
    Staten Island
    Reaching The Limits
    Healing
    The Heartbreak of Winter
    A Slippery Slope
    May 2014
    A Folding Bike
    First Ride
    Second Ride
    My Big Fat Bike Adventure
    Central Park II
    In Which All Is Not As It Seems
    A Tale of Three Islands
    Introducing Lucille
    Brooklyn!
    Minneapolis Biking!
    One World Trade
    June 2014
    Spring in New York
    Breakdown!
    Loss
    Jamaica Bay!
    Hoboken
    Lucille Goes Shopping
    Moonlight Ride!
    Bike Love
    City Grit
    Stormy Weather
    Friday the 13th
    Joining 'Em
    Riverdale!
    Bells and Whistles
    The Rockaways
    Red Hook!
    July 2014
    Governors Island!
    July Fourth!
    The Loire Valley
       A Bumpy Landing
       Loire - First Day
       Loire - Second Day
       Loire - Third Day
       Loire - Fourth Day
    August 2014
    First Rides Home
    A New York Day
    The Madness - And Sadness - 
           Of Fashion Week
    September 2014
    Park Alarm
    Rosh Hashanah
    Flaternalia
    A Cool Ride Up The East Side
    October 2014
    Confessions of a Cheater
    50 Miles in Annandale
    Theft
    Marathon!
    Bike Weight
    A Change of Seasons
    November 2014
    George Washington Bridge
    George Washington Bridge/
       Alternate Route
    The Palisades
    Why I Wear A Helmet Camera
    Nyack
    Return from Nyack
    Lola
    December 2014
    A Bike for Life
    Weather Permitting
    A Wintery Ride
    Some Christmas Doggerel
            (Duckerel?)
    Christmas Lights in Dyker Heights!
    BikeloveLA/First Ride
    BikeloveLA/Cheviot Hills
    BikeloveLA/A Wash
    Videos
    Queens Velodrome
    Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan
    Williamsburg Bridge to Brooklyn
    A Cool Ride Up The East Side
            (time lapse)
    Biking the loop in Central Park
            (time lapse)
    Navigating the Battery
           (time lapse)
    Bronx River Parkway
           (time lapse)
    Cool Ride to Roosevelt Island
    Via Queensboro (Ed Koch) Bridge
           (time lapse)
    Cheviot Hills
    Patricia Avenue
Proudly powered by Weebly
Proudly powered by Weebly