I swore I would take it easy today...

...but ended up riding 38.9 miles anyway.

I left Union Square around 9:45ish in the morning and head uptown. My destination:Roosevelt Island. I've always been curious to explore it and now as my chance. I was also excited since I had never before ridden on the Queensboro Bridge. I have this thing for bridges... It must be the engineer in me. The Queensboro bridge is a cantilever bridge. Because it spans over Roosevelt Island, there are two supports which negate the need for a suspension bridge. The bridge opened in 1909, and until the mid '50s had a vehicular elevator so motorists could descend onto Roosevelt Island. For me, this particular bridge has that old New York kind of feel. Almost like I'm expecting to hear jazz music and see a bunch of flappers dance by.


When I reached the center of the bridge, above the island I was surprised to find that there was no walk way of any kind. Confused I consulted my bike map. The only vehicular access to the island is via the Roosevelt Island Bridge [depicted right]. Otherwise, the only ways onto the island are via the F train ( a relatively new addition, the subway station is one of the deepest in all of New york City at 100+ feet) and a cable tram that runs along the QB bridge from Manhattan [depicted left].

The first thing I saw when I arrived on the island was an huge parking garage. One of the things to remember is that the island was designed to accommodate as little traffic as possible. In fact, there's only one street, and would you believe it, it's called Main Street! aside from two loops at the top and the bottom, this two lane road is the only one open for public vehicular traffic. Needless to say there were not many cars on the road. The most abundant vehicles I saw were the red public buses which kept going around and around. The island is very narrow. I could see clear across to the other end. It wasn't even a quarter of a mile! I got a real sense of how narrow it is when I visited it's southern most point [depicted left]. This section of the island is actually gated off because of the deteriorating ruins of a former smallpox hospital [depicted right].

At the other end of the island is an official landmark known as 'The Octagon.' In 1839 it opened as an administrative building for the "New York City Lunatic Asylum." I don't think political correctness was a big issue back then! The plaque out side reads, "The pleasant island surroundings were thought to be conducive to both physical and mental rehabilitation." What a great excuse for rounding up all the crazy people and sticking them on an almost quarantined island. Today it is still an operating facility. Instead of an asylum though, it now supports an elderly and special needs center. I went inside searching for a restroom and some interesting pictures. I climbed all the way to the top and took the picture to the right. On my way down the stair case two employees stopped dead in their tracks and stared at me. I kept moving down the staircase. When I got to the bottom I found the security guard listening to his walkie talkie. I hastened my pace towards the exit as I heard him say, "yeah, he's leaving now." I guess they don't like people visiting there.

Another thing I noticed about the island was the number of children, many of whom did not have adult supervision. I suppose that the island is so small, and difficult to get to that parents feel alright letting their kids run around outside. It is defiantly an interesting place, but nowhere I wanted to stay. In an hour or so, I saw pretty much everything there is to see about the island, including the Chapel of the Good Shepard right off of the main street [depicted left].



I headed back into Queens and made my way towards Astoria Park. It's a very neat place, but being a bridge fanatic, as I am, I was distracted by the recently renamed Robert F. Kennedy Bridge spanning directly over the park's parking lot [depicted right]. I followed the bridge to its entrance farther east in Queens, and hit some crazy traffic. Now when I say crazy I mean that in the best of ways. I love navigating traffic congestion on the bike. It's exciting! I finally got on the bridge, which I've been meaning to do for a while now. National security concerns apparently prohibit photography on or round bridges. I don't thing I've gotten the hint. They're just to fascinating and brilliant not to be displayed. Oh well, if they haul me off, I guess it wouldn't be the first time someone called me a terrorist. The walkway on the RFK Bridge has a couple points where I had to carry my bike up and down stairs, but was cool all the same. The decent onto Randell's Island was super fun! Randell's Island was a little disappointing. It seems like there's a lot of development going on there. As soon as I got off the bridge I noticed all kinds of equipment. My first impression was of a construction site. There are some large sports fields on the east side of the island. There must have been a bunch of games going on. I headed west and found a Cirque Du Sole tent. I thought this was kind of interesting and random. There's some preserved "wet lands" on the island. Nothing really spectacular. One thing that I enjoyed was the bike path which runs along the west and southern edge of the island [depicted left]. It's clean and sceneic. What more can you ask for? after this I headed for the pedestrian bridge on the west side ofthe island which leads into Manhattan [depicted right]. What's neat about this bridge is that it is soley for pedestrians, bikers, and skaters. Additionally, the bridge is actually closed during the winter months. This is achieved by physically raising the middle span above the walk way's normal elevation.

I traveled south on the green way for a while and then snaked my way through Manhattan. Eventually I ended up back on Broadway. Of course later in the day I biked around a little bit, but I would say that this portion of my ride was about 27-32 miles and only took about 3-3.5 hours. I should also point out that I was bikeing at a leisurely pace most of the day. My point is this: Look at how accessible this city is on a bike! I saw so much in so little time.

To close out the day I paid homage to may favorite landmark in the city: The Brooklyn Bridge. I could go on for days about why I like it so much, but instead I'll just leave a few pictures so others can enjoy it as well.