A Biking Adventure in New York City

Like many cities in the US, New York City (NYC) is moving towards being greener and a simpler life-style.  One of the ways to do this is encouraging more bikes and biking in the city.  Many cities are deploying what is known as bike-sharing programs.  In NYC it's citi bike, named after the main sponsor citi Bank.

I have plenty of time on this trip so I decided to give citi bike a try.  My son signed up for a 1-year membership while we were shopping at Whole Foods.  They have a promotional $25 discount and with a citi Bank card, you get another 10% off.  So, from $155 a year, it was down to about $117 for the first year.  Incidentally, the guy handling the promotion went to the University of Arizona in Tucson.  What a small world.

You can checkout bikes for 1 day ($12), 3 days ($24) or buy a 1 year membership

A bike station with citi bikes

I started at Riverside Park and 87th St.  There's a beautiful bike and pedestrian path next to the Hudson River.  As I rode south, New Jersey is on my right, on the other side of the river.  It was a beautiful sunny day, in the low 80s'.  I passed the many piers and soon I came to the Intrepid Air, Sea and Space Museum at about 50th St.   At 42nd St. is where the Circle Line is.  Here you can take a cruise around Manhattan.  I recommend this, to get a different perspective of Manhattan Island.

I noticed that I've already used up almost 25 minutes so I decided to dock in the bicycle.  I am allowed 45 minutes otherwise I have to pay a surcharge.  For 1- or 3-day rentals, you get only 30 minutes.  This is bad and good.  Bad because you have to consciously think about the time limit and then find a station.  Good because it forces you to stop and catch your breadth and enjoy the city.

My goal was to ride to downtown Manhattan, at Battery Park.  This is where you take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty.  This is also where you take the free ferry to Staten and Ellis Islands.  The place was packed with tourists.  I found a quiet place to read my Kindle for about 30 minutes.  Then I walked towards the Staten Island ferry and see if I can take the ferry.  I've done it several times but since it's free, why not?  But the place was very crowded so I decided to take a downtown shuttle to Seaport Village.  This is a very popular tourist shopping center with many restaurants here.  Unfortunately, it was being renovated.  I decided to get another bike and ride to Chinatown.

Now I am riding my bike in heavy downtown traffic.  A little bit scary.  You have to be on full alert, especially vehicles on the side of the road opening their doors.  I got to Chinatown fine and returned my bike at a station at Columbus Park.  I ate lunch at a restaurant where I've noticed before but never tried.  It specializes in Chinese dumplings.  Surprisingly, it was very crowded, especially with non-Asians.  When I saw the menu, I knew why.  The prices were dirt cheap.  You could get 5 dumplings for $1.50 and a plate of Dan Dan Noodles for $3.50.  Where can you get that?

Columbus Park, next to Chinatown.  Many Chinese senior citizens hang out here.

Great dumplings at an amazingly low price

Very busy lunch time crowd at Tasty Dumpling

After lunch, I decided to have a haircut.  There are several Chinese barbershops on one of the small streets.  You can't beat the price here.  $7 for men's haircut, $8 for a woman.  I pay $14 plus tips for my haircut in Phoenix.  I was peeking into one of them when a barber from another shop came out and asked if I wanted a haircut.  Figuring this guy must be good and old enough to stay in business, I decided to take a chance.  He did a very good job, for $7.  I gave him a $1 tip.

$7 Haircut for Men at Chinatown

Oh, I forgot to mention that after lunch I decided to have some dessert.  There is a little storefront that sells tofu custard, with some sugar syrup added.  I grew up eating this and love this.  It costs only $1.50.  Every time I come to NYC Chinatown, I try to get this.

Tofu Custard with sugar syrup

Nearby is Joe's Shanghai restaurant where I usually come for soup dumpling.  What is soup dumpling?  Think of a dumpling except that it has some soup inside.  You have to be careful not to puncture the skin or the soup will spill out.  You have to eat it all in one bite - soup, meat and dumpling skin.  This restaurant is so popular that sometimes we have to wait for 2 hours to have seats at a table, that is often shared with other customers.

Joe's Shanghai - their specialty is soup dumplings, a northern Chinese dish

After Chinatown, I decided to ride to Union Square.  I rode through Little Italy, then Nolita (or North of Little Italy), then finally to Union Square.  This place has a very lively atmosphere.  There are many things happening at and around the Square.  There are also some major stores in the area.  I hung around here for about an hour, sitting at a bench at a shaded spot to read and perusing through a farmers' market.

Statue at Union Square

A Subway Station

Hare Krishna Group playing their music and trying to attract potential converts

A Farmers' Vegetable Stand

Next I tried to head home riding on the streets.  It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and the traffic was starting to get busy.  Trucks, taxis, cars, buses, bicycles were going around like crazy.  I didn't feel safe.  I decided to head west towards the bicycle path along the Hudson River.  Here I'd not have to worry about motorized traffic, just other bicycles and pedestrians.  I am not here to prove anything, just want to enjoy the city on a bike.  I eventually got to 87th St at about 5 pm and spent about 30 minutes reading my Kindle and enjoying Riverside Park.

I continue my bike journey the next morning.  I was planning to ride from 87th St to George Washington Bridge, a distance of almost 10 miles.  I looked on the citi bike map.  There are no stations in the George Washington Bridge area, which means I have to ride very fast, then quickly turn around to find the nearest station in order to avoid a surcharge.  I decide not to go.

Instead I had a better decision.  My son told me about this very good bagel place that is run by a Thai family.  It's called Absolute Bagels, on Broadway, between 107th and 108th St.  I got there and there was a long line.  Everyone knows about this place.  I ordered my bagel and coffee and paid a Thai lady (I assume the owner).  How do I know she is Thai?  By her accent and I also asked her.

Wonderful Bagel restaurant run by a Thai Family

I have to burn off my bagel and cream cheese so I decided to ride through Central Park.  There are very few tourists this far north of the park so it was very nice riding through the park.  It was busy but there were plenty of room for everyone.  With shades from the trees and greenery everywhere, it was beautiful.  As I get closer to the southern part of the park, near 59th St., I started to see more and more tourists.  I finally exited the park at the southwestern end, near Columbus Circle, and returned my bike to a station.

What a bike trip!