Ok. Now that you’ve camped out for SNL (right?), it’s time to burn off all those calories from the late-night french fry snacking. How, you say? Why biking of course!
Biking in the city can be tricky, but it’s well worth the time. Here’s how to do it, broken down into handy steps!
First step: get a bike
If you already have your own bike (and it hasn’t been stolen yet), you can skip this part.
If you’re an NYU student, I highly recommend the NYU Bike Share. After a quick safety training, you can check out a bike from ten different residence hall resource centers from 10AM to 10PM every day. The best part: it’s completely free.
If you’re not part of NYU, here is a handy list of top bike rental shops in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Second step: know your rights and where to go
Here is a map of bike paths and bike lanes in Manhattan. Study this and plan your route before you go–seriously.
A really important note: Stick to streets with bike lanes and bike paths–it’ll make your life so much easier (and probably longer). You can bike on streets that don’t have paths, but you have to weave in and out of parked cars and moving cars, and you run the risk of hitting open car doors, getting forced into the car lane, or getting hit yourself. I’ve tried this (during Christmas time near Rockefeller Center, no less), and it was not fun. If you’re not an experienced city rider, and you run into a busy street with no bike lanes, just get off and walk your bike on the sidewalk for a bit–you’ll thank yourself later.
Know the NYC biking laws. These are pretty basic, but it doesn’t hurt to brush up on them. The two most commonly forgotten are:
Use a white light, red tail light, reflectors, and a bell. This is the law, so make sure the bike rental shop provides you with them.
Stop at all stop signs and red lights. You’re not a pedestrian. Wait for the green.
Third step: go bike!
If you have an hour or so to spare, here’s what I suggest:
- Wherever you’re starting from, head over to the West Hudson river. There’s a separate bike path next to the pedestrian walkway, so you don’t have to worry about crazy drivers or walkers (although it can get pretty crowded with other bikers, runners, and skaters on sunny weekends).
- Once on the path, head south toward the tip of Manhattan.
- After you pass some tennis courts and a skate park (near the financial district), veer in toward the river and ride right along side it (and alongside the pedestrians) all the way to the gorgeous Financial Center Plaza.
- If you’re feeling ambitious, you can keep going all the way around the tip of Manhattan, but we usually get so awestruck by the views of the Statue of Liberty and the Jersey skyline that we stop here for a few hours before heading back up
- We love this ride so much that we do it at least once a month–we’ve discovered that one of the best times to go is right around dusk (if you feel confident riding in the dark).
All the way on the other side of Manhattan, the East River is also a great ride, and usually a lot less crowded, but it’s a little trickier to get to (you have to ride through a sometimes-less-than-ideal area–do this during the daytime, preferably–and then you have to walk your bike across an aboveground passageway to cross over the highway), but once you finally get there, it’s worth it. You can head up or down, either way will provide you with stunning views. Here’s me biking over on the East Side!
And finally (of course) there’s the classic Central Park ride that every New York has to try at least once (c’mon, the tourists won’t bite). This one is pretty self-explanatory, just make sure you don’t make the same mistake we did, and check your map for how to get there using bike paths (you can take the West Hudson path up, and then cut straight over on the bike path on 78th st–if only we’d known this). Don’t forget to pack a backpack with picnic supplies and a camera!
And that’s it! Not so bad, right? If you have your own favorite nyc bike routes or tips, I’d LOVE to hear them and try them out on my next ride!
x.