The Bountiful Bronx

Distance Traveled: 62.00 Miles

This city, still, never ceases to amaze me! Even after two years of study; even over 500+ miles, I continually find things that I would never expect. The complexity and dynamism of New York as a single urban entity is simply incomprehensible in a single thought. I will begin with a quick review of my previous conceptions of the Bronx.

As dedicated readers may recall, I have been to the Bronx on three prior occasions. Once for the 5 Borough, once for an independent research ride, and one for the Century Tour. all of these excursions though informative focused only on the West Bronx. From those trips I concluded that the Bronx was primarily African American and Hispanic. Additionally, I found the structure to be similar to that of uptown Manhattan: tight interspersed with numerous Central business districts, with a few really cool green spaces. As it turns out these observations were incomplete...

I headed straight up 3rd avenue. On my way I passed the Islamic Cultural Center of New York. It's an interestingly shaped building. Unfortunately it was closed. It was then over the 3rd avenue bridge and into the Bronx [depicted right]! There's a series of bridges leading from Manhattan into the Bronx in this same area. This cluster of bridges includes the Wills Avenue bridge, the Madison avenue Bridge, the 145st bridge, and of course the 3rd avenue bridge (there's also an unnamed railroad "lift bridge" in there). These are all "swing span" bridges, which means that the central span can be disconnected from the approaches and rotated into a perpendicular position to allow ships to sail through on either side. All of these bridges sit too low for larger shipping vessels and the Harlem river is too narrow for anything taller.

The easiest thing to do was for me to continue uptown on 3rd. This was an awesome decisions as the entire route up to 163rd street was vibrant and full of activity! There were tons of stores and restaurants lining the streets. People were out in force enjoying this Saturday morning! It was similar to that feeling you get in midtown Manhattan, only with a much different type of crowd. Instead of tourists, business suites and leather boots, you have average people out for a stroll. I know that's a really subjective generalization, but there's definitely something very real about the Bronx that I can't quite put my finger on.

From there I headed east and got a little side tracked. I wound up at the Bronx river, but not exactly where I intended to be. It was a happy mistake though, because I stumbled my way into Hunts Point Riverside Park. This is a small Park with a small play area, some tables, and a dock! I made my way over to it and found out that this is a boat launching site! I've been wondering about this for years! I have always wanted to kayak around New York, but I didn't know if it was legal or how to go about doing so. Now I'm not sure if you can go all the way down to the East river, but according to the sign there are designated river trails. You need a permit for to operate any vessel, powered or not, but it is easy to obtain. I will definitely be keeping that little tidbit in my back pocket!

I headed across the river. Before I headed north to City Island I had a mission to complete. During the Century Tour, I noted how a small portion of a greenway in Soundview Park was fenced off and in the construction phase. Stupid me didn't bother to take a picture (of course I was in some sort of fiery, determined rage to finish the tour at the time). I wanted this as an example of noticeable progress in the city's bicycle infrastructure improvements. So I mapped out the best way to get there. Of course I eventually noticed the yellow spray painted marks on the ground left over from the Century tour and figured it would be best to follow them. Eventually I came upon the area. It was still fenced off, but there were park personnel in there working today. I took my pictures and moved on. About a half mile later as I found an opening in the fence [depicted left], no doubt where the workers had entered with their van. It looked like an invitation if I had ever seen one, so I made a detour into this brand new area. It was beautiful, and completely untouched. All of the trees had just been planted. The pavement was fresh and the paint was bright and new. The whole section of the park was just perfectly pristine. You cannot get any closer to the water either. There's actually a walking path which leads to a boat loading dock. I sense that this may become a powered boat launch site. It was neat having it all to myself. I tried to leave a different way, but I found a gate blocking my path. I hurried back tot he gap in the fence where I had arrived and left quickly before I could be discovered. Mission accomplished and a half!

After I left the Soundvew Greenway I headed towards City Island. I had heard that it was an interesting place, and that's all I ever need to hear. I had mapped out a route to get there, but it was long before I abandoned it. Why? Well as I looked down at the road I noticed some yellow markings which red TBX with an arrow [depicted left]. It took me a second, but then I realized that these were the route markers for Tour de Bronx. I had planned to do it a month earlier, but due to weather conditions and the encroaching World Series they opted to cancel it. It made sense that the route had been mapped. They literally canceled it only two days before (which begs the question what happened to all the food they must have gotten donated)! I figured if I couldn't have the real thing I might as well give the tour a try anyway. Besides, I definitely remember someone telling me that Tour de Bronx was one of the destinations on the longer Tour de Bronx route. so I followed it and wound up on the Pelham Parkway. This took me all the way east to city island.

I have to note my observations on the way to the Parkway. I mentioned before that my ideas about the Bronx were incomplete. What I found on the Journey from Soundview to City Island was a much softer, more residential, not to mention whiter part of the Bronx. Houses had garages and were not lumped together. The neighborhoods almost resembled that of residential, eastern Queens. I was shocked at the contrast, not so much because of my own observations of the Bronx, but the borough's reputation as a whole. Everyone I have spoken with tends to think of the Bronx as this rough, low socioeconomic danger zone, thus negating any redeeming value. Where I see vibrance and activity others seem to perceive dirt and decay. People can't seem to look past this hasty generalization to allow for even the possibility that the Bronx may not be nearly as bad as some may make it out to be. I suppose the same could be said about Manhattan. So often people think of midtown as their only basis of definition for New York City, let alone, Manhattan, when it's quite evident that Manhattan has a wide variety of different types of places.

My first thought upon entering the island was Epcot in Disney World. The Bridge itself has these mythical-esk spires which you would expect streamers to fly from. This is a place that seems to take a lot of pride in itself. The public school on the island calls itself the city island school. The central street is very well kept and lined with seafood restaurants. There's a lot of seaside fanfare. It didn't seem anything like Roosevelt Island or Rockaway, Queens. Instead of creepy exclusivity or Boardwalk town syndrome, this place had a definite independent jive to it. It's where you would probably go to get your dose of maritime tradition. The bottom of the island was funny, because I saw a bus reach the end and than make a three point turn to head back up the other way. I got back on the Pelham parkway. This parkway is so named because of Pelham Bay Park. This is the largest park in the entire city with 2764 acres. I took a short detour north into the park. There's definitely a lot of it to explore. I found some stables and horse trails. As I continued east on the parkway I came upon the Bronx Victory Memorial Column [depicted right]. This was erected to commemorate all of the Bronx's soldiers who died in WWI. After turning onto the Moshulu Parkway I was in familiar territory. With my mission accomplished I could turn and head downtown, but being stubborn as I am, I decided to set another goal for myself. Last month I journey to the south pole. I had come this far and wasn't about to turn around without hitting its northern counterpart. I cut through Van Cortland Park and headed to Van Cortland park and made my way to the College of Mount Saint Vincent. somewhere on the campus is the city's northern pole. I followed a grotto in rather than going through the security gate. I biked all around, but couldn't find any sort of marker. All I got was one of the steepest hills I have ever managed to successfully climb. Though I can't say that I have stood at the absolute northern pole of the city, I definitely made it to the farthest north section. I suppose that's good enough. Since the north pole lies on a private (I'm talking very private) campus I don't think there is any sort of marker. Even after researching it on the NYC website I can't seem to find anything.
I headed back downtown and learned that the bike map is not without its tricks. The Palisade on the bike map is designated as a class 1 greenway. What I have come to expect from that designation is a paved, separated path. This was not the case. It was a mountain bike trail! I was faced with one of those cliche movie dilemmas where I could take the longer, safer path or the quicker, more difficult way. I chose the latter. It's been a while since I've gone MTBing, but it was definitely fun. I'm always saying how my bike can handle on and off road conditions, and it's the truth. Aside from the sliding of hybrid my tires, she performed beautifully. I headed back into Manhattan via the Broadway Bridge. Eventually I made my way west to the GWB and got on the Hudson River Greenway. I then continued downtown until about 54th street and headed west to 5th ave. I wanted to avoid Times Square. I've never really explored this area of 5th. I saw the New York Philharmonic [depicted left] and St. Patrick's Cathedral [depicted right]. Both were very cool to see at night.