Hey, I'm Bikin' Here!

It was either that title or: Chicago Bike goes "on the 'road'".

I visited NYC over a long weekend to visit a few friends. On Sunday, I had the day to myself, so I rented a bike to see what it was like to be a NYC biker. Also, it's a pretty good way to see a lot of sights really quickly. I didn't plan to see the Flatiron Building, but I passed by it and Hey there it is! And I probably didn't need to see it for much longer than I did. It is a totally skinny building though.

I looked up bike rental places. There are a lot of them around Central Park. The friend I was staying with lives in the Lower East Side, so I went to Frank's Bikes. It was a New York-y place, really cheap ($30 for the day), and the bike was decent. I asked for a helmet and lock - free accessories! The only downside: this was the lock.

A huge metal chain! It was at least ten pounds. When he got it out I thought he was joking, but he wasn't a funny guy, and it would have to be a pretty elaborate joke to bring out a ten pound prop. I asked "Don't you have a cable or something?" "No, cables don't work." I tried to brainstorm alternatives (Do I just not lock the bike all day?), but instead I spent the rest of my time at the establishment mentally preparing myself to go on my city-wide bike ride with a huge metal chain weighing me down. (I actually did see another biker with a huge metal chain -- he wore it like a Rambo bullet chest belt.)

The night before, I asked someone in our group who mentioned that she biked in the city for tips, biking tips. She mentioned a potential bike ride -- Brooklyn Bridge to Prospect Park in Brooklyn, back on the Manhattan Bridge, up the west side bike path to (I think) the 79th Street Boat Basin. She said "Prospect Park is way better than Central Park", but even then I knew that couldn't be right, that's like saying Radiohead is better than the Beatles -- obviously they're not, but it gives you some kind of cred to say something so ridiculous with a straight face.

But I liked the idea of going to Brooklyn, like I would get a fuller NYC experience than staying in Manhattan all day. And Prospect Park seemed like a good destination since it's not too far away. So I set off to the park from Frank's to see what the hype is all about.

Brooklyn. Mistake #1. I took Willamsburg Bridge thinking it was the Brooklyn Bridge. I might have done that anyways since I wanted to see Brooklyn and the Williamsburg is a few blocks from Frank's, but I did have romantic "Bask in this, this is the mother-flipping Brooklyn Bridge" thoughts as I was going over it which are silly now. The Williamsburg isn't that glamorous, and I think it's much longer and more difficult.

The very first place I rode through was a completely Orthodox Jewish neighborhood. I didn't see anyone that wasn't Orthodox Jewish (and no females now that I think about it). Maybe Sunday morning is special but I saw a lot of boys, in groups or by themselves, who looked like they had been sent on errands. They were coming from shops with bags or carts. At one point I saw only boys, no parents or elders, so it looked like a land run by well-dressed little people with yarmulkes and symmetric patches of curled hair.

Then a sketchy neighborhood. Then Prospect Park. Yeah it's good. The park itself is nice enough, but the biking there is phenomenal, like the park was designed for it. Huge lanes, plenty of room to get around anybody, a long, fast downhill glide, and the return uphill trip didn't seem that bad.

On the way to the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, I found a bus stop with an elaborate bike street map. That was helpful, I took notes.

Just before the Brooklyn Bridge, a construction worker yelled at two other bikers and me. "Hey! HEY!" We were going through a construction area with cones up so maybe it was restricted, maybe we were in trouble? Some instincts of my 12 year old self kicked in. Do I make a break for it? We all rode up to him. "You'll want to take a left up there, then another left, that's how you get on the bridge." As we followed his advice, the other bikers and I laughed at how a helpful construction worker could sound so pissed off about it.

Brooklyn Bridge. That was awesome, I rekindled my bridge basking. All the cables, the view of the skyline, the Statue of Liberty. And did 30 Rock really shoot on this bridge when Liz Lemon arranged to meet Peter Dinklage on it, and then he said "Shut it down!" after she approached a boy from behind thinking it was him? (I don't think so)

Financial District. I did some zigzag bike tourism -- the bull! NYSE! something something Trump! I was on the west side bike trail for a while, but got off that at some point since I want to take it to the streets. My overall concept of the day was to meander through different neighborhoods, but at this point I only had two hours of biking left and I had a lot of ground to cover. Hudson and 8th Avenue are pretty fast roads that lead straight to Central Park. I took those and just did two quick juts on east-west roads that I knew had bike lanes from that Brooklyn map.

Also -- $2 hot dog! Including fixins!

The Gay Pride parade was going on that day. That's one big parade. I ran into it at two points at least a mile from each other, and I was riding against the flow. (That's the most raucous, partying parade that exists now, right? What previous parade held that title?)

Central Park. Whenever I compare Chicago and New York City to myself when I'm alone, I think that NYC efficiently grouped all of Manhattan's nature and put it one big place, leaving the rest of the island to be concrete, buildings, and curbside trash bags. Then I'm thankful that I live in Chicago because trees and nature things seem more scattered throughout the city. That's not true about NYC, but even if it was -- wow, Central Park is amazing. Maybe I could live with that efficient take on nature.

To top it off, at Strawberry Fields (at which I really do go into pilgrimage mode), there was a large group playing Beatle music! And they were doing a good job! And lots of people were around listening. I heard them play From Me to You, Michelle, and Every Little Thing. And really, Every Little Thing is not that great as far as Beatle songs go, so they weren't just going for crowd-pleasers.

Also in Central Park, there were pianos that anyone could go up to and play. I was tempted to go up and play my rough rendition of The Third Man Theme, but everyone I heard play was way too good. These junior high kids would be joking and pushing each other on the piano seat, then would straighten their posture and play this perfect, intricate piece.

On my way out of Central Park, I bought imitation Ray Bans. They were 1 for $12, 2 for $20. I gave the guy $12 for one pair, and he gave me $2 back! And I didn't even small talk with him!

Broadway. When I saw the bike map, I was amazed that Broadway had bike lanes. I guess that's a new addition within the last few years. That's like Michigan Ave having bike lanes which seems preposterous. It's pretty impressive that NYC got behind biking enough to have lanes and traffic lights dedicated to it.

Times Square was the one uber-touristy thing I wanted to do. I don't like billboards, but to be engulfed by them gets to me. I was able to bike down most of Broadway, but had to get out and walk once I got close enough to 42nd. Plus, there was some kind of Times Square outdoor festival.

From there, it was a straight shot down Broadway back to Frank's.

On the whole, NYC is great for biking. I think having multi-lane one way roads help. Plus, the street parking width on those streets seemed much larger than in Chicago, so it wasn't difficult to find bike-friendly streets.

I was out late the night before and only got 4.5 hours of sleep. When I started from Frank's, I thought there was no way I would have a successful ride on that little sleep (and ten extra pounds), but I was able to do it without even much struggle. Then after the ride, I saw a three hour Shakespeare play and stayed awake the whole time! I'm giving credit to New York City itself as the energy source that got me through.