Tourism on Two Wheels

Distance Traveled: 38.5 Miles

It's time to start exploring other facets of cycling in New York! I have spent the last few months riding in prearranged tours, or coming up with my own adventures. Today was a little it different. Up to this point I have tried to emulate an objective observer of New York City on a bike. I like to think that it goes beyond mere tourism in that I have looked outside of Manhattan at that which is not usually "main stream." Today, however, I did something a bit different. In five locations around the country, including New York, a company called Bike and Roll offers bike rentals and tours. If we think back, I actually rented from them once before in San Fran. I wanted to see what tourists come to see. Usually the notion sickens me, which is why I tend to avoid Times Square, but in this case, I think it was important to understand how cycling is being used as a new form of urban tourism.

As soon as I got off the bus I headed up 8th and, very quickly, found myself in the middle of a taxi jam (depicted left). It's always a little nerve racking, being around cabs. They tend to be unpredictable. The street was only like this for a few blocks. I decided to go hang out in Central Park for a while and make plans from there. I stopped at Columbus Circle before entering the park. I've been there many times before, but never took the time to examine the monument (depicted right). It's really kind of crappy. Now I'm no grammatical genius, but the words on the monument don't seem to make sense. Right across the street, however, is a pretty cool monument to the U.S.S. Maine, a battleship which was lost in the Spanish American War. From there I headed around Central Park's Car free roadway. The paved roadway that runs around and through the park is shut down most of the time and only open to automobiles on a limited, time. A series of gates, like the one depicted left, regulate automobile flow. As I journeyed uptown through the park I saw a guide leading a tour via bicycle along with a number of other cyclists, runners, rollerbladers, and walkers. I passed the carousel, one of Central Park's many landmarks, and then took a stroll up in the rambles. As the sign alludes to (depicted right), the idea behind the rambles is to keep an area of the park completely natural and untouched (ironic considering that everything in the park is man made). After a brief stroll I made my way to the mall to see one of Central Park's most well known landmarks, Bethesda Fountain (depicted left). Next to where I had my picture taken was a wizard or, excuse me (according to his sign), Dragon Master. The sad thing is not this poor soul, but the fact that I recognized him. I am pretty sure that it was this same Dragon Master who appeared on Late Night with Connan Obrien during a sketch making fun of Star Wars fans lining up early in eager anticipation of the second movie premier. I then had a pleasant hour or so sitting on the mall listening to the gentle strumming of a street performer's renditions of such iconic hits like Imagine, Something, Norwegian Wood, Hallelujah, and Rocket Man. I scribbled the relaxing experience in my thesis journal and then headed uptown in search of more adventure. I intended to bike up along the Harlem river on the East side of Manhattan. I have biked all the way around Manhattan before, but last time I had to cut through Harlem, because the Hudson River Greenway just sort of ends near Inwood. I wanted to see where the eastern path ended. Turns out that it stops underneath the Wills Ave. Bridge (depicted left), so once again, I headed up through Manhattan and eventually back over to the Hudson River Greenway. I do have to note that on my way I found an interesting location known as Crack is Wack Playground (depicted left). I then went to Pier 84, home of the U.S.S. Intrepid (depicted right). Now a museum the U.S.S. Intrepid is an aircraft carrier which was launched during World War II. To my delight, docked on the other side of a ship is a submarine, and an odd looking one at that (they're another childhood obsession of mine). I will have to make time to explore it at some point.

I went to the Bike and Roll location on the pier and found out that I was the only one going on the tour. I also had a lovely chat with the staff. One of them, a junior at NYU, wrote a paper concerning cycling and its influence on architecture. This peaked my interest and I asked her to send it to me. I then met my tour guide Ejai (depicted right). The tour I signed up for was called the "Brooklyn Bridge and Hudson River Bike Tour." Now usually there's at least five people on these tours, but apparently I was the only one who showed up today. So it was a really good time. Ejai and I pretty much rode around and talked about biking and New York (my two favorite subjects) for two hours. There were a couple really neat things he showed me that I didn't know about. The first thing was a trapeze school along the Hudson River. Next, he pointed out the High Line. This is an old trolley line which has been transformed into the city's first elevated park. I'll have to check that out on Sunday. Closer to the financial district, was the Irish Phamon Memorial (depicted left). It's supposed to be an illustration of the entire Irish country side, hills, old walls, long grass and all. We went down through Battery Park and south street seaport on our way to the Manhattan Bridge. After a brief jaunt through downtown Brooklyn, we headed over the Brooklyn Bridge. At this point I kind of gave him a tour since I happen to know a thing or two about the Brooklyn Bridge. We stopped at my favorite spot in pretty much the entire world, that is the center of the Brooklyn Bridge. It's easier to explain in person on the bridge why I love it so much, but part of it is the idea of being elevated amongst so much historical iconography. The view of course is just tremendous. [sigh] unfortunately I can't take a panoramic picture. We cut through the financial district back to the Hudson River Greenway and then pier 84. When we got back I serendipitously ran into a League [of American cyclists] Certified Instructor who just happens to be teaching the Savvy Cyclist class I am taking next Saturday. He told me that by the end of the class I should be able to get my certification as well. We shall see.