work4bike

I just saw this in my email box. I'm not sure how accurate Whoopi's claims are; however, I did find it interesting when she seemed to think that the fact that traffic fatalities were down wasn't worth any amount of congestion/inconvenience issues (~6:55 time).


https://www.bicycling.com/news/a2593...paign=15747037

hotbike

hotbike

flyjimmy

noglider 

@flyjimmy, quite right! My father made New Jersey jokes even when I lived there. I lived there for 26 years and learned the good and the bad of it, which non-New Jerseyans don't really know. It was a good place for me for all that time.

flyjimmy

noglider 

Yup!

rydabent

But shirley there must be some really nice hiker biker trails in and around NYC.

hotbike

hotbike

1nterceptor

Starting at Van Cortland park in the Bronx;
South County trail to the North County trail:

Van Cortland Park, da Bronx by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

JoeyBike

I loved NJ when I bike toured through there. Except the corridor of course, but I biked North to South and just had to endure crossing through that area. I really enjoyed the Pine Barrens. I like quiet and solitude. I also enjoyed the other extreme - beaches! I was in NJ just over a week and do not have one bad memory, no incidents, decent road surfaces and/or shoulders, plenty of support (food, drink, lodging) and really easy cycling. I exited via the Cape May ferry. The Garden State is OK by me!

Ald1 

Check out the 5 day Tour de Pines always in late summer. Heres a link to last years info. Tour de Pines Bicycle Tour, Pine Barrens Bike Trips - Pinelands Preservation Alliance / Believe this year is first week in October too. Fun, economical, beautiful riding and lots of options on rides. Ride as many days as you like. Supports a good cause too!

JoeyBike

Very cool! Thanks.

Chris0516

I stay out of the bike lanes. I would rather be a PIT@#! 'taking the lane'. Than being dead meat. Courtesy of being treated like an afterthought.

wilfried

Maybe I just don't know any better. Close to all of my riding has been in the city. I can't be bothered to take a train to go somewhere just to ride. 9W does nothing for me, and it's 10 miles just to get to the bridge. Pretty close to 100% of my transportation in town is by bike, and I also take 60+ mile joy rides. Lots of places to go, things to see. I've seen a whole lot more of the city now that I'm now on a bike, and on the street, rather than going into one hole in the ground, and emerging from a different one.

To an extent, it's what you know. When I go elsewhere, I sometimes feel a little nervous. Traffic may be lighter, but it moves a lot faster. People behave differently, and I'm not entirely clear on the rules. For instance, I'm happy to take the lane most places in the city, but then I can generally go pretty close to the speed of traffic (and very often go faster). If the streets are crowded, I can likely go faster than the cars. If traffic is light, I'm slower (but still in the ball park), but they have plenty of room to get around me. I don't know that I'd be comfortable taking the lane on a suburban arterial.

Riding in Ulster County is lovely. On the back roads, there's virtually no traffic, and the drivers are as polite as polite can be. But it can be a bit dull. You're mostly in the woods, which is pretty enough, but after a while, trees are trees. You do get a grand vista once in a while, though. But then, on a bike you get glorious views of the city that few other people see.

As far as bike lanes go, I don't need them, and sometimes avoid them, but I also ride them. I am however glad they're there; I want more people on bikes on the streets. I want space for people who aren't happy to mix it up with cars. Ridership goes up when they go in, and crash rates go down. I'm very happy to ride in them when it's raining, or there's a bit of snow on the ground. If I skid out, at least won't hit the ground right in front of a moving taxi.

As far as the ride in lane law goes, you must stay in the lane unless conditions are "unsafe" or you have a reason not to, like you're preparing to turn. So the law is actually really ambiguous. Do the cops actually know or understand the law, or care? Of course not. Yeah, the cops do completely moronic, pointless, and arbitrary ticket stings, but unless you get caught in one, they roundly ignore you. Unless you're unlucky, you can ride in the traffic lane, blow lights, etc. right in front of them, and they'll act like you you don't exist. Police bike enforcement is capricious, arbitrary, and utterly infuriating, but has little real impact on riding in the city, except to scapegoat people on bikes, while they are utterly unwilling to adequately enforce laws against the people who actually kill on the streets and make them unsafe, drivers.

Anyway, I figured I'd respond to a few things in this thread.

noglider 

Those are really good points, @wilfried. Maybe I will appreciate riding in NYC more now. We will see. Today I got a Citi Bike e-bike, and I thought to myself I could extend the ride just for fun. The bike is genuinely fun. But I didn't. I manage to deal with traffic handily, but I don't seek it out. There really are many adventures to be had in NYC. I should seek some out.

It's funny that I know a guy who lives in a Westchester suburb, and he comes in on weekends to ride in the streets. The only place I really like riding is the Hudson River Greenway when it isn't too crowded.

wilfried

The bike share ebikes are cool, but I've also had less than fun rides. They take getting used to. There was especially stop and go commute, on which pedestrians were particularly clueless and drivers were exceptionally homicidal, and I was constantly afraid I was going to plow through a crosswalk full of pedestrians, or rear end an SUV that decided to cut me off.

It's not like I seek out traffic, but in the city it's not like you have much of a choice. So, I made the best of it, and learned to deal with it. It helps that for some reason I'm irrationally fearless. It would probably be sensible to be more afraid of traffic than I am.

Westchester has some great riding, but it also some nasty arterials that are almost impossible to avoid, and like I said, since I'm not used to them, I'm not sure how to handle them. So it's a mixed bag.

livedarklions

Can't speak to Manhattan, but I'd much rather ride in Boston than drive. From my experience, biking is generally faster within the city than cars, but slower than rural/suburban. There's also more social interaction in urban riding than in rural/suburban, and that has its good and bad points. Totally different experience, but if you're used to it, and not Strava-addicted, urban riding can be a blast.

wilfried

I agree, bike is very often the fastest, and pretty much always the most predictable way to get around town. The difference between a slow and fast commute is +-1 minute. I ride 10 miles up to Inwood more or less once a week, and 13 miles back down. The difference between a slow and an fast ride each way is probably about five minutes.

Back earlier on when I started riding in the city, after I got over the hump of learning to handle the streets, I would go out for joy rides if I got bored. On a good night (it was usually well after dark), I would have this transcendent feeling, like I was one with the road, and the city, even with traffic. I would dodge potholes and cars with complete calm and ease, like some kind of flow state. Now that riding a bike is old hat, I don't get that feeling so much anymore. Sounds sappy, but I miss that feeling.

wilfried

I spend most of the year avoiding the Greenway, cause it's such a frigging madhouse. And all those barricades "protecting" us only made it worse. Heading up to Inwood, I have a nice route through the park, to St. Nicholas, and onto the path next to the Harlem River. It does require going up Madison, where only madness lies, to get to the park, but after that it's quite nice (well, you're in the land of double parked cars, yes, worse than elsewhere, but it's manageable). But then I'd have to go through Midtown to get to the Greenway, where drivers are equally sociopathic.

noglider 

Sounds like it's time for a new bike.

Seriously, good points, @livedarklions and @wilfried. City traffic has its pluses. And as you point out, predictability is best on a bike. I have been delayed by traffic, but it's unusual and never extreme as it is in a car. And yes, suburban arterial roads can be hell. And some suburbs don't even have alternatives, depending on how things are laid out. The older towns in NJ are better than the newer ones. The newer ones were designed with the idea that small residential streets should not lead anywhere, so there is no choice but to take an artery. This turns out not to be good even for motorists!

And yes, Madison Avenue is awful. I found out a couple of weeks ago. Next time I had to go up the east side, I took 1st Ave.

I should look at your rides and routes for inspiration.